Minneapolis/St. Paul – The NBA today named Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mo Williams as its NBA Western Conference Player of the Week for the week of Jan.12-18. This is the first such award for Williams in his 13 years in the NBA. Williams is the seventh Wolves player to win Player of the Week honors: Kevin Love (2 times), Nikola Pekovic, Al Jefferson (2), Sam Cassell, Kevin Garnett (15), Stephon Marbury.
For the week, Williams averaged 30.3 points (third in the NBA) and 6.3 assists (sixth in the Western Conference) in three games (all starts). He shot 50.7% from the field, 40.0% from three-point range and 84.6% from the free-throw line.
Williams began the week by scoring a franchise-high 52 points and leading the Wolves to a 110-101 win at Indiana. He also set a club record for points in a half with 37 in the second half. Williams matched team records for field goals made (19) and field goals attempted (33). He finished the game 6-for-11 from three-point range, matching his season-high for three-pointers made in a game (Nov. 28 at LAL). Williams also added seven assists, making it just the fifth time in the last five years that a player has scored 50+ points and dished out 7+ assists.
In the follow-up game, a 110-99 loss at Phoenix, Williams poured in 26 points, his seventh 20+ game of the season. He connected on five three-pointers, just the third time in his career he has hit 5+ treys in back-to-back games, and the first time since Feb. 25-26, 2010.
In a 113-105 win at Denver on Jan. 17, Williams pitched in with 13 points and seven assists.
Signed by the Wolves as a free agent this past summer, Williams is averaging 12.9 points and 6.5 assists in 31 games (13 starts) this season.