Every Sunday, the CC staff will get together to present our plays and players of the week. 

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Chris Paul

5 games (4-1)

20.4 ppg
9.6 apg
3.0 rpg
2.2 spg 

CP3 led the Clippers to four wins in five games, and the numbers would have been more impressive had he not had an off shooting night against the Wizards. 

Phil: The start of the Wednesday’s game against the Jazz shows you the impact he has had on the Clippers team. The first three or four baskets were all lobs or easy dunks. Paul can just tear apart defenses and create holes for a still somewhat offensively challenge Blake Griffin to get to the basket. He had an off night last night in Washington, but before that he posted 25.0 points per game, dished out 10.3 assists per game and shot 61.8 percent from the floor. That included a 12 for 16 performance on Monday against Oklahoma City. Absolutely scary what this guy can do when he is healthy.

Trevor: Those victories against Denver (Sunday), OKC (Monday) & Utah (Wednesday) are enough for me to chalk the Clippers stink bomb against Denver on Thursday as pure exhaustion. Paul averaged 28 points & 11 assists in those three games. This team is already really, really good and that’s kinda scary.

Also receiving votes:  

Paul Pierce: 

Kyle: The Celtics are finally getting on track, and up until the game against the Knicks, they were doing it without Rajon Rondo. Paul Pierce is the reason why. He was the leading scorer in the 3 Celtics wins this week and after watching him play against the Knicks, I’m even more impressed with his emotional leadership. If the Celtics are going to have any chance of being contenders this year, it’s going to be on Paul Pierce.

Kevin Durant

John:  OKC split the week, but don’t blame Durant.  Check out the numbers for the four games this past week: 29.3 points,  11.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 3.0 blocks.  The numbers that really stand out:  11.8 rebounds and 3 blocks per game, well above his career averages of 6.5 and 1.  The points are no surprise, but Durant was doing it all this week. 

Jeremy Lin

Jeff: Sure it was just one game but if this guy makes it what a feel good story in the NBA this season. Here is a guy that came up from the D-League, after being bounced around in the league (Rockets and Warriors) and even opened eyes a few years back at the Vegas Summer League to now on the biggest stage in the NBA (MSG) and give the Knicks fans something to smile about during their turbulent season.

PLAY OF THE WEEK

This was an easy choice:

Also receiving votes: 

Kyle: I don’t think there’s any point in pretending that Blake Griffin “Mozgov-ing” Kendrick Perkins wasn’t the best play of the week, but here’s a play that performs admirably for the consolation prize. It’s another posterization, but this one is made better by the difference in size of the two players. 6’3″ Deron Williams decides he’s not going to be intimidated by 7’2″ Roy Hibbert. He gets the dunk and the foul, BOOM!

Andre Miller gets his ankles snapped by our Player of the Week.