NBA Eye From An Indian Guy: Silent Assassins

- Karan Madhok / @hoopistani

It’s been a big week for NBA worldwide. The Jeremy Lin Show and the surging New York Knicks continued to be the most inspiring story of the season. A host of fresh faces headlined the rosters announced for the All-Star events in Orlando this weekend. The Lakers continued to be a juggernaut of alternatively good and bad basketball. And Kevin Durant's 51 points to end the weekend is the talk of the town in NBA circles.

But the most important stories in the league right now may be the quietest ones. In the West, never a stranger to being overlooked, the brilliant San Antonio Spurs stretched their winning streak to 10 games, the last of which came in overtime against a tough Clippers squad. And in the East, lost in the headline-making shuffle of Lin and the Knicks has been a dominant run by the Miami Heat, who have won nine of their last 10 games, many of them by blowout margins. Perhaps for the first time since LeBron James’ "Decision", the Heat did it with the media spotlight pointing elsewhere.

The Spurs are accustomed to being the NBA’s ‘Silent Assassins’, and for LeBron, Dwyane Wade, and the Heat, the respite from media attention turned out to be a boon as they went on their business with scary efficiency. Here’s a recap of their games on Indian TV, and some of the other big games that I watched this past week.

Wednesday: Jazz @ Thunder

The Thunder have been the best in the West throughout the first half of the season, and have done it behind their incredible scoring combo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, who are third and fifth respectively in scoring this season. Added to their scoring prowess is the 17 points per game averaged by Sixth Man of the Year candidate James Harden, and you have one of the league’s best ‘Big Threes' in Oklahoma City. It was Harden who stepped up in this Western Conference showdown against the Jazz, scoring 22 off the bench, while both Durant (21) and Westbrook (16) enjoyed a relatively quiet night. The Thunder charged out the gates early and headed to a 111-85 win.

Thursday: Nuggets @ Mavericks

Although they might feature the reigning Finals MVP, the Mavericks’ biggest strength is perhaps their depth. A multitude of different faces contribute for them offensively every night, and against the Nuggets, they faced a team which works on a similar philosophy of sharing their offensive load down to the eighth or ninth player. It was the depth of the champions that would put their stamp on this game – the Mavs had a great first quarter from which the Nuggets struggled to recover from. Six players scored in double digits for the Mavericks as they cruised to a 102-84 win.

Friday: Celtics @ Bulls

No Rose, no Hamilton, no problem. Even a full strength, Boston wasn’t good enough to keep up with Chicago, once again playing without the reigning MVP on their side. First-time All Star Luol Deng has been stepping up big in Rose’s absence, and had another great game to justify his All-Star selection as he had 23 points and 10 assists. It was a game of streaks, with both teams see-sawing up and down throughout the game. In the end, Deng, Carlos Boozer, and Joakim Noah made it okay for Chicago fans to see Rose sit out once again, as they helped their side to an 89-80 win over the veterans from Boston.

Saturday: Heat @ Cavaliers

LeBron James returned to the court that he once dominated and to the fans that once loved him. That love has since turned to scorn, but the Cavs have been able to shift their attention to the future and to build around brilliant new rookie Kyrie Irving this season. Unfortunately for them, they ran into a Miami team playing their best stretch of basketball this season. Miami outscored Cleveland, 35-14, in a dominant first quarter and never looked back. James scored 28 points as he and Wade got plenty of rest in another blowout win, 111-87.

Sunday: Spurs @ Clippers

The battle between two of the best teams in the West was also a battle between two point guards both vying for MVP respect this season: Tony Parker and Chris Paul. Parker has been the main offensive force for an underrated, but nearly unstoppable Spurs side, while Paul’s play has completely rejuvenated the Clippers and taken them to the top of the Pacific Division. While Parker dominated the whole game, Paul picked up his own slack in the fourth quarter and helped the Clippers make a great comeback to tie the score. A mistake by Paul, though, gave Gary Neal an opportunity to hit a game-tying 3-pointer and take this exciting game into overtime. The Spurs prevailed in the extra period, 103-100, behind 30 points and 10 assists from Parker. Blake Griffin had his first 20-20 night (22 points, 20 rebounds) and Chris Paul added 21 points, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Spurs from winning their tenth straight.

... And the rest of the weekend

The Thunder made history in their Sunday night win over Denver, as it was the first time a team had someone score over 50 (Durant), someone score over 40 (Westbrook), and someone have a triple-double (Ibaka) in the same game. Meanwhile, ‘Linsanity’ continued in New York as Jeremy Lin had 28 points and a career-high 14 assists to beat the reigning champs Mavericks. The Suns and the Lakers traded back-to-back games home and away, with the home team prevailing each time.

Coming to your TV sets this week: Wed – 76ers @ Grizzlies, Thu – Lakers @ Mavericks, Fri – Knicks @ Heat. And then, it’s the NBA All Star Weekend!