Phillin' The Lane: Welcome to the NBA, Patty Mills
Basketball Australia's US correspondent Phil Moskowitz wraps another week of Aussies in action in the United States.
To be part of a professional sports team is an achievement that only a fraction of a percent of athletes can say they have accomplished. Further, to say that they not only got in the game but actually contributed as well is an entirely different segment of athletes, and Patty Mills can now say he is a part of that.
This week, Patty Mills scored his first NBA points by sinking a nine-foot jumper in the Trail Blazers’ 118-105 loss to the Utah Jazz. Mills also got a total of five minutes on court over the course of Portland’s four games this week.
In Mills’ first stint up with the Trail Blazers, he played in only one of the three games he was called-up for. In this second call-up though, he has been on court for three of the last four games.
Portland was 2-and-2 last week and has two games this week before the NBA All-Star Break this weekend. Hopefully Patty will continue to get time in games so that he can grow into the player the Trail Blazers hope he can become.
Due to the All-Star Break, the Milwaukee Bucks also have only two games coming up. Although, with the way they are playing right now, PTL is sure they wish they had at least two more.
The Bucks were 3-and-1 this week and have been playing the best basketball of the season over the past month. They even got a win against a tough Knicks team at Madison Square Garden without their leader Andrew Bogut playing.
Bogut left the game halfway through the first quarter with severe migraine headaches. He showed no signs of it affecting his performance though as he scored six points, grabbed three rebounds, and had one blocked shot in the first five minutes of the game.
Once Bogut departed, the Knicks came to life with the help of their big centre David Lee. Lee had only two points while Bogues was in; he had 19 by half time.
There was a noticeable difference with Bogut out of the lineup. Milwaukee had no answer for Lee down low, on either the offensive of defensive end.
Even with the limited playing time, Bogut managed to average 14.8 points, 8 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1 steal for the four games. He continued his hot shooting going 64.3 percent (27-for-42) from the field and also recorded his 20th double-double of the season when the Bucks lost 99-82 to the Orlando Magic.
After a few mediocre weeks, Houston Rocket David Andersen had his best performance of the past month. In a 119-97 win against the Golden State Warriors, Andersen scored eight points (4-for-6), had seven rebounds and one assist in 18 minutes on the court.
The last time Andersen played that many minutes in a game was on January 15th against the Miami Heat where he also totaled 18 minutes.
Also getting an increase in playing time once again this week was Ater Majok for the UConn Huskies.
Majok played a career-high 32 minutes in the Huskies’ 64-57 win over DePaul. In the game Majok had six points, a new career-high five blocks, four rebounds, and one assist. The win snapped UConn’s second three-game losing streak of the year.
UConn as a whole continues to suffer and fall in the Big East Conference standings. Even though they are only 4-6 and in 11th place in the Big East, only two games separate them from 6th place Louisville (who UConn lost to earlier in the week).
The Huskies’ schedule doesn’t get any easier this week as they visit #3 Syracuse and host Cincinnati (5-6) who is a half-game in front of them and also fighting for a spot in the Big East Tournament.
While UConn is fighting to make their conference tournament, AJ Ogilvy and Matthew Dellavedova are setting their sights on the SEC and WCC crowns. This past week, Dellavedova and the St. Mary’s Gaels took a step forward while Ogilvy and the Commodores took one back.
The Gaels (21-3) went 2-0 this week and are sitting in first place in the West Coast Conference, a half-game in front of #11 Gonzaga.
With the set of wins, St. Mary’s received more votes for the Top 25 then they have all year, and if it was the Top 30 teams instead of 25 they would be ranked.
Luckily, the chance to prove everyone they are a legitimate threat is this week when the Gaels travel to Gonzaga to face the Bulldogs (12/2 at 3pm AET).
At present it looks like the Gaels will make it to the Dance in March, but if they can beat Gonzaga and win outright they will be looking at claiming a very good seed.
On the other hand, Vanderbilt took a small step backwards having lost to a weak Georgia team, 72-58. The loss dropped the Commodores down to #24 and out of a first place tie with #2 Kentucky in the SEC.
In the loss, Ogilvy shot only 2-for-8 from the field and broke a streak of 12 straight games where he scored in double digits.
The Commodores can regain some of the momentum they had prior to the Georgia loss by beating #12 Tennessee for the second time in two weeks when they face off Wednesday February 10th at 11am AET.
Anatoly Bose of Nicholls State had another astounding performance this week, racking up 38 points against Stephen F. Austin. Bose was 11-for-22 from the field and made a season-high six 3-pointers in the process. He also grabbed six rebounds, added two assists and had one block in the 68-76 OT loss. Bose actually had a chance to win the game with three seconds left in OT, but missed the winning layup as time expired.
Lastly, Nathan Jawai rejoined the Minnesota Timberwolves after leaving the team for personal reasons last week. During his time in Australia he attended a training session with his former team the Cairns Taipans. Since rejoining the team he has not seen any time.
THE MOMENTS THAT MATTERED:
· Milwaukee vs Orlando - 6:28 remaining 4th Quarter: Bogut’s 10th rebound results in his 20th double-double of the season
· Portland vs Utah - 0:24 remaining 4th Quarter: Mills sinks 9ft jumper for first NBA points.
· UConn vs DePaul - 17:56-17:51 2nd Half: Majok two blocks in one DePaul possession.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEK:
· St. Mary’s vs #11 Gonzaga
· #24 Vanderbilt vs #12 Tennessee
· Will Patty Mills continue to get more court time in Portland?
· NBA All-Star Festivities
Follow PTL on twitter:
Lana
Again, worth noting that AIS graduate Brock Motum finally got some court time for Washington State, scoring a career high 10 points. Matt Massey also registered a career-high 18 points in a Gardner-Webb loss.
Add comment