Tag: player of the month

Jack Fox named Special Teams Player of the Month, becomes first Lions’ punter win award

Jack Fox has been named Special Teams Player of the Month for September 2020, becoming the first Detroit Lions’ punter win this award.

Jack Fox has introduced himself to the NFL in emphatic fashion.

Through the first month of the 2020 season, Fox leads the league in Average Punt Yards per Attempt (53.1 yards), Net Punting Yards (51.1 yards), and Hang Time on punts (4.78 seconds). Additionally, Fox sits atop Pro Football Focus’ punter rankings with a 92.8 grade and is nearly 20 points higher than the next punter.

Fox’s hard work and fantastic performances throughout September have been recognized by the NFL and he has been named Special Teams Player of the Month — the first time a Detroit Lions punter has ever be recognized with this award.

As impressive as Fox has been throughout the year, both he and special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs have bigger aspirations ahead:

“Me and Jack are kind of on the same page in terms of the more success we have, we’re just going to keep raising the bar,” Coombs told the media on Tuesday. “We’re not really looking back right now and talking about anything that we’ve done. As he continues to go out and do better, then we’re just going to raise the goals higher and try to accomplish more… He knows that I’m very, very confident in him. I just don’t want he, or us, ever to feel satisfied or like we’ve arrived. We’re just going to keep trying to reach higher and higher and see how far we can take it.”

If Fox improves — or even maintains his pace — he will blow the NFL records out of the water. For perspective, the single-season NFL record for Net Punting yards is 46.0, and last year’s leader finished with an average of 44.5 yards.

LeBron James tops Russell Westbrook for Player of the Month

Westbrook scored more points in February on better efficiency than James, and his Rockets also beat the Lakers by 10 at Staples Center.

Despite having one of the best and most efficient months of his career, Houston Rockets guard Russell Westbrook was not named by the NBA as Western Conference Player of the Month for February. Instead, the honor went to Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.

Westbrook averaged 33.4 points per game on 54.9% shooting in February, including a 40.0% clip from 3-point range. All of those figures are his best of any month this season, and they were also significantly better than what James posted during the same month.

Both the Rockets and Lakers went 9-2 in February, but Houston won head-to-head by double digits in a Feb. 6 showdown at Staples Center. Westbrook scored a game-high 41 points on 60.7% shooting that night (box score), while James had just 18 points on 42.1% from the field.

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Westbrook was last named Player of the Month in December 2017, when he was a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He has won the award nine times over his 12-year NBA career.

In addition to his scoring, the former MVP and 2020 All-Star averaged 7.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 1.8 steals per game in February.

One big difference for the Rockets last month was that Clint Capela, their previous starting center, didn’t play a single minute. With the switch to a smaller lineup bringing increased floor spacing on offense, Westbrook repeatedly took advantage of open driving lanes.

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Best of all, the elite statistics from Westbrook were tightly correlated with wins by the team. In 11 games, Houston’s only losses came on Feb. 7 in Phoenix (when Westbrook didn’t play) and on Feb. 9 to Utah, courtesy of a wild Bojan Bogdanovic buzzer-beater.

With six wins in their last seven games, Westbrook and the Rockets are looking to continue their winning ways in March. They return to action Thursday night, when the rival Los Angeles Clippers (41-19) visit Houston in a critical game for seeding in the 2020 NBA playoffs.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Central time from Toyota Center, with the game broadcast nationally on TNT.

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Spencer Dinwiddie among East Player of the Month nominees for December

For the second time in as many opportunities in 2019-20, Spencer Dinwiddie was in consideration for Eastern Conference Player of the Month.

Spencer Dinwiddie’s name continues to be thrown in with some of the biggest in the NBA.

In addition to being among the top-10 vote-getting guards in the Eastern Conference for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game following the first round of voting, the league announced on Thursday Dinwiddie was among the players nominated for Eastern Conference Player of the Month for games played in December.

Through the first 10 weeks of the 2019-20 NBA season, Dinwiddie has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week once, nominated for the same award on three other occasions and nominated for Eastern Conference Player of the Month both times the award has been given out.

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has won Eastern Conference Player of the Month both times this season.

Dinwiddie appeared in each of Brooklyn’s 13 games in December. He averaged 27 points and 6.8 assists per game throughout the month.

RELATED: Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie among top All-Star vote-getters

NBA names Rockets’ James Harden as West Player of the Month

James Harden was named West Player of the Month for December after averaging over 37 points per game and leading Houston to a 10-4 record.

The NBA on Thursday announced Houston Rockets guard James Harden as the Western Conference Player of the Month for games played in December.

It’s the ninth time in Harden’s storied career for him to receive the monthly award, which is chosen by the league office. All have come over the 30-year-old’s eight seasons with the Rockets.

Dating back to last season, Harden has now won four of the past six West Player of the Month awards.

Over 14 games in December, Harden averaged 37.3 points per game on efficient shooting percentages of 48.1% overall and 42.5% on 3-pointers. The future Hall of Famer had five games with 40 or more points and three games with 50 or more points.

The 2018 MVP also averaged 6.9 assists, 5.6 rebounds, 2.1 steals, and 1.2 blocks in 38.5 minutes per game. In addition to his scoring exploits, Harden joined Detroit big man Andre Drummond as the only NBA players to average at least 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per game in December.

The Rockets were 10-4 (.714) in the 14 December games played by Harden, which would be good for a 59-win pace over a full season.

Harden had 54 points at Orlando on Dec. 13 after scoring 55 at Cleveland on Dec. 11, joining Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to have scored at least 54 points in consecutive road games in NBA history.

Harden also hit a franchise-high tying 10 3-pointers in both of those games, joining Stephen Curry as the only players with 10 or more makes from 3-point range in two straight games.

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Over the final 10 games of December, Harden shot 52.6% from the floor, including 50.0% or better in each of the past six games — representing the longest such streak of his career. He has shot 50.0% or better in 15 of his 32 games played (46.9%) this season after doing so in 23 of his 78 games played (29.5%) in the 2018-19 season.

Harden also hit at least four 3-pointers in each of his final 10 games of December, with an average of 6.4 made 3-pointers per game over that span on 49.6% shooting from behind the arc.

In 34 games for the Rockets (23-11), Harden has hit 171 total 3-pointers this season. By comparison, no other player in league history has had more than 146 made 3-pointers through the first 34 games of a season.

For the 2019-20 season overall, Harden is averaging a league-leading 38.2 points per game, which is the highest total of any player in the last 56 years. He’s also in the NBA’s top 10 in assists at 7.5 per game.

Other West finalists for the December award included forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers; guard Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks; forward Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers; guard Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns; and guard Dennis Schröder of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Meanwhile, 2018-19 MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for December. In 15 games, the Milwaukee forward averaged 29.3 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game, with the Bucks posting a 13-2 record over that stretch.

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