For Week 9, Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard and Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden have been named the NBA Players of the Week.
Portland won six out of their last seven games, and went 2-1 on the week with Lillard recording averages of 36.3 points (43.4% FG, 40.4% 3-PT, 94.7% FT), 5.7 rebounds, 12.7 assists and 1.33 steals. He led the league in scoring for the week and ranked second in assists.
This is the second time this season and the 11th time in his career that Lillard has been named the NBA Western Conference Player of the Week. His 11 Player of the Week honors are the most in franchise history (Drexler – 10).
On January 18, he won his first Player of the Week title for this year, after the Trail Blazers went 3-1. During that period he averaged 30.3 points on 46.2 percent shooting and 39.5 percent from three to go along with 7.3 assists, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals.
Repping the Eastern Conference, Harden led Brooklyn to a perfect 4-0 week, registering averages of 31.8 points on 55.0 percent shooting from the field, 48.6 percent shooting from 3-point range and 80.8 percent shooting from the free-throw line, 9.0 rebounds, 10.8 assists and 1.3 steals in 37.4 minutes per game.
The honour is Harden’s second as a Net and the 26th Player of the Week award of his career.
He smashed four double-doubles, including one triple-double, and stood second in the East in number of assists per game, sixth in points per game and was one of only two players in the Conference to average 30.0 or more points and 10.0 or more assists.
On February 15, he recorded his fifth triple-double as a Net (tied for the second-most in franchise history) in a 136-125 victory against the Sacramento Kings.
