NBA Europe: Jokic goes above Chamberlain in All-Time list and a wild trade deadline day / News - Basketnews.com

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The trade deadline is over, and as far as the Euro-NBA players are concerned, there were many interesting moves.

Bogdan Bogdanovic

MIN:28.79PTS:13.11 (46.76%)REB:3.84As:2.92ST:0.84BL:0.18TO:1.05GM:38ProfileNBA2021/2022

Perhaps, two of them created the biggest hype:

First, the Latvian trade that sent Kristaps Porzignis to the Wizards in return with Davis Bertans and Spencer Dinwiddie.

The second one was the one that madeDomantas Sabonis a Sacramento Kings center,who already made his debut with his new team.

None of these moves could be deemed utterly unexpected, though.

Porzingis’frequent injuries rendered him unreliable for the Mavericks as he could only play 34 games of a possible 55 this season. Don’t get me wrong; he was pretty effective both on the defensive and offensive side once he played.

But his 30+million$ contract portions to be paid for the next two seasons, the last one being optional by the player side, was another concern for Dallas to improve the roster aroundLuka Doncic.

In his post-contract extension period,Davis Bertanswas a huge disappointment for the Wizards, and a change of waters was obviously needed.

It remains a mystery whether the Latvian could regain his touch from the 3 point zone, currently a career-low 32% from deep.

The new objective for theSabonis-led Kings would be to get into play-in spots since they are not very far away from that 10th spot.

They already got two wins in their belt against the Timberwolves the Wizards, where the Lithuanian center made two double-doubles (22 pts-14 rebs vs. Timberwolves and 16-10 pts-rebs vs. Wizards)

Among the other trades, Juancho Hernangomez, Tomas Satoransky, and Goran Dragic ended up with the Spurs, Serge Ibaka found his way to the Bucks to join forces with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Daniel Theis returned to the Celtics, and Dennis Schröder headed to Houston Rockets, a.k.a the German trade.

Domantas Sabonis

Team:Sacramento KingsPosition:PF, CAge:25Height:211 cmWeight:109 kgBirth place:Portland, United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

Before going into this week’s special focus players, we cannot letLuka Doncic’s career-high 51 point show against theClipperswith 7/14 shooting beyond the arc. The first time a Mavericks player recorded 50+ 5 rebounds, 5 assist in the franchise history.

Two days later, he also scored 45 points and grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds in the back-to-back rematch with the Clippers, but just missed the buzzer-beater from his regular spot.

Quite a week, like always.

Nikola Jokic goes above Wilt Chamberlain in All-time List

It is that time of the week that we sit and talk something about Nikola Jokic. He did not disappoint again: A game-winning block against the Raptors saved the day for the Nuggets.

But before jumping on that decisive move in the very end, we should first mention that his 28 pts-15 rebounds double-double started with a pretty unstoppable offensive clinic and ended with some fatal coolness.

After scoring 18 of his team’s 31 first-quarter points, he made the finishing touches against a persistent Raptors with 7 points in the last 5 minutes to clinch the game for the Nuggets.

His services were not that direly required against theKnicks,as they collapsed during the 2nd quarter, and Nuggets went on for a comfortable win.

Still, Jokic’s 4 assists (7 in total) made in the first quarter lifted a good platform for his team to find an offensive rhythm.

The game against theCelticswas a tougher assignment asIme Udoka’s men were on a roll with 6 wins streak.

Those regular Jokic-like dishes kept coming against the Celtics, where the Serbian center reached his NBA leading 15- triple-double of the season with 23 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 assists.

But Robert Williams’ stifling defense and athleticism was too much to handle as Jokic was limited to only one field goal in the last 4 minutes if we neglect his last dunk in the garbage time.

Jokic is currently at the top of the NBA single-season player efficiency record with a 32.9 index score above Wilt Chamberlain’s 1961-62 figure 32.1 (per statsmuse.com).

With 72th triple-double reached this week, Jokic is also closing the gap with Chamberlain regarding the all-time triple-double list(78), but it remains an intrigue whether all these would lead to an NBA championship ring.

Bogdanovic is trying hard to fix the Hawks

They might have won 7 games in a row in January, but things are not currently looking bright for the Atlanta Hawks.

The last season’s Eastern conference finalists’ playoff chances this season is in grave danger as they lost four of their last five games.

As a result, they fell 3 games behind the 8th placed Nets despite maintaining their play-in position at 10th place. Besides, they will miss John Collins for almost a month due to injury, which adds to the troubles.

In all this negative outlook, Bogdan Bogdanovic tried his best to keep the Hawks above the surface last week.

The Serbian shooting ace started the week in a moderate manner with 13 points scored against the Pacers, who were in the midst of a losing series that extended to 6 by the end of the week.

The next game against the Spurs was much more impressive.

The Hawks failed to win, but Bogdanovic upgraded his game as he shot 5/8 from the 3 point range and led his team in scoring with 23 points, alongside 4 assists and 5 rebounds.

During the trade deadline week, Bogdanovic’s name was mentioned in various rumors. It was reported that Atlanta was interested in bringing Derrick White from San Antonio Spurs or CJ McCollum from Portland Trail Blazers. Each side expected a package that included Bogdanovic in return.

But despite all these contemplations, the Hawks remained silent, and Bogdanovic remained in Atlanta.

In the closing game of the week, the Hawks played against a red-hot Boston Celtics, the currently 2nd best team in defensive efficiency in NBA.

Despite a slow start, Bogdanovic improved his shooting starting with the second quarter, during the minutes where Trae Young’s effectiveness was beginning to be contained.

Bogdanovic carried the Hawks almost single-handedly during the second half and replied to the duo of Jaylen Brown-Jayson Tatum’s takeover as much as he could.

Eventually, Bogdanovic reached a season 26 points with 9/20 from the field, sent 3 out of 10 threes and even some free classes to the Boston crowd on how to pronounce his name.

But despite all, the Hawks’ defensive problems were too hard to overcome for the Serbian.

Pokusevski Uses Opportunity Window

Aleksej Pokusevski made his breakthrough last season but yet, he is still a fringe player, roaming around the Oklahoma City Thunder and their G-League associate, OKC Blues.

Besides, the 2001 born Serbian youngster was not widely known for his defensive support until now.

But since his latest recall from G-league at the beginning of February, partly due to the injuries of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jeremiah Robinson-Early, and Mike Muscala, things are slightly different.

Pokusevski had one of his strongest weeks in terms of individual scoring with good displays against the Raptors, 76ers, and the Bulls.

Against one of the most on-form defenses of the NBA, the Raptors, Pokusevski scored 18 points and collected 4 rebounds with 4/5 three-point shooting.

But behind the figures, Pokusevski again displayed his offensive skillset and signaled how effective he could be in the future once he sharpens all those features: good transition offense positioning, side pick-n-pop shooting ability, weak side stationary shooting, and strong footwork in the floater zone.

We should also note that another 2001 born European player, Theo Maledon, also scored a season-high 18 points alongside 3 assists in this game. The Frenchman also showed improvement in his level since coming back from G-League.

In the next game against the 76ers, Pokusevski continued the momentum with another double-digit scoring game. This time it was time for him to remind everyone of his dunking skills and also the ambidexterity. Despite being right-handed, he is very good in left-handed drives and finishing afterward.

His ability to play the third man in pick-n-rolls does not push him into a lazy shooter, and he does not refrain from crushing into the paint with jump-steps and finding a short-mid.

In addition to the offensive showdown through the week, he made us remember his shot-blocking skills as well, epitomized in the 3 blocks he made against the Bulls.

In that respect, he is special because he is not only a rim protector around the paint but a good help defender to make defensive stops around the perimeter, even covering 3-point shots.

OKC is in a developmental process and might not be interested in winning that much due to maximizing their lottery chances. Still, some good sparks make them watchable, like the things we see from Pokusevski or Josh Giddey.

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