Scott Burns/USA Today Sports
The Golden State Warriors continue their push towards clinching a number one seed. They went through a relatively easy stretch within the past week. It began on Wednesday against the free-falling Detroit Pistons. Andrew Bogut played 30 minutes for the first time in a month. They needed him to guard star center Andre Drummond, who you can only contain. Bogut didn’t exactly do that, as Drummond scored 22 points and had 25 rebounds. It was a fairly decent game for Bogut with 12 points, six rebounds, and three assists. An athletic center will always be a difficult match-up for Bogut, due to his limitations. Golden State ended up holding on for a 105-98 win.
Bogut was given the night off in Golden State’s 114-103 loss to the Denver Nuggets. They’ve built up a size-able lead in the Western conference to have the privilege in resting their stars. The starters were back for the following night against the lowly New York Knicks. Golden State handled them easily for a 125-94 victory. Andrew was reduced to 22 minutes from the blowout win. A four-point, five-rebound, and three-assist showcased a typical solid performance for the seven footer. The game was highlighted by a signature ally-oop from Stephen Curry to Bogut.
https://youtu.be/35VdDY0vWeM
Bogut throws it down from a lovely pass from Curry
Golden State finished the week with a scare from the lowly Los Angeles Lakers. Bogut played over 30 minutes again, which is rare for him in a week span. The Lakers gave them a scare through shooting 45 percent and out-rebounding them by 45 to 37. Eventually the duo of Klay Thompson and Curry took over in securing the 108-105 win. Andrew contributed with eight points, seven rebounds, and three assists in another solid game. This win officially puts Golden State in the playoffs, which starts in a month. At 53-13, it’s been a remarkable season for the west coast powerhouse.
A rigorous week awaits Golden State with five games in a week span. The week couldn’t start any bigger with a home game against the Atlanta Hawks on national television. It’s too early to say this is an NBA finals preview, but it wouldn’t be a complete surprise to see both teams against each other in June. They continue their home stretch against New Orleans on Friday and Utah on Saturday. The home stretch ends on Monday against Washington. Golden State finishes the week at Portland, which could be a potential playoff preview.
Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
It was a relatively quiet week for Brooklyn Nets. As they’ve gone through a five-game losing streak, Bojan Bogdanovic continues to produce off the bench. That production hasn’t exactly pushed the Nets over the top. The losing streak continued in a playoff-implicated game against the Miami Heat. A 104-98 loss against a Miami team without upstart center Hassan Whiteside has to be considered very disappointing. Bogdanovic contributed with eight points, three rebounds, and two assists in 26 minutes of action. Bojan continues to out-produce the current starting shooting guard Markel Brown.
The losing streak finally ended against the lowly Philadelphia 76ers in a 94-87 win. Despite shooting two for eighteen from the three-point range, Brooklyn held on in another underwhelming performance. Bogdanovic’s minutes were reduced to 16 minutes in scoring just two points. It was a strange game that had Jarrett Jack and Deron Williams play more together. While it wasn’t the most productive performance, Brooklyn earned a much-needed victory led by Thaddeus Young. Lionel Hollins relied on his stars in what was a must-win game against an inferior opponent.
The long-awaited breakout game finally occurred for Bogdanovic. After what has been a decent few weeks for the rookie shooting guard, he finally broke through with a sensational performance. Bojan scored 21 points on ten of fifteen shooting. The most impressive part of his game was only attempting three-pointers. From contributing on the fast break and cutting into the lane within half-court sets, Bogdanovic has never looked more comfortable. If you watch the highlights below, you’ll see that Bojan even scored on a few isolation plays. With fellow rookie Andrew Wiggins stealing headlines recently, it was the forgotten Croatian that outplayed him in Brooklyn’s 122-106 win.
https://youtu.be/ZN0V3jbB3fM
Bojan Bogdanovic has the best game of his career
Brooklyn is sitting at 27-38, which makes them two-and-half games out of the final playoff spot. This is another big week with four games against Eastern conference teams. The week doesn’t start in a pleasant manner against the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road. They return to their home floor against Milwaukee, which will be another entertaining Jason Kidd reunion. A quick trip to Indiana in a game with massive playoff implications occurs on Saturday. The week ends on Monday against the Boston Celtics in another major game to close down on the final playoff spot. Brooklyn will be receiving a true litmus test through these respective games.
Kim Klement/USA Today Sports
The Indiana Pacers continue their playoff push in securing a spot within the last two-playoff seeds. A crucial win over the Milwaukee Bucks in overtime helped greatly. They continue to play with a deep bench and play stout defense in derailing their opponent’s momentum. Damjan Rudez was an afterthought in 13 minutes with one missed shot. With Rodney Stuckey and Luis Scola combined for 42 points off the bench, it left Rudez to be mostly a spectator. Indiana’s 109-103 win pushed their winning streak to seven games.
Their incredible winning streak came to an end against the Boston Celtics. Indiana failed to support George Hill’s breakout 30-point game. The offensive issues are still prevalent without Paul George. Rudez continues to struggle, as he missed all four of his shots in 11 minutes of play. When his shooting is off, that usually leads to a poor stat line. His game has simply not evolved from being more than a spot up shooter. You’ll see flashes of him making a nifty pass or a floater against a lesser talented team. Besides those flashes of brilliance, Rudez is reduced to being a spot up shooter and will have dud games through relying on his one offensive attribute. Damjan played two minutes of garbage time in Indiana’s 117-98 loss against the Toronto Raptors on Monday.
Indiana is clinging onto the seventh seed at 30-36. They are tied with Miami and Boston for the final seeds. Four games out of six days will be a significant challenge for them. It doesn’t help that their road trip begins against Chicago tonight and continues with Cleveland on Friday. They return home against Brooklyn on Saturday in another huge game. The week ends at home against the Houston Rockets on Monday. When it comes to litmus tests, it doesn’t get much bigger. Three playoff teams and a playoff hopeful (Brooklyn) is a true litmus test in determining their playoff stock. It’s yet to be determined how Rudez will be utilized following a horrid week.
Darren Abate/AP Photo
Justin Hamilton has finally received meaningful playing time for an NBA team. It started on Wednesday against the Phoenix Suns, where the seven-footer from LSU scored 15 points on seven of twelve shooting. With Nikola Pekovic struggling with an apparent foot problem, Hamilton has taken advantage of the extended minutes. Minnesota ended up losing by a score of 106-97.
The good times continued as Hamilton played the most minutes ever (at the time) in his career against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite not starting, Justin managed to receive 34 minutes and earned a double-double. A 17 point and 10 rebound effort received major praise from the coaching staff. They’ve given him an opportunity with no other centers on the roster and Hamilton has excelled. His ability to play help defense and find openings on the low block were shown in the video below. Minnesota lost 113-99 in a highly competitive game, until the fourth quarter.
https://youtu.be/7mqWiqTfVCE
Hamilton finally showcases his ability against Oklahoma City
Due to his surprise play, Hamilton received his first start in Minnesota against the San Antonio Spurs. Another double-double was narrowly missed, as Justin scored nine points and ten rebounds through 37 minutes of action. It was surreal to see him defend Tim Duncan on various occasions. This is a player that couldn’t see the court just a week ago. Despite Minnesota once again losing by double-digits in a 123-97 defeat, these have been promising performances for a player needing any sort of opportunity.
Hamilton finished the week by playing 33 minutes in a 122-106 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. Once again, the seven foot center reached double digits with fifteen points on six of fourteen shooting. His ability to hit open mid-range jumpers have become apparent through watching him progress. Teams have to respect his outside stroke, otherwise they’ll regret it. With Minnesota at 14-52, the coaching staff will be looking at which young players to keep for next season. Hamilton couldn’t have made a better first impression so far.
Twitter: @Allen_Strk
Croats around the NBA? I wish. Seriously, Bogdanovic, Bogut, & Rudez? Why even bother?
Despite being spawns of the devil, look at the play of Pekovic, Vucevic, Dragic, etc…Not even close.
Rob I says:
i read in an article that he wants to play for Cro, he said ‘i want to follow in the footsteps of Sammir’
In fact, Eduardo was the first…..article link?
David Skara on Valpo is from Zadar so there’s another guy
Sammir is our Jackie Robinson.
He paved the way!
i read in an article that he wants to play for Cro, he said ‘i want to follow in the footsteps of Sammir’
But does he speak Croatian??????
U of Kentucky player Trey Lyles, born in Canada to a Croatian mother Jasenka and an African American father…..
There goes my bracket. A big FU to UAB
I agree…..although those team still had low post presence. Spurs still went down low to Duncan and even Diaw.
Heat not so much, but they did use Lebron in the post where he would kick it out most of the time. Wade also would post up sometimes against the guards that were covering him.
Dallas, at times, had Dirk in the low post.
But, I agree with your overall comments. Outside of Iguadala (spelling???), they rarely do anything with a low post halfcourt set. Maybe Lee at times, but most of his points come from broken plays.
I’m surious to see what happens with the Warriors in the playoffs. I love how they play but I am not sure if it will work in the playoffs. Would love to see them in a series against Memphis because of the different styles in play.
@ ziva
i think you’re off there. when was the last time a non-jump shooting team won in the finals?!
2014: San Antonio Spurs: best 3 point shooting team in the league. Tied all time record attempting 118 3s in the first 5 games of the finals
2012-2013: Miami Heat: Top 5 3 point shooting team
2011: Dallas: Top 3 , 3 point shooting team
The game has evolved where team’s have learned the value of the 3. The old mythology against it is out. it’s simply math. 3 is worth 50% more than 2
Now, I have no clue if the Warriors can do this in the playoffs and win it all. When was the last time a jump shooting team won the NBA title. The game is going more in this direction, but the Warriors are going to be a good case to see if this style works in the playoffs. The deeper you go in the playoffs, the more it becomes a half court game based on who gets the most execution from their set plays.
I wont be paying attention to the NBA for the next three weeks. Time for March Madness.
@ the beast
ziva is right on this one! The warriors are tops in the league in offensive efficiency
http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats
things are firing on all cylinders. They would gain very little from bogut post ups etc. The game is built on space and pace with the warrior launching tons of 3s and shooting them well. Boguts roll is to set screens, roll to the basket, and not mess the flow of curry and thompson up
Do you watch the Warriors play? They don’t need scoring from him. They play outside-in and need him for what he is currently doing. He is perfect in his current role. Plus, he is not the same physically as he was with the Bucks.
Why doesn’t Bogut look to score more in the post? I bet Bogut is the lowest scoring center on a contender. Can Bogut stop being so passive and start being aggressive in the post like he was in Milwaukee.
To see Rakitic play his game along side Messi and Co is AWESOME!
That was a big time poise and skill to score the deciding goal of the match today. It took something special to beat Hart today and Rakitic came through. I think he is ready to bring his best the Vatreni.
If Messi was Croatian I would start a separate site for him to simply wax poetic about his iLLmatic skills. It looked like they filming for a video game or something. He likes rockin with Raketa.
@ NK
Much respect to your heart for the game BUT you got come correct with a system that allows Modric and Rakitic to dominate. Jebi ga, throw Badelj in CDM and let our majstori regulate the flow.
@ Alen
Big time leadership with this weekly segment. Happy that Bogdanović is expressing his talents this year. He will be beast at the EuroBasket.
Can’t wait to see you how young phenoms in the league. Šarić will be a 3 and Hezonja will be 2. Then your segment will be poppin.
Off his chest and over Joe Harts head.
was it a header?
And in other news. Rakitic just scored for Barcelona in UEFA.
Statistically, Bogut is the best defensive center in the league.
Golden State are having a great season, but if they want this success to continue on the playoffs, they absolutely need Bogut.
Kerr is a good coach. He’s trying hard to keep Bogut rested for unimportant games, but not too much causing him to be too inactive.
I’m a big fan of metrics in sports. It tells you a lot about an individual player. It can’t predict the future, but it gives you an idea what you can expect from a team or player.
For kicks, i thought i’d add in a little advanced stats color on these guys
Recently espn has unveiled it’s real plus/minus stats
Regular plus/minus simply measures how much a player’s team outscores opponents when they are on the floor
real plus/minus adjusts those stats for the quality of the opponents you play with and against
For example, kendrick perkins would’ve ranked up incredible regular +/- stats b/c he always played with durant and westbrook and consquently won even though perkins is a pretty terrible player
Here are the stats for bogut, bogdanovic, and rudez on a real plus/minus basis and where they rank in the nba
Bogut
Defense +/-: +5.8 #1
Offense +/- -1.74 #342
Total +/- : +4.12 #25
Bogdanovic
Defense: -3.07 #447
Offense: -.21 #162
Total: -3.28 #395
Rudez:
Defense: -1.59 # 361
Offense: -1.3 #294
Total: – 2.9 # 372
Conclusions:
– Bogut is an awesome defender. This is known for some time and supported by many other advanced stats as well. Opponent shoot terribly near the rim when bogut is within 5 feet
– Bogdanovic is a terrible defender. And Rudez is a terrible on defense for a big man as big’s usually have positive defensive impact
– Neither Bojan or Rudez are that good this year. hopefully they improve
another wanna be………I feel you
Listen, I have never doubted Porcelain Doll Bogut’s ability to play the game. He is smart, very smart. I never considered him an all star level player, but I consider him a very important piece for a championship team. Question has always been his durability.
Rabble Rabble Porcelain doll Bogut Rabble Rabble