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Jeremy Lin and Russell Westbrook named NBA Players of Week

Jeremy Lin

He really exists.

Linsanity is running wild, and the NBA league office has taken notice.

About six games ago, Knicks guard Jeremy Lin was considered a 15th man, and a player on the fringe, having to fight to stick around in the league.

Things change quickly, sometimes.

Lin and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook today were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, Feb. 6, through Sunday, Feb. 12.

Lin led the Knicks to a 4-0 week, averaging 27.3 points, 8.3 assists and 2.0 steals. His 109 points over his first four career starts are the most by any player since 1976-77, and he became the first player in NBA history to tally at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his first four starts. Lin scored a career-high 38 points on Feb. 10, in a 92-85 win over the Lakers.

Westbrook helped the Thunder to a 3-1 week, averaging 30.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.5 steals. Westbrook scored 28 or more points in all four of Oklahoma City’s games, and posted one double-double (28 points, 11 rebounds) on Feb. 6, in a 111-107 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Westbrook connected on a career-high 15 field goals on Feb. 9, during a 106-101 loss to the Sacramento Kings.

Here is a recap of the week for Lin and Westbrook:

Jeremy Lin, New York Knicks

Feb. 6 vs. Utah: Posted 28 points, eight assists and two steals in a 99-88 win over the Jazz.

Feb. 8 @ Washington: Tallied 23 points, 10 assists and four rebounds in a 107-93 win over the Wizards.

Feb. 10 vs. L.A. Lakers: Scored a career-high 38 points and added seven assists, four rebounds and two steals in a 92-85 win over the Lakers.

Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder

Feb. 6 @ Portland: Tallied 28 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists during a 111-107 overtime win over the Trail Blazers.

Feb. 7 at Golden State: Posted 31 points and added seven assists and two steals in a 119-116 win over the Warriors.

Feb. 10 at Utah: Collected 28 points and added six rebounds and three assists during a 101-87 win over the Jazz.

Other nominees for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, Detroit’s Greg Monroe, Golden State’s Monta Ellis, Miami’s LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant.

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Scott Brooks earns spot as West All-Star coach

Scott Brooks

Should buy Durant and Westbrook a dinner

Oklahoma City head coach Scott Brooks and his coaching staff will guide the Western Conference All-Stars on February 26th at Amway Center in Orlando, it was announced by the NBA.

With Oklahoma City’s 101-87 win over the Utah Jazz Friday, the Thunder (21-6, .778) have clinched the best record in the conference through games played February 15.

This season, Brooks and the Oklahoma City staff have guided the Thunder to multiple winning streaks including an NBA season-high tying seven games, five games and four games. He earned Western Conference Coach of the Month honors for games played in December/January. The Thunder has won a conference best 12 games on the road this season.

In his 4th season as head coach, Brooks has a career mark of 148-112 (.569). In his first full season as head coach, Brooks was named 2009-10 NBA Coach of the year after guiding the Thunder to a 50-32 (.610) and the franchise’s first playoff appearance in Oklahoma City.

The coach of the East All-Stars will be determined by the team with the best record in the conference through games played February 15. The Boston Celtics Doc Rivers, who coached last year’s East squad, is not eligible to coach this year’s All-Star Game.

The 2012 NBA All-Star Game, which will air live at 8 p.m. ET on TNT and ESPN Radio in the U.S., and reach fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 languages.

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Thunder recall Ryan Reid from D-League

The Oklahoma City Thunder have recalled forward Ryan Reid from the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.

In his most recent stint with the 66ers, Reid averaged 11.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 blocks and 30.6 minutes in eight games (all starts). Overall this season, the forward is averaging 11.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 32.4 minutes in 16 games (all starts).

Reid was originally signed by the Thunder on December 13, 2011 but has yet to appear in a regular season game.

He will join the Thunder for tonight’s game against the Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden in Portland.

City of Seattle working to bring NBA back

The city of Seattle has been working behind the scenes the past eight months with a hedge-fund manager to bring an NBA team back to town— possibly as early as next fall if the Sacramento Kings fail to get a satisfactory deal for a new arena, newly released documents show.

The city turned over the documents to The Seattle Times on Friday under a public records request (http://is.gd/PyQ06N ). The documents included the agenda for a meeting between the parties on Dec. 13, with topics including “Review of Basic Deal Structure,” “City Debt Capacity” and “Financing Issues.”

A Seattle native who now lives in San Francisco, 44-year-old hedge-fund manager Christopher Hansen, approached the city about his desire to buy an NBA team and build an arena south of Safeco Field, the documents show. Hansen told city officials an arena could be built with minimal impact on taxpayers.

— Reported by the Associated Press

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Nenad Krstic wins Top 16, Week 3 Euroleague MVP

Nenad Krstic

Ballin’ overseas

One of the central figures in what is shaping up to be a season for the record books for CSKA Moscow is center Nenad Krstic. The big man added to his stellar campaign this week by picking up Top 16, Week 3 bwin MVP honors and thus joining teammate Andrei Kirilenko among only three players to claim that title twice this season. Krstic was worth maximum production in minimum time in Thursday’s 85-70 home win over GS Medical Park. He came off the bench for 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and added 9 rebounds, an assist and a steal en route to a performance index rating of 31, which ironically was the same index rating he achieved when he was previously named bwin MVP after Week 9. Krstic was also named Euroleague Basketball’s MVP for November. The team with the second-most wins in the Euroleague this season, FC Barcelona Regal, produced the player with the second best index rating of the week in two-time All-Euroleague big man Erazem Lorbek.

— Reported by Euroleague.net

Kevin Durant didn’t love Blake Griffin’s dunk over Kendrick Perkins

Blake Griffin

Dunked Kendrick’s face off

Not everyone is so fired up about Blake Griffin’s dunk over Oklahoma City big man Kendrick Perkins on Monday.

The Clippers star went down the lane, elevated, made contact with Perkins and then threw the ball down into the basket, the fingers on his outstretched hand grazing the rim. The play has been the talk of the league.

“I have no appreciation for it at all,” said Perkins’ Thunder teammate Kevin Durant. “It was a layup, I think. He threw the ball in and got fouled and made his free throw, so it was three points at the end of the day, no matter how it happened, how it went in the basket. I really wasn’t impressed. He finished it. So what? We’ve moved on.”

Durant wasn’t surprised the play gained so much attention.

“I wasn’t surprised because Blake is a poster child,” Durant said. “He dunks the ball a lot and makes spectacular plays. If it wasn’t against us, maybe I’d say it was a good play, but it was against us, so it was a bad play. I have nothing against Blake, don’t get me wrong. But it was against us, so I’ve got to stick up for my teammate.”

— Reported by Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas

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Blake Griffin best NBA dunk of season on Kendrick Perkins

Monday night in the third quarter of Los Angeles Clippers vs Oklahoma City Thunder, Clips forward Blake Griffin caught a perfect pass from point guard Chris Paul and threw down what InsideHoops.com considers the best dunk of the NBA season on the head of Kendrick Perkins.

Here are several video clips of the Griffin dunk on Perkins:

—

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Russell Westbrook says he never considered leaving Thunder

Russell Westbrook reiterated on Sunday, three days after signing a five-year extension, that he never considered leaving the Thunder.

“From day one, this is the spot I wanted to be,” Westbrook said. “The organization believed in me by surprisingly picking me No. 4. A lot of guys doubted me, but from day one this organization supported me.”

Westbrook would have become a restricted free agent if he had not agreed to a contract by Wednesday. But the Thunder’s commitment to him, Westbrook said, made staying for another five seasons a no-brainer.

“I can say this for any player in the league. You want to be somewhere where you’re wanted,” Westbrook said. “I wanted to be somewhere where I had great support, and this is the spot for me.”

— Reported by Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman

Thunder sign Russell Westbrook to contract extension

The Oklahoma City Thunder have signed guard Russell Westbrook to a multi-year extension, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti. Multiple reports say the deal is for five years and $78 million.

“We are thrilled to solidify Russell’s future with the Thunder,” said Presti. “Since we arrived in Oklahoma City, Russell’s work ethic, persistence, character, and involvement in our community have helped us establish the standards that we are committed to on a day-to-day basis. He is a valued member of our organization and we look forward to his continued contributions on and off the floor.”

In three-plus seasons as a member of the Thunder, Westbrook has appeared in 261 games (244 starts) and registered averages of 17.9 points, 7.0 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 33.8 minutes per contest. At the end of the 2010-11 season Westbrook became one of only five players in league history (LeBron James, Chris Paul, Anfernee Hardaway and Oscar Robertson) to record 4,000 points, 1,500 assists and 1,000 rebounds through his first three NBA seasons.

Last season, Westbrook was awarded All-NBA Second Team honors after averaging 21.9 points (13th in the NBA), 8.2 assists (9th in the NBA), 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals (4th in NBA) in 34.7 minutes. During the 2010-11 season Westbrook received his first-career All-Star nomination before helping lead the Thunder to a spot in the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.

During the Thunder’s 2011 postseason match-up versus the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference Semi-Finals, Westbrook propelled the Thunder past Memphis after becoming just the fifth player in NBA history (Scottie Pippen, James Worthy, Larry Bird and Jerry West) to record a triple-double in a Game 7 of a playoff series.

After being named to the NBA’s All-Rookie team after the 2008-09 season, Westbrook proceeded to increase his scoring and assists totals in each of his next two full seasons with Oklahoma City.

This past week Westbrook was named among the 20 finalists for the 2012 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team. During the summer of 2010, Westbrook won a gold medal as a member of Team USA in Istanbul, Turkey, after the United States team posted a perfect 9-0 record.

“We are very excited that Russell will continue to be a part of the Thunder organization,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Clay Bennett. “He has demonstrated high personal character, a strong commitment to his teammates and a remarkable dedication to the development of his performance as a player. We especially value his role in the community as he has consistently represented “Oklahoma City Basketball” with pride and integrity.”

Through 15 games this season, Westbrook has helped lead the Thunder to the best record in the Western Conference (12-3) while recording averages of 20.5 points, 5.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds in 33.3 minutes. Westbrook joins Kobe Bryant and LeBron James as the only other players in the NBA to average 20-plus points, five-plus assists and five-plus rebounds this season.

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Eric Maynor had surgery, out for rest of season

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Eric Maynor underwent successful surgery this morning to repair a torn right Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL), the team announced today.

Maynor suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Oklahoma City’s game at Houston on January 7. Prior to his injury, the third year guard was averaging 4.2 points, 2.4 assists, 1.4 rebounds and 15.2 minutes in nine games.

Maynor is expected to be ready for the 2012-13 Training Camp.