Big time injuries, scoring explosions, and great performances abounded this week in the NBA. Let's take a look back.
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In the biggest injury news of the week, Kobe Bryant was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff. The injury occurred in Wednesday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
The injury itself does not guarantee that Bryant will be out for the remainder of the season. If Kobe elects to undergo surgery for the injury then, he will most definitely be out for the year and could miss the start of next season.
Surgery is the only way to repair the damage in his shooting shoulder, but nobody would be surprised to see The Black Mamba attempt to play though the pain prior to electing for surgery.
Outside the most loyal Kobe haters, fans of basketball hate to see such a great player go through what Kobe has in his final years in the NBA. Hopefully he’ll go under the knife soon so he can be ready for what may be his final season next year.
On Saturday night, Detroit Pistons point guard Brandon Jennings suffered a season-ending tear of the achilles tendon in his left leg. Jennings had the Pistons humming since the departure of Team Poison All-Star, Josh Smith.
Since Smith’s departure, Jennings had emerged as the leader of this young Detroit squad. He had been averaging 17 points, seven assists and more than 2.5 made 3-pointers per game since Smith’s departure.
Detroit sits a mere two games out of the last playoff spot in the East. It seems as if that may be as close as they will get this season, as Jennings tweeted on Sunday that he will be out 6-9 months.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc3m3BwfylA
There is getting hot, then there is being "in the zone" — and then there is Klay Thompson in the third quarter on Friday night.
Thompson has played second fiddle to Stephen Curry since the two have been paired in Golden State. On Friday night, Klay was able to emphatically step out of his teammate’s shadow, if only for one night.
Thompson had an historic third-quarter scoring outburst, amassing an NBA-record 37 points. The old mark for points in the quarter was 33 shared by George Gervin and Carmelo Anthony.
The Warriors guard finished the game with 52 points total, tying Mo Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves for the most points scored in a game this season.
Thompson was perfect from the field in the quarter, going 9-9 from beyond the arc and shooting 13-13 from the field in total. Thompson single-handedly outscored the Sacramento Kings by 15 in the quarter.
If you have not yet seen the video of this epic performance, I highly recommend doing so immediately. In fact, you can watch it above!
Klay has been in the midst of an borderline All-Star type season. It is entirely likely that this performance will get him to New York in February.
As if he were providing his rebuttal to Klay Thompson’s performance against Sacramento, James Harden made his own case to replace Kobe Bryant on the All-Star roster against Phoenix.
With Dwight Howard leaving the game in the first quarter with an ankle injury, Harden took things over for the Rockets. Houston held a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter, before the Suns made their run.
Markieff Morris tied the game at 111 with 16 seconds remaining when he sank the free throw for the and-1. The Rockets relied on Harden to close things out in regulation, and he obliged.
Harden hit a pull up jumper from 20 feet at the buzzer to give the Rockets the 113-11 win over the plucky Suns. Harden finished the night with 33 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds.
He has scored 30-plus points in 21 games this season and has scored at least 30 in seven of his last nine games. Harden leads the league in 30-point games, and leads the league in scoring with 27.6 per game.
In recent news from the “Who? Did What?” department, Hassan Whiteside had one of the most intriguing triple-doubles in recent memory on Sunday. Whiteside finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and 12 blocks for the Miami Heat on Sunday against the Chicago Bulls.
You are totally forgiven for not being familiar with Whiteside prior to today. The big man was drafted in the second round by the Kings back in 2010 and had been out of the NBA for the last two seasons before joining the Heat this year.
In swatting 12 shots, Whiteside is now the owner of the Heat franchise record for blocks in a game. With great bigs like Alonzo Mourning and Shaq having donned Heat uniforms, Whiteside can be proud to have his name above theirs, if only on this one list.
