Mark Terrill- Associated Press
The never ending saga towards Lionel Hollins’ decision making continues in Brooklyn. Bojan Bogdanovic was inserted back into the starting lineup for the third time this season against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. The move benefitted the team greatly, as Bogdanovic scored 18 points on seven of thirteen shooting. It was one of his best games this season, where the rookie shooting guard showcased his aggressiveness. After being called out by Hollins earlier in the season, Bojan has started to respond in a positive way. The two for seven shooting from three-point range may be considered as a concern. In the end, Bogdanovic was fairly efficient from filling up the stat sheet in 37 minutes of action. The four rebounds and three assists came along with the high point total.
http://youtu.be/X6PYCHmBxIY
Bojan Bogdanovic’s aggressiveness stands out against the Los Angeles Lakers
There always seems to be some theatrics involving a Lakers game. Whether it’s by their antics or unwillingness to play good defense, highlights are bound to happen. Bogdanovic cut into the lane and dunked on Robert Sacre in a jaw-dropping moment. It was rare to see Bojan finish at the rim in such emphatic fashion. If you watch the highlights, you’ll notice how many of his plays finish at the hoop. This has to be a positive sign for Brooklyn, as they look to make a playoff push. The game ended in comical fashion, as Jeremy Lin had the audacity to complain about Bogdanovic scoring on a meaningless layup. A strange ending in a 114-105 win for Brooklyn.
Jeremy Lin gets annoyed by Bojan Bogdanovic
It was reported that Bogdanovic sprained his left ankle during Sunday’s practice. The injury caused him to miss Monday’s game at Denver. That didn’t seem to affect the Nets, who annihilated the Nuggets by 110-82 on Monday. The injury is considered day-to-day, which should make him questionable going into tonight’s game against New Orleans. Brooklyn finishes their ridiculous road stretch of eight games in Texas this weekend. They visit Houston on Friday and Dallas on Saturday in what are two challenging games. The week will end on Monday at home against the Golden State Warriors. This is arguably their most difficult stretch of the season, which comes at a bad time. Brooklyn is clinging onto a half game lead over Detroit for the final playoff spot. It will be pivotal for Bogdanovic to recover quickly to in helping Brooklyn not suffer from another extensive losing streak.
Brent Smith-Associated Press
As the weeks go by in the NBA season, one thing continues to be repetitive. The Golden State Warriors make some type of major impression on a weekly basis. It came from last Friday, when they beat the San Antonio Spurs 110-99 in convincing fashion. Golden State outscored San Antonio by a combined 62 to 39 in the second and third quarter. Andrew Bogut had a fairly productive night in contributing with four points, six rebounds, three assists, and three blocks. When big games come around, Bogut has become notorious in being impactful. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan were complete non-factors through not being able to find openings in the paint. Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry combined for 45 points in another statement win for the Warriors.
Curry suffered a foot injury, which led to Golden State being upset by the Indiana Pacers by a 104-98 margin. Bogut shot only two for seven from the field, but contributed positively with nine rebounds and four assists. In a fast paced affair, Andrew isn’t an ideal player to keep on the court for an extensive period of time. It was a disappointing performance, regardless of Curry’s injury. The best team in the Western conference that is so well rounded shouldn’t be losing to a mediocre Eastern conference team. Every team has off nights, but this was completely unexpected.
With Curry returning last night, Golden State was back in the win column through a 114-107 win over the Washington Wizards. Bogut was a complete non-factor with just two points and two rebounds in 20 minutes of action. The game did seem to be more fast-paced, due to the outstanding guard play on both teams. Marcin Gortat still found ways to be productive through scoring 16 points and securing eleven rebounds. Bogut seemed rather sluggish, which has become a tendency in recent weeks for some particular games.
Golden State has a busy week coming up in playing four games. The six-game road stretch continues on Thursday against Cleveland in a nationally televised game. They quickly head up north to take on the Toronto Raptors on Friday. We may see Bogut take Friday’s game off, as Steve Kerr looks to keep his players fresh going into the playoffs. They finish off the week on the east coast against Boston on Sunday and Brooklyn on Monday. It’ll be interesting to see if Bogut and Bogdanovic possibly compete against one another. We didn’t get to see much of that in their respective team’s first meeting.
Bill Streicher- USA Today Sports
The Indiana Pacers seem rejuvenated from the all-star break. They started off the week with arguably one of their best offensive performances on Friday. While it was against the lowly Philadelphia 76ers, fluid and precise ball movement was on display. Damjan Rudez had one of his better games in scoring 10 points on four of five shooting in 23 minutes of action. Rudez even contributed with two assists and two steals. His craftiness was on display, as you can see in the highlights below. For most of the season, Damjan has been mostly been a spot-up shooter. Now he’s starting to come into his own in being more comfortable through dribbling the ball and looking to be a playmaker. Indiana won 106-95 in Philadelphia.
Damjan Rudez makes a good impression against Philadelphia
A mild upset occurred on Sunday, when Indiana beat Golden State 104-98. While it was referenced above that Stephen Curry didn’t play, this had to be a major confidence booster for Indiana. Their winning streak had gone up to three games and they held Golden State to shooting just 38 percent from the field. Rudez was limited to just eleven minutes of action, but still managed to score on both of his shots. In a matchup against a fast-paced team like the Warriors, it was expected that Rudez would be limited. The speed of C.J Watson and Rodney Stuckey was needed against a smaller Warriors team.
The winning streak ended on Tuesday, as Oklahoma City took care of them with ease in a 105-92 victory. Despite Kevin Durant sitting out, Indiana was no match for Russell Westbrook and his triple double. Rudez shot just one for six from the field, including five of those shots being from three-point range. Damjan was able to take plenty of opportunities in 18 minutes of action, but failed to make an impression. That seems to be the case through every week of the season, when he’s receiving consistent minutes. It conflicts with one breakout game, then followed by one horrendous game.
Indiana has a fairly quiet upcoming week in playing just two games. They start a four game home-stretch against Cleveland on Friday. That leads to a rematch against Philadelphia on Sunday. After what has been a strange year, the Pacers are only one game out of the coveted eighth seed. The offense is starting to gel, along with the defense remaining stout. If Paul George can make his comeback within the next couple of weeks, things should get even more interesting for a team that hasn’t gotten much attention. It’s unclear if Rudez will remain in the rotation, if George were to come back. Indiana has been riddled by injuries all season. Let’s also not discount that Frank Vogel is unpredictable with his rotation on a nightly basis.
Bob Leverone- Associated Press
Justin Hamilton was part of a three-team trade on Thursday’s NBA trade deadline. Hamilton, Shawne Williams, and Norris Cole were traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. Despite superstar power forward Anthony Davis re-injuring his right shoulder, Hamilton hasn’t received any minutes yet. With Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca in the rotation, it’s hard pressed that Hamilton will be seeing any quality minutes. Justin goes from a team in need of size (Miami) to a team rich in size (New Orleans). This has to be considered a downgrade for his career.
Twitter: @Allen_Strk
Can we nominate biggest homer line this year. Defensive player of the year. Sometimes you have to wonder why people post.
@nyc-hrvat………..Their passion can be excused because they are young and are unable to sperate the emotions of rooting for one of our own – granted, an Aussie national team player – from reality. We all want to see hrvati achieve. But, sometimes people are blinded by their fandom and jersey-chasing ways.
yikes, defensive player of the year, must of been a joke
what is next, bogdanovic is player of the year!!!!!!!
some people on this site make no sense or influenced by what they read, need to think more before posting so quickly
I know. I’m still laughing. 🙂
OMG, Milane, I know!!!
It’s, like, so cray cray!
What we should do is gove Porcelian Doll Bogut an award for being able to play 75% of the season. Now, that is an accomplishment.
@Ziva
lol, you called it
“Homer statement of the year”
I am still laughing, some times it makes you wonder why certain people post on here.
We are getting so much spam these days so all of the comments coming in with URLs will go into the spam folder. PLease let us know and we will look for it. Also, please sign in and use one user name if possible. This will prevent your comments from going into the spam folder in the future. thanks.
@Maminjo,
I like Bogut too, however, not the defensive player of the year this year.
Anthony Davis
Serge Ibaka
Chris Paul
LeBron James
Joakim Noah
Tony Allen
are all ahead of Bogut in my opinion.
I posted a response with a couple of decent links to educate you, but I guess the site blocks messages with URLs
Homer statement? LOL.
Bogut has been consistently ranked at least a top five DPOY candidate by all pundits (with some solid statistics to back it up).
Here’s one I just found from ESPN that was posted late last season:
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/04/09/defensive-player-of-the-year-by-the-numbers/
It’s been the same story this season. Without even trying, I found an interesting ranking by Bleacher Report from last month with some interesting stats and commentary:
http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2335639-ranking-midseason-contenders-for-the-2015-nba-defensive-player-of-the-year-award/page/4
Essentially, they ranked him fifth but state that he would be much higher if it wasn’t for him missing those games this season due to injury.
So, to counter your comment… Bogut is the definition of DPOY.
However, these awards are still (at least partially) a popularity contest, so naturally, a player like Noah or Anthony Davis may win (even though Bogut is better defensively than both).
Homer statement of the year……..
Not unless Tony Allen, Noah, Anthony Davis all die.
Bogut is a very good and smart defender, but he is not DPOY material.
Bogut should win the DPOY this season.
Statistically, he was the best defensive center last season, but he missed like 15 games so that may have been a factor.
He, again, is the best defensive center I’m the league this year. With Golden State being first I’m the league, and their record being significantly better with him in the lineup… He should win it this year, despite missing those 14 games so far.