Brooklyn Nets: D’Angelo Russell 1st Net Player of the Week in 3 years
By Phil Watson
D’Angelo Russell of the Brooklyn Nets was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week Monday, the first Net to be honored in more than 3 years.
The Brooklyn Nets took another step forward down the path to respectability Monday when point guard D’Angelo Russell was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
Russell was honored after leading the Nets to a 3-0 week, including road wind over the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic and a Jan. 14 victory at home over the Boston Celtics.
In the three games last week, Russell averaged 28.0 points and 7.0 assists while shooting 53.2 percent overall and 53.1 percent from 3-point range.
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Russell’s week included a 34-point, seven-assist showing against the Celtics and on Friday, he matched his career-high with 40 points to go with seven assists and just one turnover in the win over the Magic.
It is the first time in Russell’s career he has earned Player of the Week honors and he became the first Net to be selected since Brook Lopez was named the week’s top player in the East for the week of Dec. 27. 2015-Jan. 3, 2016.
Russell is making a push to become the first Brooklyn All-Star representative since Joe Johnson in 2014 during the best season of his four-year NBA career.
He is averaging 19.0 points and 6.4 assists per game, both the best of his career, as is his 43.7 percent shooting overall and 37.4 percent mark from deep. Russell has also been healthy for the first time since his rookie season, playing in 46 of Brooklyn’s 47 games entering play on Monday.
The one game he missed was when he was rested against the Milwaukee Bucks on the back end of a road back-to-back on Dec. 29.
Russell has been particularly toasty in January, putting up 23.2 points and 7.4 assists in nine January games entering Monday, shooting 50.3 percent overall and 43.8 percent from 3.
The Nets are 7-2 this month after a 9-6 December.
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In the win at Orlando, Russell set an NBA season-high when he scored 19 consecutive points to close the second quarter for Brooklyn.