Tuesday 22 January 2019 06:16, UK
Houston Rockets star James Harden has been named Western Conference Player of the Week while Brooklyn Nets guard D'Angelo Russell has claimed Eastern Conference honours.
Harden was judged 'best in the West' for games played from January 14 through to January 20 to claim his third Player of the Week award of the season and the 21st of his career.
The Rockets were 2-1 for the week, with Harden averaging 54.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 2.33 steals while shooting 48.5 per cent from the floor. Harden scored 163 points for the week, which was the third-highest three-game total over the past 50 seasons according to ESPN.
Harden opened the week by scoring 57 points vs. Memphis on January 14, followed by 58 against Brooklyn two days later. He joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to have scored 55-plus points in consecutive games in NBA history.
On Saturday, Harden scored 48 points to help the Rockets overcome a 21-point deficit in an overtime win against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Harden has scored 30-plus points in each of the past 19 games, which is the fifth-longest streak in NBA history. The top four streaks all belong to Chamberlain and came prior to the 1964-65 season.
Harden has scored 40-plus points in 10 of the past 13 games and 16 times overall this season. That is the highest total through a player's first 42 games played in a season since Michael Jordan did so 22 times in 1986-87. Harden is averaging 35.7 points overall this season. Only five players have averaged at least 35.0 points in a single season, with the last being Kobe Bryant with 35.4 ppg in 2005-06.
In the Eastern Conference, Brooklyn Nets guard D'Angelo Russell was named the Player of the Week. It is the first time he has won the award.
Russell led Brooklyn to a 3-0 record on the week, registering averages of 28.0 points (53.2 per cent from the field and 53.1 per cent from three-point range), 3.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.0 steals in 32.7 minutes per game.
Russell began the week by recording 34 points (13-of-26 FG, 7-of-13 3FG), five rebounds and seven assists in a 109-102 victory over the Celtics on January 14. He followed up that performance by notching 10 points and seven assists in Houston on January 16, helping the Nets erase a 14-point deficit to earn a 145-142 overtime win.
Russell rounded out the week by scoring a career-high-tying 40 points (16-of-25 FG, 8-of-12 3FG) to go along with seven assists and just one turnover in Orlando on January 18. He poured in 19 consecutive points in the second quarter, which marked the most consecutive points scored by any player this season, and became the fourth player in NBA history to record 40 or more points, eight or more three-pointers made, seven or more assists and one or fewer turnovers in a game.
The 22-year-old helped Brooklyn erase a 21-point deficit, which marked the team's biggest comeback victory since December 2011.
Russell is the 24th player in Nets history to win the award and is the first since Brook Lopez was named Player of the Week on January 3, 2016.
In his fourth NBA season (second season with the Nets), Russell is averaging a career-high 19.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and a career-high 6.4 assists in 29.5 minutes per game. In nine games played this month, Russell is averaging 23.2 points (50.3 per cent from the field, 43.8 per cent from three-point range and 92.9 per cent from the free-throw line), 3.7 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 30.8 minutes per contest, leading the team to a 7-2 record.
