Jimmy Butler and James Harden both had solid weeks for fantasy owners.
Jonathan Ebanks is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Jonathan, check out his archive and follow him @hogz4lyfe.
One Jimmy becomes a star, while another Jimmy burns bright like the sun. The Lakers openly ask the basketball world, “Who needs Kobe?” The Heat show “The King” why his talents should have stayed in South Beach, and in the West we saw “The Manimal” drop a golden nugget on Friday night.
This is The Week That Was.
A Tale of Two Jimmy’s
-This GIF can be found on MarcusD1.Blogspot.com
The 2014-2015 season should officially be dubbed as Jimmy Butler‘s coming-out party. No one, probably not even the Bulls, expected Butler to be playing at the level he is right now. He’s been having a great season to say the least, but his great season turned into an All-Star caliber one after scoring a season-high 35 points against the Knicks on Dec. 18. The next day, he went to Memphis and laid down 31 points, all while grabbing 10 boards to get his first double-double of the season. A few days later on Dec. 22, we saw Butler continue his torrid stretch by dropping the defensive hammer on the Raptors in the form of five blocks.
-This GIF can be found on MarcusD1.Blogspot.com
On the offensive side of things, Butler put down 27 points, 11 boards, and four assists to help the Bulls pull out a 129-120 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Raptors. After going cold against the Washington Wizards on the Dec. 23, the heat returned on Dec. 27 against the Pelicans. Butler put up 33 points and grabbed five rebounds to beat New Orleans and help Chicago win their sixth straight game.
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Meanwhile, on the same night of Dec. 22, another Jimmy, who in all actuality is a James and is making the best case in the NBA for an MVP award right now, had his best game of the season against a Portland Trail Blazers squad that boasts its own MVP candidate, Damian Lillard.
James Harden played like a man possessed on Monday night. The Rockets found themselves down by eight points early, but Harden went off for 31 in the first half alone to give Houston a nice 20-point cushion going into the half, a lead the Blazers would not overcome. One of the best plays of the game occurred in the second quarter and featured Harden driving down the lane and sinking an unbalanced shot while drawing a foul from Wesley Matthews. The foul became a technical as Matthews mouthed off to officials, but Harden just maintained his swag, high-fiving the fans. Harden proceeded to hit both free throws to put Houston up 57-45, then accrued eight more points, with one of those shots being a buzzer-beater layup while being defended by two guys, to finish the half up 73-53. That highlight and more from Harden during that game can be watched here. With four minutes left and the Rockets still ahead comfortably 107-86, Harden was pulled from the game for good.
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What was the result of Harden’s massacre you ask? Aside from placing a 110-95 shellacking on a very talented Blazers team, Harden amassed a season-high 44 points to earn his third 40-point game of the season. With this contest, the season’s league-leading scorer got his 11th game on the year with at least 30 points. Dwight Howard thought the motivation came from last year’s playoff elimination at the hands of the Blazers. “I know it’s kind of like a weight off his back because of what happened in the playoffs against Portland,” Howard said about Harden’s performance. “And (Monday) he just destroyed them.” Did Harden really use the playoffs as his motivation? When asked about it after the game, Harden said, “Last year, nah. What happened the last two games.” He then added, “Two losses at home is unacceptable, so we wanted to come out here and not make a third.” Whatever the reason for the production, Harden can safely flex muscles as the current front-runner for MVP after the season’s first trimester. Fear the beard!
No Kobe, No Problem…Lakers get “Swagalicious”
Los Angeles Lakers coach Byron Scott decided to rest Kobe Bryant for Tuesday’s matchup against the Golden State Warriors. This seemed like a good move considering that Kobe is a 36-year-old who is averaging 35.5 minutes per game this season and shooting only 37.2 percent. He shot the Lakers to losses in the three preceding games before Tuesday’s bout, going a combined 19-of-71 (.268) from the floor.
Lakers Kobe Bryant (rest) will NOT play tonight against the Golden State Warriors. #TimDuncanEdition pic.twitter.com/U1betAgwBo
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) December 24, 2014
The Lakers responded with arguably their best game as a team all season in their 115-105 victory over the Warriors, with seven guys scoring 10+ points and Carlos Boozer leading the bunch with 18. The Lakers’ defensive aggressiveness that night was too much for Golden State to handle. Since the Lakers were moving the ball more often without the high usage of Kobe, guys were hit when they were open to create efficient scoring opportunities. Ed Davis hit his seven shots, Boozer was eight-of-11, and the Lakers as a team made 51.7 percent of their field goals on Tuesday. The defense forced Stephen Curry to turn the ball over a whopping seven times, resulting in the Warriors finishing with 20 turnovers.
The true highlight of the game, however, was nothing that happened during the contest, but after. Nick Young‘s show-stopping personality and penchant for trash-talking epitomizes one thing … swag. It courses through his veins and he’s convinced that it was responsible for the Lakers’ win, among other things that night. Hey, they don’t call him Swaggy P for nothing.
Why did the Lakers win tonight? Because Nick Young was feeling “SWAGALICIOUS” https://t.co/rElzDXaSwr via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) December 28, 2014
-This Vine was posted by Rob Perez
Vlade Divac was at the Staples Center that night and sunk a half-court shot during a break in the game to win $90,000 for charity. Of course, Nick Young‘s swag is infectious and spreads like wildfire, so there’s no way Divac hit that shot without some of Young’s swag, right?
[GIF] Nick Young Re: Vlade Divac's half-court 3 … "Man, my swag just rubs off on everybody…" https://t.co/dpETXYB0O3 via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) December 28, 2014
-This Vine was posted by Rob Perez
As anyone with swag knows, it’s not so much how you enter, but it’s all about how you exit. Also, who says you need hands to drive?
Swaggy P exits Staples Center in his X-Mas present from Iggy. Enjoy. https://t.co/YRzrf25EqK via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) December 28, 2014
-This Vine was posted by Mike Trudell
Young himself finished the game with 15 points (five-for-13 shooting, two-for-six from behind the arch) and five boards.
The King Dethroned in South Beach
https://t.co/0W1i6QGk4n via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) December 28, 2014
-This Vine was posted by cvbg22
What a glorious Christmas upset this was for any Heat fan (such as myself)! However, the fans aren’t bitter. LeBron James got his standing ovation and his minute-long video tribute. All the hugs between LeBron and his former Heat-mates and the banter between he and Wade signal that the team harbors no ill will toward him either. James even went to Wade’s house on Christmas Eve to talk about days gone by and discuss what it’s like to play after 30, since Lebron turns 30 on Dec. 30.
https://t.co/XEX3dRzKlN via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) December 28, 2014
-This Vine was posted by cvbg22
Wade showed up James and earned a game-high 31 points, 24 of which came in the first half. Luol Deng had arguably the best all-around performance of his career against his old team, as he gained 25 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists. Deng also gave James a rough go of it defensively. Chris Andersen had a good outing, pitching in 12 points, and even though he’s no “Big Shot Bosh”, the Heat can rely on Birdman to fill the hole at center in Chris Bosh’s absence. James got his eight dimes and 30 points, while Kyrie Irving pitched in 25 points to go along with Kevin Love’s 14.
The Heat built up a 17-point lead against Cleveland, but that slipped away because of poor second half shooting. This was similar to how the Heat lost their 23-point lead against the 76ers two days before Christmas and ended up losing that contest. Wade was just 2-for-12 from the floor after halftime, while fellow guard Mario Chalmers was 2-for-12 all game.
The King threw down a go-ahead slam with 11:20 remaining to give Cleveland the lead at 78-77, but he got T’d up for pulling himself up using the rim. This resulted in a Wade free throw to immediately tie the game up. Cleveland would never gain another lead. Up 90-87 later on, Miami then rallied to go on an 11-4 run and finished off LeBron and the Cavs for good.
For as much drama as was built up before the game, more was created during the matchup. James had to leave the game in the third quarter for a bit with left-leg tightness after jumping over a row of baseline seats, and Irving bruised his knee during a collision near the end of the game. Arguably the biggest mid-game drama was a short second-half delay after Flo Rida’s halftime show put the lights out.
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Need I mention that Juwan Howard can get a role on “American Horror Story” with that face alone?
The Manimal Cometh
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What do you have in common with “The Manimal”? Absolutey nothing, because he’s a 6’8″, 227 pound graceful beast of a man. And you’re just a puny human. The Denver Nuggets and their team of puny humans (sans Ty Lawson) needed all of Kenneth Faried’s 26 points and career-high 25 boards to send the MinnesotaTimberwolves home howling 106-102. This ended Denver’s two-game skid.
Faried finished an impressive 11-of-15 from the floor and Lawson commented on his beast-like comrade saying, “It’s one of the best games I’ve seen him play”. Lawson then added, “I feel like he’s just playing his game. Instead of taking shots from the perimeter or mid-range jumpers, he’s either get(ting) a rebound and putting it back in or he’s getting dump-offs. He’s playing like he was toward the end of last year”.
The Manimal was the main reason why Denver carried a lead into the half. Despite starting the game hot, taking a 12-5 lead, Denver quickly cooled off and allowed Minnesota to regain the advantage early in the second quarter (29-26) thanks to Thaddeus Young’s 10 first-quarter points. Faried then had a good second-chance dunk a bit later to get the Nuggets back on top 36-35 close to the middle of the second. Faried’s owning of the paint helped the Nuggets surge to a seven-point lead before the half and eventually entered the break up 53-47. That first half was crucial for the Nuggets and Faried, who amassed 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting while yanking down 14 boards during the first two quarters. Faried’s last career-high in rebounds was on April 12, 2014 against the Jazz when he finished with 21. You can watch his impressive golden nugget of a post-Christmas performance here.
Let’s watch that sweet Manimal Eurostep goodness again from a different angle, shall we?
