The NBA has announced their Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week for the week of January 8-14. Goran Dragic of the Miami Heat has taken home the weekly honors in the Eastern Conference while the Western Conference Player of the Week is Louis Williams of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Here is how Dragic and Williams performed (and excelled) during last week’s games.
Eastern Conference Player of the Week: Goran Dragic, Miami Heat
The Heat played in three games this past week and won all three. The 31-year-old Dragic played an average of 34.4 minutes in the three outings and posted per game averages of 23.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.3 blocks.
He shot 50 percent (27-54) from the field, 46.2 percent (6-13) on threes, and 69.2 percent (9-13) from the charity stripe.
The point guard scored at least 20 points in all three games and had a double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds last Tuesday against the Toronto Raptors. Dragic nearly had another one with 20 points and nine assists against the Indiana Pacers the following day.
This is the fourth time in Dragic’s 10-year career that he has been named Player of the Week (two with Miami, while the first two came in the Western Conference as a member of the Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns).
Western Conference Player of the Week: Louis Williams, Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers won all four games they played this past week with Williams playing an extremely integral role in their run of success.
In 36.5 minutes per game, the 31-year-old guard averaged 31.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.3 blocks. The guard went 45-97 (46.2 percent) from the field, 21-46 (45.7 percent) from downtown, and a near-perfect 29-30 (96.7 percent) from the free throw line.
Last Wednesday, Williams became the first Clipper since Charles Smith all the way back in 1990 to score 50 points in a game.
It was also his career-high scoring night as his previous best was 44 with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2016. He connected on eight threes and went 10-10 from the foul line in that game. He scored at least 30 points two other times this past week as well.
Up until three weeks ago, Williams only received Player of the Week honors once in his 13-year career (Eastern Conference in 2014 as a member of the Raptors). He has now been named Western Conference Player of the Week twice in the past three weeks, as he also won for the week of December 25-31.
