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Week 11 Rewind: 10 things to know from the past 7 days in the NBA

Game-winners galore, Jaylen Brown drops 50, another 3-point record for Curry and more from Week 11 in the NBA.

Brian Martin, for NBA.com

DeMar DeRozan is the 1st player to hit game-winning buzzer-beaters in back-to-back games since the start of the play-by-play era (1997-98).

Game Winners

We have to open this week’s rewind with a look back at the game-winning shots from around the league as Memphis, Sacramento, Detroit and Chicago (twice) got some clutch shots this week. We’ll start with the buzzer-beaters:

1. DeRozan delivers a duo of game-winners

Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan closed 2021 and started 2022 with game-winning buzzer-beating 3-pointers against Indiana and Washington. Both game-winning shots came on the road and both came with Chicago trailing. Thanks to DeRozan’s clutch buckets, the Bulls extended their win streak to seven games and closed Week 11 sitting atop the Eastern Conference standings.

First up is the New Year’s Eve Heave in Indiana. With the Bulls trailing by one, DeRozan dribbled out the remainder of the clock and rose up for a one-legged 3-pointer from 27 feet that found nothing but net. The shot received four Horrys on the Horry Scale based on game situation (Bulls trailing by one) and the degree of difficulty of the shot.

One day later and 500 miles traveled, the Bulls were in a similar situation, trailing late in the fourth quarter in a single-possession game. After Kyle Kuzma put the Wizards up by two with four seconds to play, the Bulls called timeout and had a sideline out-of-bounds play. The inbounds pass went to DeRozan in the corner, who pump-faked to evade one defender, then rose up as Bradley Beal came over to contest. But there was no stopping the shot as it splashed through at the buzzer.

This game-winner also earned four Horrys or the Horry Scale and had plenty of fellow NBA stars lauding DeRozan’s performance.

 

2. Chimezie Metu saves the Kings

The Kings led the Mavericks by 13 points in the second half, but squandered the lead and found themselves down by two points with 3.8 seconds to play. The sideline inbounds pass went to De’Aaron Fox outside the 3-point line, he immediately drove past Jalen Brunson and got into the lane. That forced Dwight Powell to leave his man in the corner and come help to prevent a game-tying layup. Fox whipped a one-handed pass to the right corner, where Chimezie Metu was waiting. Catch, shoot, splash, game.

Entering that game against Dallas on Wednesday, Metu was shooting just 24.1% (20-83) from 3-point range on the season and had made just 3-21 (14.3%) over his previous six games. But Fox called his number and he delivered Sacramento’s second game-winning buzzer-beater of the season.

 

Here’s two more game-winners that came just before the final buzzer sounded:

3. Ja Morant sinks the Suns

Ja Morant ranks third in the league in points in the paint at 14.3 ppg. In last Monday’s win over Phoenix, Morant scored 20 points in the paint, none bigger than his final two as he drove the lane, elevated, hung in the air long enough to switch hands and put up the shot before falling to the court as the ball fell through the hoop with 0.5 seconds remaining.

4. Saddiq Bey starts the year with a Pistons win

There was something about the left corner 3 on New Year’s Day as it was the spot for two game-wining 3-pointers. In addition to DeRozan’s shot in DC, Saddiq Bey splashed in a corner 3 with 1.9 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Pistons to a 117-116 win over the Spurs. The hammer play is one that the Spurs made famous, so there is a bit of irony of the Pistons using it to take them down on New Year’s Day. Watch as the pass from Derrick Walton Jr. skips just by Jakob Poeltl’s foot to reach Bey in the corner, who rises up for the contested three over two defenders.

5. Jaylen Brown’s 50-point night

Boston’s Jaylen Brown posted the third 50-point game of the 2021-22 NBA season as he joins Stephen Curry (50) and Kevin Durant (51) in the club. He also become only the seventh player in the storied history of the Boston Celtics to score 50 in a game.

Brown had scored 26 points through three quarters before exploding for 21 in the fourth to help rally Boston back into the game. With 4:20 remaining in the game, the Celtics trailed by 14 points; Brown would score 14 points on 6-7 shooting as Boston outscored Orlando 18-4 to force overtime and eventually prevailed 116-111.

6. Steph Curry breaks own his own 3-point record

Technically, that headline is true for every 3-pointer that Stephen Curry makes for the remainder of his career as he will continue to extend his mark for most career 3-pointers made (he became the first to reach 3,000 3s this week). However, Curry broke another one of his 3-point marks on Saturday as he made a 3-pointer for the 158th consecutive game, breaking his mark of 157 set in 2016.

Curry has made at least one 3-pointer in every game he’s played since Dec. 1, 2018. To put Curry’s dominance in this category in true context, here is the list of longest streaks in league history with at least one 3-pointer made.

1. Stephen Curry: 158 games (12/1/18 – present)
2. Stephen Curry: 157 games (11/13/14 – 11/3/16)
3: Kyle Korver: 127 games (11/4/12 – 3/2/14)
4: Jordan Clarkson: 99 games (1/29/20 – 10/30/21)
5. Klay Thompson: 95 games (12/11/16 – 1/8/18)

Only one other player in league history has put together a streak of at least 100 straight games. I mean, even the best shooters in the world have off nights, but when it comes to Steph, even on an off night, he’s still getting at least one triple to go down. Looking back at Curry’s career, he’s only had 48 games out of 795 played (6%) in which he did not make a 3-pointer.

If that first list didn’t prove Curry’s dominance enough, maybe this one will as we look at the longest active streaks with at least one 3-pointer made.

1. Stephen Curry: 158 games (12/1/18 – present)
2. Donovan Mitchell: 39 games (4/7/21 – present)
3. Fred Van Vleet: 37 games (4/21/21 – present)
3. Luke Kennard: 37 games (5/14/21 – present)
5. D’Angelo Russell: 28 games (5/16/21 – present)

Speaking of consecutive 3-pointers made by a Warriors guard, we have to shout out this clip of Klay Thompson draining 24 straight 3s during Warriors shoot around as he continues to build his way back to a return to play following a two-season absence.

7. LeBron keeps rolling

LeBron James continues to defy the logical arc of a basketball career as he is posting incredible numbers in his 19th season in the league.

LeBron saw his seven-game streak of scoring 30 or more points snapped on Sunday as he finished with 26 in Los Angeles win over Minnesota. LeBron’s seven-game run of 30-point games is the longest in the league this season – Trae Young and Kevin Durant are the only other players to have five-game streaks.

LeBron leads the NBA with 15 30-point games so far this season in only 26 games played – he’s scoring at least 30 points in 57.7% of his games played. There are 12 players with at least 10 30-point games this season. LeBron has the highest percentage of games with 30 points among that group – Kevin Durant is second as he’s scored at least 30 points in 48.3% of his games (14 of 29 games played).

Posting his highest scoring average in over a decade (28.5 ppg), LeBron is on pace to pass Karl Malone for second on the NBA’s all-time scoring list in just 29 games as he currently trails by the Mailman by 821 points.

8. Year in Review

As 2021 closed, we had a lot to look back and enjoy from the past 365 days of hoops. Here are a few articles and videos to celebrate the best of 2021.

9. Stat Leaders of the Week

For games played Dec. 27, 2021 – Jan. 2, 2022, with a minimum of two games played

Points: James Harden: 35.3 ppg in three games played for Brooklyn (1-2). Harden was one of four players to average over 34.0 ppg (Joel Embiid 35.0, Ja Morant 34.7, LeBron James 34.5) this week.

Rebounds: Clint Capela: 18.0 rpg in three games played for Atlanta (1-2). Nikola Vucevic was the only other player to average more than 16 boards at 16.3 rpg.

Assists: Bradley Beal: 13.5 apg in two games played for Washington (1-1). Harden was the only other player to average over 11 dimes at 12.7 apg.

Steals: Hamidou Diallo: 5.0 spg in two games played for Detroit (1-1). Facundo Campazzo and OG Anunoby were the only other player to average more than three steals per game at 3.5 each.

Blocks: Robert Willams III: 3.7 bpg in three games played for Boston (1-2). Herbert Jones and Jarrett Allen were tied for second at 3.0 bpg.

3-Pointers Made: Fred VanVleet (TOR, 2-0) and Stephen Curry (GSW, 1-1): 5.5 3pm in two games played each. Kevin Love was the only other player to average over five 3s per game at 5.3 3pg.

10. Plays of the Week

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