NBA 24/7 365

One of the wonderful things about the game of basketball is that it’s so simple to play.  A ball and a hoop, along with a little passion for the sport, is all anyone has ever needed in order to develop a formidable set of skills.  No better living proof of this will you find than presumable Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard, who taught himself how to shoot at his grandmother’s house in Oakland, California.  During last night’s Blazers game I happened to see a promo video in which Lillard described the makeshift conditions.  “I learned to shoot on a tree,” he said.  At first, I didn’t think much of it.  Plenty of kids’ first hoops are attached to trees, garages, or other vertical surfaces.  However, as Lillard continued, it became clear that his situation was a little more unusual.  In search of some clarification, I entered “Damian Lillard tree” into Google.  My query produced some relevant insight.  Via CBS Sports…

As a boy, Lillard learned to play basketball at his grandmother’s house. There was a tree that had an awkwardly grown branch which naturally curled into a makeshift rim. Hitting the branch meant missing the shot. So Lillard grew to shoot the ball better — completely accurately. Eventually the tree was cut down. And so a milk crate was nailed to a telephone pole. Continual adaptation.

So there you have it; the NBA’s premier rookie, the 22-year-old who’s professional resume already includes a buzzer-beating game-winner, learned how to shoot on a tree in his grandma’s front yard.  According to Lillard’s own story from an interview on a Portland radio station, he had no choice but to be creative as he was prohibited from going to the park by himself due to the dangers of his neighborhood.  Clearly, he’s better for it today.

Next time you watch Damian Lillard score his 18.1 points, picture a small kid tossing a ball at a tree, and be inspired.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

With the Blazers down three and fewer than 10 seconds to go, a broken play left the ball (and the game) in the hands of LaMarcus Aldridge.  Deliberately, the Dallas native stepped back into the deep right corner, looked down at his feet, and drained his first-three-pointer of the season.  Following an offensive foul (bullshit call, for the record) on OJ Mayo, Aldridge carved out position in his wheelhouse.  With a mere 1.5 seconds at his disposal, he collected an inbound pass from Wes Matthews and turned over his right shoulder.  As the ball left the All-Star’s fingertips, Nicolas Batum took off running towards the opposite end of the floor.  By the time the shot reached its apex the Frenchman had already extended his right index finger to the sky.  The release had clearly come on time, and the 18-footer looked pure the moment it left LMA’s hands.

As he did last April, LaMarcus beat his hometown team at the buzzer.  His 29-point, 13-rebound effort was huge in bringing the Blazers back from down 21 in the second half (yes, it was another one of those games).  Considering the Mavericks’ recent history in the Rose Garden (does the squandering of a 23-point fourth-quarter lead ring a bell?), the selection of narratives here is vast.  Mark Cuban doesn’t happen to like any of them, and I assume he’s already been on the horn with Stu Jackson to discuss the aforementioned offensive foul.

My personal favorite narrative? Fourteen of the last 17 games involving the Portland Trail Blazers have been decided by six points or less.  A lot of folks have been calling them lucky, but they’ve lost nearly as many as they’ve won (9-8).  Hell, the Mavericks got the luckiest shot of the night from Darren Collison, who turned a two-point game into a five-point game with a banker from 10 feet beyond the arc.  That was with just three minutes left, and when Brandan Wright tossed in a short hook shot and Nic Batum bricked a pair of free throws it appeared that the Mavericks would survive the Blazer surge.  They didn’t, obviously… mostly because they turned the ball over three straight times with under two minutes to go.  Dirk Nowitzki did hit a huge three just before Aldridge made his, but that was about the extent of Dallas’s clutchness on this night.

JJ Hickson always works his ass off, but he hustled extra hard tonight — his 26 points are a new season high, and his 15 rebounds match his best effort this month.  A free agent to be, Hickson must be seeing dollar signs every time a loose ball careens off the rim.  He pursues them like they’re gold nuggets and deposits them into the bank.

Dirk’s 26 are a new season high. Just thought that was worth mentioning, although it’s kind of depressing.  He was a shell of himself last year and he still dropped 40… twice.  I suppose there’s still time.

Missing three starters (Curry, Bogut, and Barnes), the Warriors picked up an easy 108-95 victory in Cleveland on the second night of a back-to-back.  Granted, it’s Cleveland, and Kyrie Irving is dealing with a case of the flu… but considering their super-shorthanded status I thought this was a pretty solid win for Golden State.  Klay Thompson, who basically represents the only disappointing aspect of Dubs basketball right now, was anything but a letdown in this game.  On his way to a game/season-high 32 points, Klay made 12 of his first 18 shots and each of his first six from downtown.  Thirty of his 32 came in the first three quarters and he never did shoot a single free throw.  As his shooting numbers reflect, Klay showed good discipline in his shot selection, refraining from heat checks until the very end of the third.  He kind of lost his touch after that (finished 13-24), but it didn’t really matter because the game was essentially in hand.  (Note: Golden State’s starting backcourt outscored Cleveland’s 58-32.)

As impressive as it was to watch Thompson drop 32 without any free throws, what stood out to me most was the Warriors’ defense — particularly that of three reserves: Festus Ezeli, Kent Bazemore, and Draymond Green.  In large part because of their efforts, the Warriors were able to hold the Cavs to just 44 points in the first half.  Ezeli was most impressive to me… he really anchored the effort with two blocked shots and a whole bunch of alterations.  Bazemore was also a standout performer for his ability to stay in front of Kyrie Irving, but I’m going to assume that the aforementioned flu bug was also partially responsible for Irving’s 5-17 outing.  Anyway, during the eight minutes and 17 seconds where Bazemore, Green, and Ezeli were on the floor together the Cavaliers scored just 12 points.  According to my math, that equates to a pace of approximately 69 points per 48 minutes.  Utilizing both zone and man-to-man strategies, the Warriors bench basically sent the Cavs back to the pre-shot-clock era for 1/5th of the game.

Tristan wasn’t the best Thompson on the floor, but he was the best Cavalier.  Tristan battled valiantly on the interior and earned himself an 18/11 double-double, his eighth this month.  Thompson is averaging 15 and 11 in January, which… wow, that’s really damn good.

Lawrence Frank should be nominated for Hater of the Year for his treatment of Andre Drummond, who continues to not play nearly as much as it seems that he should.  In a blowout loss to the Bucks, Drummond had the best statistical game of his young career, posting 18 points, 18 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block… in less than 28 minutes.  With 5:31 to go and the Pistons down a billion, Snow White’s least-favorite dwarf, Frank Grumpy, pulled Drummond for good (he only had three fouls, mind you).  Had Drummond been left in the game he’d have likely become the youngest player ever to record a 20/20 in the NBA (Dwight Howard).  He’d have also done it in fewer minutes than Howard, as well as Joe Smith and Shaquille O’Neal, the next two players on the list.  So, instead of watching Drummond pursue historical dunks and rebounds we watched Jonas Jerebko brick jump shots while the camera repeatedly panned to shots of Drummond on the bench with a towel on his head.  Fuck you, Lawrence Frank.

I’ve come to the official conclusion that Brandon Jennings is the NBA’s streakiest scorer.  In Milwaukee’s last game, the win over Golden State, Young Money dropped all six of his buckets in a span of five minutes.  Tonight, he racked up 20 of his 30 points in the third quarter.  If this dude could ever put together even half a game of his best basketball he’d drop 50.  Oh wait…

Munta Elli’ have it awl: Monta Ellis, haver of it all, went 5-14 against the lowly Pistons.  He has now taken 233 shots in the month of January.  In taking those 233 shots he has scored 235 points.  If Ellis has a bad shooting night against the Bulls tomorrow he may very well pull a Michael Beasley for January.  Despite having it all, he’s shooting just 39% on the month.

Samuel Dalembert: he had like 50 dunks in garbage time.  He also had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double in 20 minutes.  This is why I called it Andre Drummond’s best statistical game.  I’m not saying he wasn’t good, because he was… but there was just a general lack of regard for such things as defense and boxing out for a good portion of this here game.  Both teams having 21 offensive rebounds and 50+ points in the paint pretty much says it all.

The Lakers won their third in a row, 111-106 over the visiting Hornets.  Once again, the big story is Kobe’s non-Kobe assists.  Having finished with 11, he now has a total of 39 in three games.  Needless to say, that’s like 39 more than he’s ever had during any other three-game stretch of his 17-year career.  The Lakers, inspired by Bean’s unselfishness, assisted on 34 of their 39 field goals on the evening, which is admittedly very impressive.  That said, this wasn’t a great win.  It was a good win, as any win is, but it was nothing amazing.  The Hornets kind of played like ass for most of the game and they still got to within, what, one point in the last couple minutes?  Some of the Lakers ol’ defensive issues were apparent despite the Hornets’ various stretches of inability to convert open shots — they matched the Lakers with 46 points in the paint, racked up 30 on the fast break, and Steve Nash… jesus, man, Steve Nash plays some awful fucking defense.

Some sketchy officiating definitely took place at a couple of different junctures.  Firstly, have you ever seen a referee rescind his own technical foul call?

The funniest part is that he didn’t even downgrade it to a delay of game.  He just took back the T and said, “my bad, Mr. Mamba!”  Whether it was accidental or not, a frustration dribble that sends the ball into the third row has to be something. Ironically, the Lakers were assessed a delay of game later on, which would’ve resulted in a Pelicans’ free throw had they been called for one earlier.  Also, maybe a travel?  No, okay then… but what about three seconds?

It seemed even more blatant on television than the screenshots make it out to be.  At the end of the day, however, I’m not THAT mad about the officiating, even if I’m a Pelicans fan.  New Orleans makes open shots, New Orleans wins this game.  The defense played by the Lakers was good and energetic on their standards (in all seriousness, they’re finally playing hard enough to win these games), but nothing that should’ve caused an NBA team to go 39-92 (42%).

Take another look at those screenshots of the three-second violation.  Notice that the world’s largest marshmallow is nowhere to be found.  After the game — the win, I should say — it whined (via ESPN):

“I’m a competitor, I’m a guy that thinks I bring a lot to the table, and not being on the floor is something that I don’t like, I don’t appreciate.”

“I think the finishing is more important (than starting),” Gasol said recently. “I think the best players should finish off games. That’s just the way it’s got to be. When the game is on the line, you want to be on the floor. That’s more important.”

That’s right, Pau, the best players should finish off games.  If you want to finish off games, maybe try being better than Earl Clark (20 points, 12 rebounds, immunity to three-second rule).

Highlight Recap, Dion Waiters Edition: I didn’t see much for highlights tonight, but this was a nice block…

Good morning, NBA fans, and welcome to the first ever NBA247365.COM video podcast!  This is something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while now, and with no one home to ask why I’m talking to my laptop at 3 AM I figured tonight was an excellent opportunity to give it a whirl!

First of all, if you decide to watch/listen to any portion of this podcast, I’d appreciate it immensely if you could leave me some feedback.  I don’t care if you loved it, hated it, or just thought it was okay — I want to know, and I encourage you to be honest.  If I did a terrible job, maybe I ought to stick to writing.  If the consensus is that this thing is half-decent, then I think I’d like to do it on a regular basis.  So PLEASE, if you partake in the podcast and have a moment to leave me a comment, send me a tweet (@NBA247OFFICIAL), or shoot me an e-mail (admin@nba247365.com), I’d be extremely grateful.

Without further ado…

I only intended for this to last 30 minutes.  Obviously I had no idea what I was doing. Anyway, hope you liked it!  Let me know!

Anyone who plays basketball in front of thousands of people for a living is going to end up getting photographed and/or videotaped in some compromising positions and/or doing some pretty weird looking stuff.  It’s simply inevitable (…isn’t that right, Kobe Bryant?).  That being said, Glen Davis seems to appear in various types of unusual photos and videos much more frequently than his peers.  For instance, I recently posted a video of Davis getting his open-mouthed face so close to that of Aaron Gray that it looked like he was trying to eat the Raptors’ center.  Now, just a few days later, he’s at it again (not eating people, just doing something strange):

First of all, Orlando’s 20-point loss to Brooklyn appears to have had all the lulz and I officially regret not watching it.  Secondly, how is this not a foul?  I understand that Davis prevented Wallace from landing awkwardly, but you can’t grab people out of midair, throw them over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and place them out of bounds, regardless of whether or not it impacts the play in any way.

Also, Glen, get your hand out the damn cookie jar.

Cavaliers 99, Raptors 98
***It wasn’t looking good for the Cavs with less than 50 seconds to go.  Kyrie Irving had turned the ball over, missed a layup, and displayed his frustration by putting his hands on his knees and watching as Dion Waiters bricked a long jumper.  Meanwhile, the Raptors exploited a defensive breakdown to take a two-point lead on an Amir Johnson dunk.  Following yet another Irving turnover, the Raptors had a chance to all but put the Cavaliers away by making it a two-possession game.  They failed to do so, however, and Irving would pick himself up by the bootstraps to make sure they paid dearly.  Off of Toronto’s blocked attempt to score on the inside, Irving pushed the ball in transition and finished the break himself with a spectacular layup, inspiring some of the finest Austin Carr commentary since LeBron James exploded on the Bucks.  That made it a tie game, but Jose Calderon answered with a driving layup of his own, re-establishing the Raptors’ two-point lead.  With 12 seconds and a big decision on his hands, Kyrie opted to go for the win.  Gilbert Arenas style.

Good choice.  Of the five game-winners Irving has already drilled in just 85 career appearances (!!!), I’d say this one has to be the coldest.  Irving, who’d been averaging just 14 PPG on 33% against the Raptors, finished with 32 points on 13-26.
***How ’bout Amir Johnson (18/12) and Ed Davis (16/9)?  Their respective averages for the month of January are as follows: 14/8 on 57%, 14/8 on 56%.  So, who’s interested in a seven-foot, three-point-shooting Italian?

Sixers 97, Knicks 80
***Raymond Felton returned.  Jrue Holiday made him wish he hadn’t.

Bobcats 102, Wolves 101
***Do you want to see the funniest thing ever?  Of course you do.  Click here.
***You know what else is funny?  How the game got to that point.  Prior to whatever happened on that decisive Bobcats’ possession, Ricky Rubio, — a 4.8 PPG scorer, 25% shooter — gave the Wolves a two-point lead on a driving reverse layup.  Just before that, Bismack Biyombo — a 4.6 PPG scorer — had tied the game with a layup of his own.  So, four of the last seven points in this thing were put on the board by two of the worst scorers in the entire league, and the other three by Gerald Henderson, who was essentially forced to throw up a prayer.  If only the Bobcats were in the Northwest Division… they’d be destined to win two extra games!
***It should probably be noted that Biyombo actually posted a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double (third one this season) on 4-4 from the floor.  He threw in a pair of blocks, of course.
***CJ and Jelly had relatively quiet games off the Minnesota bench.  They combined to score just 10 points, the fewest they’ve scored since joining the team.

Bucks 109, Warriors 102
***The Bucks trailed 55-51 at the start of the third quarter, which is basically when Brandon Jennings happened.  Jennings, in a span of just five minutes, drained six shots in a row, five of them three-pointers, during a 23-10 Bucks run.  His streak concluded when he pulled up about five feet beyond the three-point line for one of the most hilarious heat checks I’ve ever seen.  Contested by Jarrett Jack, Jennings launched his body forward like a long jumper and simultaneously catapulted the ball at the rim.  He didn’t make another shot the rest of the game.  Oddly, he hadn’t made one before stringing together six in a row, either.  So, all of Jennings’ field goals in a 20-point performance came during one five-minute stretch of the third quarter.  Indeed, that is the most Brandon Jennings thing ever.
***Despite Jennings’ fourth-quarter scorelessness, the Bucks did hang on and pick up a solid win over the Warriors.  In a game where both teams shot the ball poorly, they racked up 22 offensive rebounds to Golden State’s 12.  Larry Sanders and Ersan Ilyasova put in work in the paint, combining for 34 points and 23 boards (though Ilyasova’s streak of three consecutive games with 20 points did come to an end; he only had 18).

Jazz 114, Pacers 110 (OT)
***Say what you will about Al Jefferson’s defensive deficiencies, but few big men in the league today can dominate an overtime like Jefferson did this one.  It’s truly a rare luxury to be able to dump the ball down to the block and watch a guy hit jumpers, hooks, and scoop shots, which is precisely what Big Al did against the Pacers as he scored 8 of his game-high 25 in OT on 4-6 shooting.
***Though they didn’t play too well, credit the Pacers for refusing to die.  They trailed by six with 1:30 left in regulation and by that same amount with just 34 seconds to play in OT.  A couple of wild three-pointers go them back to within two, and Paul Millsap nearly gave them a shot at the win.  Up two with two second to go, all Millsap really needed to do was get the ball to a member of the Jazz.  He ended up getting it to himself after his pass deflected off the backboard (never, ever inbound the ball from directly underneath the backboard, kids).  It was a lucky break for Millsap and the Jazz — the corner of the backboard is considered inbounds, and since the ball deflected off another player Millsap was allowed to step across the baseline and catch his own pass.  Had he hit the back of the glass, which he nearly did, it would’ve been Pacers ball under their own hoop.

Blazers 101, Clippers 100 (Saturday)
***Click here.  Also, Nicolas Batum got his second triple-double in three games (20/10/12) as he managed to record his 10th board by corralling the game’s final missed shot.  Clutch.

Celtics 100, Heat 98 (OT)
***I hope you saw this game, because it was the best one I’ve seen all year (and I’ve watched my share of basketball).  There was a somber tone throughout as it was confirmed that Rajon Rondo had torn his ACL in Friday’s loss to the Hawks, but the Celtics certainly played inspired ball in his absence (though they didn’t yet understand the extent of the injury; Paul Pierce found out in his postgame interview).
***Jeff Green only scored 11 points, but his defense on LeBron James made him Boston’s standout performer.  Though LeBron finished with 34 points, he had a sub-par shooting game (14-31) and was forced to work for each and every bucket he scored down the stretch.  Green did a fantastic job of making James shoot contested jump shots, which is absolutely all that one can be expected to do.  Green also had a momentous dunk in the fourth quarter, which I’ll discuss later this afternoon.
***Watch three Celtics run at two Heat players just prior to LeBron’s game-tying three, leaving the King completely unguarded after a great screen from Shane Battier…

Woops.

***Speaking of LeBron James’ shooting, he’s converting just a fraction under FIFTY-FIVE PERCENT of his attempts from the floor this season… and that’s with 346 of those attempts coming from beyond nine feet.  Somehow, I was unaware of this.
***Paul Pierce went 6-16 and coughed up the pill on six occasions, but he also recorded a 17/13/10 triple-double.  Additionally, he stuck the pull-up jump shot that finally brought this battle to and end (damn you, Paul!).  Prior to that game-winning shot, note that Boston elected not to call a timeout, allowing Pierce to push the ball in transition and catch LeBron James backpedaling.  Considering the way the Celtics have been executing turning the ball over in crunch time lately, I’d say this was a wise decision.

***What the fuck, Dwyane Wade?

Lakers 105, Thunder 96
***When I said “we can talk” if the Lakers beat the Thunder, I didn’t really expect to have to talk to you.  I’m a man of my word, though, so let’s talk.  First of all, let’s talk about Russell Westbrook.  He sucked, and since he showed up wearing this I refuse to let him off the hook.  Westbrook shot just 6-22 (27%) and turned the ball over four times, essentially negating his near triple-double (17/9/13).  The vast majority of Westbrook’s bricks came from beyond the painted area, where he just plain isn’t shooting very well this season (34% between 16 feet and the three-point line).  Something I’ve noticed about Westbrook is that he’s been very feast or famine as far as his shooting.  Sunday’s loss to LA represents the 19th game in which Westbrook has been worse than 40% (and the 9th below 30%) from the floor.  That’s 19 games out of 45… nearly half… under 40%, and one of every five under 20%.  That seems pretty fucking terrible.  Consider this: the Thunder played 20 playoff games last season.  Assuming they make a similar run this year, Russ figures to shoot worse than 40% eight to nine times with four of those games being sub-20% performances.  Call me crazy, but I think that’s a problem.
***To break up a massive wall of text:

***On the flip side of the ball, Steve Nash probably had his best game as a Laker.  He looked confident in scoring the ball (17 points on 6-11), as demonstrated by the one-legged dagger shot he knocked down to put the Lakers up six with three minutes left.
***All Kobe Bryant needs to do to assure that the Lakers never lose again is get 9 rebounds and 14 assists, apparently.  These are the exact numbers Byrant has posted in each of the Lakers’ consecutive victories, along with 14 and 21 points respectively.  Maybe it’s that one missing rebound that does the trick — Kobe’s unselfishness displayed in his disregard of the triple-double is earning him good karma from the basketball gods.
***I refuse to pass any judgment as to whether or not the Lakers have “turned it around” based on a two-game win streak (in case you haven’t noticed, guys, the Cavaliers and Wizards are also on two-game win streaks).  I will, however, say this: if the Lakers simply sustain their present level of effort they’ll have won half the battle.  As I’ve pointed out numerous times, a lack of effort has been this team’s biggest problem.  It’s not really surprising that they’ve won a couple games now that they’ve suddenly begun to try.  What’s surprising to me is that they have in fact begun to try. As uninspired as they looked in Toronto, Chicago, and Memphis, I didn’t really see that coming.
***It’s worthy of note that both the Lakers’ opponents during this mini win streak have played like total ass.  The Jazz, who blew many opportunities in transition, couldn’t have fallen from a boat and hit water (42%), and neither could Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook (16-48, 33%).  Similarly, during the Lakers’ two-game win streak that preceded their loss to the Heat, the Bucks and Cavaliers shot a combined 38%.  Will the Lakers fold like a lawn chair the second they face a little adversity in the form of the other team not sucking?  We’ll just have to wait and see.

Pistons 104, Magic 102
***Brandon Knight and JJ Redick set/tied career highs with 31 points apiece.  Knight went 5-8 from downtown, but Redick was even more impressive from deep, finishing 8-11.  However, it was Knight who had the ice water flowing through his veins — he drained consecutive bombs in the final 2:30 to lead the Pistons on an 8-0 run that resulted in a five-point lead.  With one last chance to tie, Redick fired an airball.

Hornets 91, Grizzlies 83
***Any time the Grizzlies play you can pretty much expect to hear about it because Tony Wroten is my new favorite player.  Though Wroten shot just 1-7 in this disappointing Grizzly loss, he also did this:

***The Grizzlies struggled to contain the Pelicans’ jump-shooting bigs, Ryan Anderson and Jason Smith.  The two of them scored 38 points off the bench, 18 of which came in the fourth quarter.

Knicks 106, Hawks 104
***In his third 40-point game this month, Melo dropped 39+3, with the three being the game-winning and-one layup and ensuing free throw.  He also joined John Staks, Latrell Sprewell, and the great Toney Douglas as the only Knickerbockers ever to have rained nine three-pointers in a game.  For the record, I predict that this record will one day belong to Steve Novak.

***Self-proclaimed “max player” Josh Smith makes his case for a $100 million deal in the game’s final 52 seconds:

0:52 Josh Smith back court turnover
0:22 Josh Smith offensive foul (Raymond Felton draws the foul)
0:22 Josh Smith turnover
0:12 Carmelo Anthony makes driving layup   —   104-105
0:12 Josh Smith shooting foul (Carmelo Anthony draws the foul)
0:12 Carmelo Anthony makes free throw 1 of 1   —   104-106
0:02 Josh Smith misses 25-foot three point jumper
0:00 End of the 4th Quarter
0:00 End of Game

To be fair, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it looks.  The backcourt turnover was dumb and his defense of Anthony’s game-winning layup was poor, but the offensive foul (moving screen) was Jeff Teague’s fault and the three-pointer was one that he was forced to shoot as the ball happened to get deflected into his hands.

Clippers 96, Blazers 83 (Sunday)
***The Clippers finally snapped their four-game losing streak thanks in large part to the all-around dominance of Blake Griffin.  Without playing in the fourth quarter, Griffin recorded 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 9 assists (would’ve had 10 if not for Lamar Odom bungling an uncontested dunk).  Griffin dropped six dimes in the first quarter alone, helping his Clipper teammates to get into the flow.  As a team they ended up recording assists on 33 of their 37 buckets, which is pretty amazing.  Griffin was also proficient in his efforts to score the ball, finishing 9-15 from the floor.

***As badly as JJ Hickson got owned right there, I thought he actually played the standout game of all Trail Blazers (Aldridge was nice, but he’s an All-Star — he’s supposed to be nice).  On his way to racking up 15 and 9 on 5-9, Hickson successfully executed the following offensive maneuvers: step-back jump shot, Garnett shimmy-shake move, euro step.  Get that money, JJ!

Welcome to the first installment of my weekly post where I, Scott from Crabdribbles.com, bring to you the best performance and top five plays from the past week in the D-League. It’s pretty simple, really — if you play well and your team wins, you have a good chance to secure the week’s top honors. And as far as the to five plays plays go, simply throw down a thunderous dunk or score a game-winner and you’ll surely grab my attention. With that said, let’s get straight to it.

Performance of the Week

There were several great performances this week.  Here are four which just missed the cut:

• Sean Singletary put up 38 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds vs. Vipers on Monday night.
• Andrew Goudelock scored 28 points and the game-winning floater vs. Legends on Monday night.
• Luke Harangody posted a huge double-double (29/17) vs. BayHawks on Saturday night.
• Mike Davis had a career-high 25 rebounds vs. Legends on Saturday night.

But it really came down to a pair of performances from some NBA rookies — Jeremy Lamb and Tornike Shengelia.

On the 23rd, Lamb scored 30 points and pulled down seven boards in just 26 minutes vs. the L.A. D-Fenders. He was incredibly efficient, as he shot 12-16 from the field and 3-5 from the three. However, there’s a catch. As impressive as Lamb’s performance was, he put up big numbers against one of the worst teams in the league, and the 66ers crushed the D-Fenders by 23 points. For that reason, he gets runner-up honors for this week.

That leaves us with Toko Shengelia’s record-breaking performance in a 123-115 win vs. the Maine Red Claws on the 25th. Before we get to his monster stat line, there is something you should know about the Red Claws. In this year’s draft, the Boston Celtics drafted a defensive juggernaut by the name of Fab Melo. While he’s yet to crack the Celtics’ rotation, he has raised some eyebrows with his remarkable average of 3.63 blocks per game. He has registered five or more blocks four times in 19 games, and two days before Christmas Day he recorded his first triple-double as a pro (15 points, 16 rebounds and 14 blocks). So, not only was this a matchup against one of the best teams in the D-League, but also against one of the best low-post defenders.

After a tremendously slow start to the game (four turnovers and two points in the first quarter), Toko soon found his rhythm and wrapped up the night with 39 points (17-21 FG), 18 rebounds, six assists, and three steals. It was the most points scored by a member of the Armor since December 15th, 2009, and Toko’s 17 field goals is a new franchise record. Despite their best efforts, Fab Melo and the Red Claws’ defense could do nothing to slow down the Nets’ 54th overall pick. To be fair, I doubt that any team in the D-League could’ve stopped Toko that night.

Top Five Plays of the Week

This week’s top five plays feature Fab Melo, Hilton Armstrong, Dominique Sutton, Josh Selby, Dar Tucker and Andrew Goudelock. Hopefully the terrible commentating won’t ruin the awesomeness for you.

Follow Scott on Twitter @crabdribbles.