JAMES, BRYANT EARN WEEKLY HONORS
The Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant today were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played March 9-15. James was second in the league in points (34.0 ppg) and assists (10.8), and added 8.8 rpg, as the Cavaliers went 4-0 and clinched the Central Division title for the second time in franchise history (1975-76). Bryant paced the Western Conference in scoring (28.5 ppg) and added 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists, leading the Lakers to a 3-1 week.
Stats & Stuff
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich will become the 24th head coach in NBA history to have coached in 1,000 games tonight when the Spurs play at Oklahoma City. Popovich is the third winningest coach at the 1,000-game mark (675-323), trailing only Phil Jackson (721-279) and Pat Riley (716-284). Popovich's .676 regular season winning percentage ranks third all time, sitting behind Jackson (.705) and Billy Cunningham (.698). Among those who have coached 1,000 NBA games, Popovich is one of seven to have reached the 1,000-game mark with the same franchise. The others are Jerry Sloan (Utah), Red Auerbach (Boston), John MacLeod (Phoenix), Red Holzman (New York), Al Attles (Golden State) and Gene Shue (Washington).
Phoenix recorded the highest point total in the NBA this season in a 154-130 victory over Golden State yesterday; the Suns scored 56 fast-break points, the most since 1997, when the league began to track the stat. The Suns and Warriors combined for league-high 284 points this season. Denver ranks sixth in the NBA in assists (21.9 apg), putting the Nuggets on pace for the fifth straight season in which they would rank in the top 10 in that category. The catalysts behind Denver's assisting success are Chauncey Billups and Anthony Carter. Billups ranks 17th in the league in assists (6.2 apg), while Carter's 4.7 apg are the most in the NBA among players seeing fewer than 24.0 minutes per game. Portland is the only team with both members of its starting backcourt ranking among the NBA's top 20 in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Steve Blake is fifth in the league at 3.29, while Brandon Roy comes in at 2.65. Memphis' O.J. Mayo leads the Grizzlies and all rookies in scoring at 18.7 points per game and could become the ninth guard in the last 25 years to average 19 points per game in his rookie season. Mayo has made 115 of the Grizzlies' 301 three-pointers, 38.2 percent of the team's makes this season, which is the highest percentage in the NBA. Orlando's Dwight Howard leads the NBA in blocked shots (2.9 bpg) and in rebounding (14.0 rpg). Only four players in NBA history have led the league in both categories in the same season. (1973-74 was the first season blocks were kept as an official statistic.)
Howard is attempting to join: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, (1975-76 -- 16.9 rpg, 4.12 bpg), Bill Walton (1976-77 -- 14.4 rpg., 3.25 bpg), Hakeem Olajuwon (1989-90 -- 14.0 rpg, 4.59 bpg) and Ben Wallace (2001-02 -- 13.0 rpg, 3.48 bpg). The youngest player to pace the league in blocked shots since they were kept as an official stat was Marcus Camby in 1997-98 (24 years and 28 days old). If Howard should lead the league in that category, he would do so at 23 years and 128 days old. Since the 2004-05 season, Howard has recorded 21 20-point/20-rebound games. The next highest total during that span belongs to Kevin Garnett, who has recorded eight.
Should Chicago rookie guard Derrick Rose help lead the Bulls into this year's playoffs, he would become the sixth overall No. 1 pick since 1980-81 season to make his playoff debut as a rookie. Each of the previous times, the rookie was a big man: Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston in 1984-85), David Robinson (San Antonio in 1989-90), Chris Webber (Golden State in 1993-94), Tim Duncan (San Antonio in 1997-98), Andrew Bogut (Milwaukee in 2005-06) and Andrea Bargnani (Toronto in 2006-07). Atlanta's Joe Johnson has scored at least 30 points in four consecutive games.
During that stretch, Johnson is averaging 31.3 points, while shooting .527 from the field, .435 from the three-point line and .909 from the charity stripe. On the season, Johnson ranks 16th in scoring (21.6 ppg). Over his last four games, Denver's Renaldo Balkman is averaging 13.5 points and 12.3 rebounds (5.5 offensive), while shooting .575 from the field. Over his last 16 games, the L.A. Lakers' Lamar Odom is averaging 12.8 rebounds.
Today's Quote
TIGER WOODS, handicapping the NBA MVP race:
"D-Wade has now gotten himself into the conversation. He's doing more with less, obviously. But I think it's probably going to come down to LeBron and Kobe ... You can't take anything away from D-Wade. But MVPs are usually given to the guys who actually have a better supporting cast, for some reason."
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