Welcome back to our NBA Star Power Index -- a weekly gauge of the players who are most controlling the buzz around the league. Reminder: Inclusion on this list isn't necessarily a good thing. It simply means that you're capturing the NBA world's attention. Also, this is not a ranking. The players listed are in no particular order as it pertains to the buzz they're generating. This column will run every week for the rest of the season.
The NBA confirmed Tuesday that Durant indeed fouled LeBron James three times inside the final two minutes of Golden State's victory over the Cavs on Christmas, but he wasn't called for any of them. The non-calls didn't decide the outcome, but they definitely had an impact, and we need to revisit the replay situation in terms of what is and isn't reviewable. That said, here's a thought to mull: If great offensive players generally get the benefit of the doubt on borderline calls, then why shouldn't it be the same for great defensive players and non-calls?
Durant is absolutely a great defensive player, and on those plays in question, he competed and contested the hell out of LeBron's every step -- particularly on this one:
Again, that is definitely a foul. It should have been called. But Durant's athleticism and length and willingness to contest this hard is why he's second in the league with 2.3 blocks per game, as a perimeter player no less. His individual rivalry with LeBron as the top two players in the world is real and warranted. Durant concedes nothing to LeBron, and now that he's a legit two-way superstar, he shouldn't. Both those guys have every right to look at themselves as the best player on earth.
Over his last three games, Harden has scored 51 points twice and posted a near-triple-double with 29 points, 14 assists and eight boards vs Oklahoma City on Christmas. Somehow, Houston lost all three. After winning 14 straight, the Rockets are hardly concerned with a little three-game skid, but they'll want to cut it off as soon as possible.
While Golden State might not be as concerned with the No. 1 seed with all their playoff experience, the Rockets would love to secure that top seed and, in a potential matchup with the Warriors, get those first two games at home to get the series started right. As of Wednesday, Houston has fallen behind the Warriors by a game in the West.
Back to Harden, how he found Eric Gordon with this dime on Christmas -- right in the shooting pocket to boot -- will forever remain a mystery.
After a Harden pass this good, Gordon's gotta make that shot pic.twitter.com/IWm7psAliN
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) December 26, 2017
This Cleveland team may look and feel different with Kyrie Irving gone, but as far as the Cavs beating the Warriors, which is the only team they measure themselves against, the same rule holds true: LeBron has to score 30-plus for Cleveland to have a realistic chance. Period.
Consider this: Over the past three seasons, including regular season and Finals games, the Cavs have beaten the Warriors nine times. LeBron had 30-plus in eight of those. The only game the Cavs won in which LeBron didn't score at least 30 was Game 7 of the 2016 Finals. Cleveland, of course, held Golden State to 89 points in that game, and you just can't count on that happening now that Durant is on board.
The theory holds up in the losses, too. Last season, the Cavs split their regular-season series with Golden State. In the win, LeBron had 32. In the loss, he had 20. The year before that, Golden State swept Cleveland in the regular season. LeBron had 25 and 16 in those losses. The year before that, in 2014-15, the Cavs beat the Warriors in the lone regular-season matchup in which LeBron played, and he had 42.
This year on Christmas Day, Golden State held LeBron to 20 points. With less than 10 minutes to play in the game, he'd only attempted 11 shots. The Cavs lost.
This isn't to suggest that LeBron can just decide to score 30 points, even as good as he is. Sometimes the shots just don't go in. But he can absolutely decide to attack, first and foremost, as a scorer, and 11 shots through more than three quarters is not attacking as a scorer. Against probably any other team, LeBron can lead the Cavs to victory in a variety of ways. Against Golden State, he has to score big. Plain and simple. They simply have too much firepower.
Oklahoma City's recent run of success had been a little deceiving given the lackluster competition it has faced, and barely squeaked by, during that stretch. But the Houston win on Christmas Day validates the growing evidence that OKC is really starting to figure things out, and it has everything to do with Westbrook. Check out these on-off numbers:
On / Off net rating differential of MVP mentioned players:
— Josh Eberley 🇨🇦 (@JoshEberley) December 26, 2017
Antetokounmpo: 5.3 / -12.4 (+17.7)
Westbrook: 5.7 / -7.4 (+13.1)
Oladipo: 5.9 / -4.9 (+10.8)
Curry 16.6 / 6.6 (+10.6)
Irving: 5.9 / 2.1 (+3.8)
Harden: 10.1 / 7.8 (+2.3)
James: 3.6 / 1.4 (+2.2)
Durant: 11.2 / 11.7 (-0.5)
Yes, the Thunder are 13 points per 100 possessions better with Westbrook on the floor, and yes, through at least one lens, that makes him way more impactful than Harden in Houston or LeBron in Cleveland or Curry/Durant on Golden State. The Thunder, pretty simply, have no chance unless Westbrook is dominating, and as of late he's doing exactly that, averaging a clean 30 points on 58 percent shooting over his last five. He's also had double-digit assists in his last three, so he's figuring out how to involve his co-stars without compromising his own aggression. OKC has won 11 of 14.
OK, so here are Lonzo's averages over his past five games:
- 16.5 points
- 7.0 rebounds
- 6.5 assists
- 1.5 blocks
- 1.0 steals
- 43.6 FG percentage
- 46.2 3PT percentage
That bottom number isn't exactly a small sample size, either. Over the last five he's put up 34 threes. He's getting more aggressive in looking for his shot, particularly off the dribble, and it's really opening up the floor for him. Even his 4.3 turnovers per game over this stretch is kind of good news, as he's clearly upped his aggression in every way. When he plays downhill, his impact is easily noticeable. As his shot continues to improve, which there is every reason to believe it will, don't be surprised if we start hearing Lonzo's name in the Rookie of the Year conversation.
Finally some Star Index Love for the Cavs' forgotten star. And, yes, Kevin Love is still a star, certainly in his role with Cleveland, but even just in general as a guy still plenty capable of being a No. 1 option for stretches. On Christmas, he hung 31 points and 18 boards on Golden State while becoming the first player in NBA history to tally that many rebounds while also hitting six or more 3-pointers in a non-overtime game.
Love has scored 20 or more in 10 of his last 13 games. He's averaging 20.1 points and 10.4 boards for the season. He's shooting over 41 percent from three as well, and 51 percent over his last six games. He's still one of the best position rebounders, on both ends, in the league. Also, this completely baffles me:
I have a hard time believing all four of these people are Kevin Love@World_Wide_Wob @kevinlove pic.twitter.com/ssrCupZqXM
— Tom Hoefel (@TomHoefel) December 25, 2017
Very quietly, Minnesota is 7-3 over its last 10 and 21-13 overall, good enough for the No. 4 spot in the West entering Wednesday. Butler's numbers don't jump out -- 20.7 ppg, 5.5 boards, 4.8 assists -- but check out the consistency of his improvement:
Jimmy Butler's per-game averages:
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) December 24, 2017
Games 1-10: 15.7 points, 12.6 shot attempts
Games 11-20: 19.3 points, 15.8 shot attempts
Games 21-31: 26.3 points, 18.4 shot attempts
He got a new job, laid low for a few weeks, then started coming out of his shell a bit, and now runs the place.
Pretty simply, Butler is everything to the Wolves, who are 15.1 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court. That is by far the best net rating on the team. Minnesota is a terrible defensive team, even with Butler doing all he can to make up for the sometimes implausible apathy of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, at 25th in the league per NBA.com. But when Butler is out, it gets truly horrific, with the Wolves giving up over 114 points per 100 possessions, which would qualify as the worst mark in the league by a mile.
No wonder Tom Thibodeau has already played the guy 40 minutes or more 10 times this season.
If we were to re-draft this year's class based on what we've seen so far, how high would Kuzma go? I'm saying top 10 for sure, maybe even top 5. This guy is not just a pleasant surprise relative to his No. 27 overall draft slot. He's a flat-out budding star. Feast your eyes on what he did in the three games leading up to Christmas:
Kyle Kuzma in his last 3 outings:
— NBA Draft (@NBADraft) December 23, 2017
30 PPG - 9 RPG - 64% from 3
He's the 1st @Lakers rookie in over 50 years to score 25+ in 3 straight games! #NBARooks pic.twitter.com/WWiNrJ9akj
Then the kid dropped 31 points on 6 of 11 from three on Christmas! Do the math, and over his last four games, that's 28.5 points per game on better than 50 percent from the field and 54.5 percent from three.
You want to talk MVP? The Sixers are 14-10 with Embiid in the lineup this season. They are 1-8 without him. He's their only reliable option in the half-court, as J.J. Redick and Robert Covington need their shots created for them. Ben Simmons, for all his talents, also do a lot of creating for himself or anyone else in the half-court because defenses don't have to respect his jumper.
On Christmas, the Sixers, when they weren't able to get out into transition, went through Embiid almost entirely down the stretch, and he delivered, as always, with 25 points and 16 boards.
.@JoelEmbiid goes for a team-high 25 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks at The Garden. pic.twitter.com/4sk1ZcRsZF
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) December 25, 2017
The Sixers are one of the few teams that still consistently run their half-court offense through a traditional post player. A lot of other teams would do the same thing if they had Embiid.
