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Holly MacKenzie

Around the NBA: Wiggins and the Warriors continue to roll, while Dort and Gilgeous-Alexander keep shining

NBA

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Nov 29, 2021

Another week, another perfect record for the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors continue to hold the best record in the league at 18-2 and have won seven straight games, including a perfect 3-0 record in the past week. The biggest headlines continue to go to Stephen Curry who is making a run at yet another MVP award, but the consistent supporting role played by Andrew Wiggins continues to be a crucial part of Golden State’s success.

Wiggins is averaging 19.4 points on a career-best 50 percent shooting through 19 games this season. When the Warriors defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 116-96 in a 19-point comeback victory, Wiggins contributed 19 points and six rebounds. The Warriors were a +25 when Wiggins was on the floor. In a 118-103 win against the Portland Trail Blazers, Wiggins had 25 points to go with five rebounds and two assists. Again, the Warriors were a +21 when Wiggins was in the game. He isn’t just scoring, either. In Golden State’s 105-90 win against the Los Angeles Clippers, Wiggins finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and a steal.

“It’s amazing,” Wiggins said of the team’s success. “Having the best record in the league, we’re not satisfied. We still want to get better. We still have a lot of things to do, especially when Klay [Thompson] and [James Wiseman] come back. It’s going to be scary.”

With the Warriors showing no signs of slowing down, it’s been smiles all around in the Bay.

In Oklahoma City, Lu Dort continues to show he’s got plenty of starpower in his game on the offensive end of the floor after making a name for himself as an elite defensive stopper in the first two seasons of his career. After a five-game stretch of 20+ point games for the first time in his career earlier this season, 22-year-old Dort has started again, this time scoring 27 points against the Utah Jazz, then following that up with a 21-point performance against the Washington Wizards. In that same game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander narrowly missed out on a triple-double, finishing  with 15 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.

Dort is averaging 17.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game this season,  career-bests across the board. While the Thunder continue to show flashes of immense promise, the team is currently on a five-game losing streak, but the play of Dort and Gilgeous-Alexander is cause for plenty of excitement for Thunder and Canada Basketball fans alike.

Similar to the Thunder, the New Orleans Pelicans are in a development year. Canadian Nickeil Alexander-Walker is making the most of it, upping his scoring average to a career-best 14.3 points per game in his third NBA season.

On the veteran side of things, Tristan Thompson contributed 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots in a triple-overtime battle where the Sacramento Kings outlasted the Los Angeles Lakers for a 141-137 victory.

Sacramento followed up that win against the Lakers with a 128-101 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. It was Canadian Dillon Brooks who starred in the victory for the Grizzlies, scoring a game-high 21 points to go with six rebounds. Big man Brandon Clarke was dependably great off the bench with 15 points and six rebounds, shooting 7-of-8 field goals. With Memphis guard Ja Morant expected to miss time with a knee sprain, look for Brooks to be even more aggressive offensively in the weeks to come.