Tag: Scoring Title

What is behind all of the absurd scoring going down in the NBA right now?

The NBA is in unprecedented scoring territory lately — what could be causing it?

What is behind all of the absurd scoring going down in the NBA right now? While the nuclear scoring bug hits the Boston Celtics less often than some teams with their star wings Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum splitting the scoring duties on any given night, other teams have been on ridiculous scoring tears.

Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic and Lauri Markannen are going off for more than 40 points almost as often. And they are just a handful of the players taking part in the league’s unusual scoring bonanza. The NBA is truly in unprecedented scoring territory.

The host of the eponymous Ringer “Ryen Russillo” podcast linked up with broadcaster and former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy to talk over what is behind it and how some legends might have fared with today’s rules and style of play.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what the pair had to say about the wave of offensive wizardry becoming commonplace in the NBA of late.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Hot take or not: Boston’s Jayson Tatum might win the scoring title AND MVP

Could it be that Tatum stans are actually setting the bar too low at just MVP?

Over the course of his still relatively young NBA career, we have seen a strong trend throughout almost every season superstar forward Jayson Tatum has played for the Boston Celtics: he starts off slow, and elevates his game to ever-higher levels by the end of the campaign.

And so far, at the start of his 2022-23 campaign with Boston, the St. Louis native is already white-hot out of the gate; is this the season that trend ends, or will he be an absolute behemoth of a player by season’s end? If you believe the proposition put forward by Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley that Tatum winning not just the 2023 Kia Most Valuable Player award, but that the Duke alum will also win the scoring title, you clearly are buying the latter.

But is this notion a hot take? Let’s look at the B/R analyst’s argument.

James Harden earns more history in third straight NBA scoring title

Harden joins Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan, and George Gervin as the only players since the merger to win three straight NBA scoring titles.

With a final average of 34.3 points per game, Houston Rockets star James Harden finished the 2019-20 NBA regular season as the league’s leading scorer for a third consecutive campaign. He’ s just the fourth player since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976 to win a scoring title in three straight years, joining Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan, and George Gervin.

Harden also won the scoring title in the 2018-19 season, when he led the NBA with a 36.1 points per game average, and in the 2017-18 season (30.4 points). Harden is now just the third player in league history to average more than 34 points per game in multiple seasons, joining a pair of Basketball Hall of Famers in Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain.

In addition to his scoring, the All-Star guard and MVP finalist averaged 7.6 assists, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game, becoming just the third player to ever lead the NBA in total points and steals in the same year. The others to accomplish that feat were Jordan and Allen Iverson.

With the Rockets having little to play for in their regular-season finale, Harden concluded his historic run with 27 points (56.3% FG) and 10 assists in 26 minutes of limited action on Friday against Philadelphia.

Best of all, Harden’s historic numbers contributed greatly to success for his team. Now 30 years old, “The Beard” led his Rockets (44-28) to a top-four seed in the Western Conference for a sixth time in seven years. With Harden as the star, Houston has now made the NBA playoffs in eight straight seasons, which is the league’s longest current streak.

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Harden has earned Western Conference All-Star honors in all eight of his seasons with the Rockets, and he’s finished in the top three of the league’s MVP voting on five separate occasions during those eight years (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020). He won the award in 2018.

Harden and the Rockets are still searching for their first championship together, and their 2020 playoff run is set to begin Tuesday with a first-round series against Oklahoma City, his original NBA team. Game 1 between the Rockets and Thunder will tip off at 5:30 p.m. Central, with a national broadcast on TNT and a regional version (with Houston announcers) on AT&T SportsNet Southwest.

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