Texas Longhorns in the NBA: 1/27 - 2/2

There’s something all over the board in the newest edition of this weekly segment. The prevalent headline last week is that Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant and San Antonio Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge were each named to the 2019 All-Star roster. Their appearances mark Durant’s 10th and Aldridge’s seventh.

LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs

• Sun, 1/27 - Washington Wizards: 30 points, 12-21 FG, 9 rebounds, 6 assists
• Tue, 1/29 - Phoenix Suns: 29 points, 10-15 FG, 14 rebounds, 4 assists
• Thu, 1/31 - Brooklyn Nets: 20 points, 5-13 FG, 13 rebounds, 2 assists
• Sat, 2/2 - New Orleans Pelicans: 25 points, 12-20 FG, 14 rebounds, 2 assists

Aldridge earned a slot as a reserve in the All-Star game, but he’s within arms reach of the starter position because of weeks like these. Through these past four games he’s averaged 26 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists, converting on 26-of-28 free throw attempts. Not to leave out, Aldridge engineered many dominant stretches through these games that helped the Spurs go undefeated on the week.

Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors

• Mon, 1/28 - Indiana Pacers: 16 points, 7-21 FG, 7 assists, 3 rebounds
• Thu, 1/31 - Philadelphia 76ers: 25 points, 11-24 FG, 4 assists, 4 rebounds
• Sat, 2/2 - Los Angeles Lakers: 21 points, 8-13 FG, 11 assists, 5 rebounds

Monday was Demarcus Cousins’ night. It was his first game in Oracle Area after nursing an Achilles injury that he suffered during his truncated time with the New Orleans Pelicans. Then we saw Steph Curry explode for 41 points on Thursday night, and Klay Thompson catch fire Saturday. Durant? Well, we can count on a very quiet 20-25 points from him as we saw throughout this week. He was pretty far behind the scenes this week, but continued to produce great numbers.

In related news, Durant did receive his 10th All-Star selection as a starter. Curry will also start in the game and Thompson will come off the bench.

Myles Turner, Indiana Pacers

• Mon, 1/28 - Golden State Warriors: 16 points, 7-12 FG, 6 rebounds, 1 assists
• Wed, 1/30 - Washington Wizards: 9 points, 4-9 FG, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
• Thu, 1/31 - Orlando Magic: 27 points, 10-16 FG, 7 rebounds, 1 assists
• Sat, 2/2 - Miami Heat: 14 points, 5-10 FG, 5 rebounds, 2 assists

Myles Turner has scored over his season average (13.1 ppg) three times this week, along with a season-high 27 points. Now we see that Turner is fitting to the suit of a scoring big. While this can be traced back more to the injury of teammate Victor Oladipo than any major steps taken by Turner, we can still applaud him for stepping into a scoring role that has been beckoning to him since draft day.

Cory Joseph, Indiana Pacers

• Mon, 1/28 - Golden State Warriors: 6 points, 2-6 FG, 1 rebound, 5 assists
• Wed, 1/30 - Washington Wizards: 1 point, 0-7 FG, 3 rebounds, 6 assists
• Thu, 1/31 - Orlando Magic: 4 points, 2-7 FG, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals
• Sat, 2/2 - Miami Heat: 4 points, 2-8 FG, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals

Joseph didn’t shoot well this week, going 6-of 28 in four games. But he showed strong assists numbers and averaged two steals per game.

Avery Bradley, Los Angeles Clippers

• Sun, 1/27 - Sacramento Kings: 12 points, 4-8 FG, 6 assists, 6 rebounds
• Mon, 1/28 - Atlanta Hawks: 12 points, 4-10 FG, 2 rebounds
• Thu, 1/31 - Los Angeles Lakers: 13 points, 5-15 FG, 1 assist, 8 rebounds
• Sat, 2/2 - Detroit Pistons: 6 points, 2-7 FG, 2 assists, 1 rebound

Bradley shot with striking confidence this week, especially from three where he shot 24 times in four games.

Tristan Thompson, Cleveland Cavaliers

Thompson is still nursing a left foot injury which has kept him inactive for seven straight games.

Jarrett Allen, Brooklyn Nets

• Mon, 1/28 - Boston Celtics: 6 points, 3-6 FG, 10 rebounds, 1 assist
• Tue, 1/29 - Chicago Bulls: 7 points, 2-4 FG, 8 rebounds, 3 assists
• Thu, 1/13 - San Antonio Spurs: 14 points, 6-7 FG, 3 rebounds, 4 assists
• Sat, 2/2 - Orlando Magic: 6 points, 3-4 FG, 8 rebounds, 4 assists

Jarrett Allen was named to the U.S. team for the 2019 Rising Stars game following a solid week scoring and rebounding the ball.

Mohamed Bamba, Orlando Magic

• Sun, 1/27 - Houston Rockets: 0 points, 0-2 FG, 0 rebounds
• Tue, 1/29 - Oklahoma City Thunder: 9 points, 3-5 FG, 6 rebounds
• Thu, 1/31 - Indiana Pacers: 3 points, 1-3 FG, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks
• Sat, 2/2 - Brooklyn Nets: DNP

Bamba was out Saturday due to a leg injury that may require an MRI. The severity of this is still unknown. As for his Sunday game, Bamba played just 14 minutes after struggling with an illness all week.

DJ Augustin, Orlando Magic

• Sun, 1/27 - Houston Rockets: 10 points, 3-9 FG, 3 assists
• Tue, 1/29 - Oklahoma City Thunder: 11 points, 3-10 FG, 5 assists
• Thu, 1/31 - Indiana Pacers: 20 points, 4-8 FG, 10-10 FT, 2 assists
• Sat, 2/2 - Brooklyn Nets: 12 points, 4-7 FG, 8 assists

Augustin has lit offensive fireworks all week, both scoring and passing the ball. For a guy who’s always floating under the radar, he’s put up great numbers, averaging 13.3 points and 4.5 assists throughout the week.

PJ Tucker, Houston Rockets

• Sun, 1/27 - Orlando Magic: 5 points, 2-5 FG, 2 rebounds
• Tue, 1/29 - New Orleans Pelicans: 9 points, 3-12 FG, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
• Fri, 2/1 - Denver Nuggets: 5 points, 2-6 FG, 5 rebounds, 2 assists
• Sat, 2/2 - Utah Jazz: 2 points, 1-6 FG, 4 rebounds, 1 assist

PJ Tucker’s stats have taken a sharp decline. Then again no stat line is going to be much of anything playing alongside James Harden, especially when he’s riding a historic scoring streak. When he’s playing offense the way he is, everyone else who was already in the backseat will be even further isolated from an offense that strictly flows through Harden. So Tucker’s rather steep dip in offensive numbers this week and this season is justified.