#17 NBA Basketball Surprises Week 17 ( Haas News)

The best NBA performances weekly! Its Sunday and like every Sunday it’s time to discuss the NBA surprises.

So after the intense and weird NBA Trade Deadline dust settled, teams are playing important games right before the All-star break. By now make or break time arrives and either you get your act together (well done Cavs) or will miss the play-offs (watch out Charlotte Hornets, LA Clippers).
Like every other week some players really showed themselves and made it to this week’s list (Haas Picks)
Here is my top 5 for the week!

Jonas Valanciunas
Last week the Toronto Raptors closed into the Celtics to be 1st in the East, this week they passed them and are two games clear! Can they finish strong and claim homecourt in the play-offs?
I think by now most Raptors players made it to my list; DeRozan,Van Vleet, Anunoby and Siakam. Witch makes sense to me you need a strong team to win in the NBA. I also like it that Coach Casey was selected to coach in the All-star Game, Enjoy coach you deserve it!
This week I want to honor Jonas Valanciunas, he is showing strong grow since his rookie season years ago. Jonas is great for the pick and roles but also is able to rebound and get second possessions.
His field goal % is 56,7 and he even added the 3 pointer to his game making it harder to guard him shooting 47%.
And remember he is only 25 years old! This week he scored 14 points on average and grabbing 8 rebounds.
As always Go Raptors!

JJ Redick
Guess who is back in the list? It’s the sharpshooter Redick. Shooting 40% on 3pointers but more important spacing the floor to give others the room to operate. When he was injured the 76ers struggled a bit and I got nervous because I promised you before the season they would make it to the play-offs.
Right now Philadelphia is in the 7th seed and are 3 games clear of the 9th seed. I really like it that it comes together in Philadelphia after years of losing.
Redick is on a one year 22 million deal and I don’t know what he will do after the season but I think he might just sign an new deal because thinks are looking up. The 76ers won 5 in a row! Keep it up guys.

Utah Jazz / Joe Ingles
Last week I picked the Utah Jazz as a team and Royce O’Neale to reward the strong play in back then they were on an 8 games win streak. This week I just have to select a Utah player again, the win streak is 11 now and they are only 1.5 games out of the play-offs bracket.
They were able to beat the Blazers, Spurs (in a back-to back game) and the Suns, the player that stood out and deserves to be on this week’s list is Joe Ingles
Two weeks ago, I was already debating on picking Joe when he scored 18 and 23 points but after scoring 24,20 and 13 this week he made it to the list!
A small shout out goes to Crowed as well after joining the team he is playing around 25 minutes a game contributing 15 points! Like Thomas he was just not really in the right spot.

Chris Paul
Once in a while the big stars make it to my list. Last week Lebron James had a crazy buzzer beater and sometimes they put up crazy numbers that just need to be rewarded
This week it’s not all about big numbers because Chris Paul did put up better numbers in his career but it’s about the lift he gives the Rockets.
Last year they were playing great, but this year they are real contenders! (watch out Warriors)
The Rockets won 10 in a row and passed the Warriors for the best record in the NBA.
Paul is averaging 19 points, over 8 assists and 5 rebounds per contest and is really controlling the pace of the game. Even though Mike D’Antoni loves to use only 8 seconds of the shot clock.

Nikola Jokic
Are you ready for this one? Posting the fastest triple-double in NBA history! Well done and congrats on making history. Jokic is averaging a double -double for the season. He posted the history making triple-double with 1:54 left in the first half, he ended up playing 34 minutes with 30 points, 15 rebounds and 17! Assists.
Well done, now hold on to the 6th seed in the West and enjoy the play-offs.

Hope you liked this week ‘s list, enjoy the All-star weekend and I will be in the middle of all the action next week in California to look into the next list!