The votes are in and final, and here we announce the Players of the Week
and Rookies of the Week for Week 3!
East –
Kobe Bryant
Kobe has opened this season in blistering old school form and carried the
Raptors to a 12-2 start, 2nd in the East. This week, he’s a clear
POTW with over half the 1st place votes and 20 votes clear of LeBron.
He dropped 30.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists on 50% shooting, 57% from
deep and 100% from the line, and only turned the ball over 2.3 times with all
that handling. Beast. Will he slow as the season progresses? Possibly, but for
now we all ride the Kobe nostalgia train and marvel at the man that he has been
for 19 seasons, before he finally bows out. What a farewell parade it would be
if he carried these Raps to a title! Congratulations Kobe on Week 3 POTW.
West –
Jrue Holiday
This week West player was a no brainer. With 95% of the 1st
place votes it was very clearly the comeback kid Jrue Holiday as he lead the
Mavs to a 4-0 week and to the top of the West standings. Jrue has been much
maligned over the past couple of seasons due to leg stress reaction concerns,
but he’s currently putting those behind him for now and he blasted the
opposition for 26.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1 steal, 0.5 blocks and
a miniscule 0.8 turnovers, while shooting it 54%, 67% from deep (only 3
attempts) and 91% from the line. Flat out ridiculous. Even if you ignore
everything else, 0.8 turnovers? From a high usage point guard? I dub thee, “Fort
Knoxâ€, cause nobody is stealing from this guy! Congratulations Jrue on Week 3
POTW.
West
Rookie – Emmanuel Mudiay
Dallas do the double this week! Mudiay was the clear choice by 95% 1st
place votes to claim the rookie of the week award for the 2nd time
this season. He helped Jrue take the Mavs to 4-0 as the faithful offsider to
Jrue playing shooting guard. His week was arguably more impressive than his
week 1 win of this award as he compiled averages of 20.5 points, 4.0 rebounds,
6.5 assists (nearly 3 more than week 1) and 1 block on 46% shooting. He took up
more of the ball handling duties this week as he gets more confidence in his
game, and the speedy two pronged guard attack has been working wonders. He
managed to make it into this week despite reports of an injured ankle, but
right now he’d be considered shakey for Week 5. Regardless, the Mavs have a gem
here and will ride him as long as the rookie wall allows! Congratulations
Emmanuel on 2X ROTW.
East
Rookie – Karl-Anthony Towns
The Bucks struggled
through a 1-3 week in week 3, but a bright spot for them was again Karl-Athony
Towns taking out the conferences rookie crown. It was no contest in the voting
with all but 1 vote for him going 1st place, and he, like Mudiay,
had an even better week than in his week 1 ROTW win. He averaged 15.5 points,
12 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 steals on 50% shooting and had the 2nd
lowest +/- of the Bucks starters of the week at -1 (2nd to Harris at
+3.8). Towns and Zinga look to be sharing this award thus far, but the maturity
shown from the young big man in a playoff team shows he’s probably further ahead
in his development in the NLL currently. His skillset and confidence in that is
growing daily and we’re sure to see him on this podium again soon.
Congratulations Karl on 2X ROTW.
Congratulations
to the winners in Week 3, and may the odds be forever in your favour!
