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The NBA's player-of-the-week award recognized two lights-out scorers from the Eastern and Western Conferences on Monday. Both Jayson Tatum and Paul George helped maintain the winning streaks of their respective sides this week through brilliant offensive displays.
The Boston Celtics are now one game off of the fourth seed in the East, while the LA Clippers are within one and a half games of second in the West.
This is young Boston Celtics leader Tatum's second NBA player-of-the-week award this season; while it is the first for Paul George since moving to the LA Clippers.
NBA Player of the week: Paul George and Jayson Tatum take home awards after both average over 30 points
The LA Clippers and Boston Celtics have been among the form sides recently, thanks in large part to the performances of their All-Stars. Both Paul George and Jayson Tatum ranked among the NBA's top-4 players for scoring this week and performed well above their averages for the season.
Let's take a look at how they earned the NBA player-of-the-week award.
Paul George
Week in numbers: MP - 34.9, PPG - 33.7, AST - 5.7, RPG - 4.3, FG% - 56.5
Paul George was undoubtedly electric from the field this week in the LA Clippers' three wins and looked like the dominant George of the 2018-19 season. The 30-year old shot at a terrific rate of 56.5% from the floor and a staggering 60.9% from deep. On top of that, George was perfect from the line, taking 5.7 foul shots per matchup and nailing every one of them.
Paul George has settled into his role this season with the LA Clippers after struggling at times last year. He has improved his output in terms of points, assists and rebounds on the 2019-20 season and is recording a career-high offensive rating of 117.
His shooting efficiency shouldn't be recognized only for the NBA player of the week award, though, as his accuracy has been clinical all season. George is scoring at personal best from the field and from the 3-point line (47.7 and 43.8) and resultantly has the best +/- of any Clippers player this NBA season (except Rondo who has only played 4 games for the franchise).
Paul George's NBA player of the week candidacy was topped off by a vicious posterizing dunk over Detroit Pistons rookie Isaiah Stewart on Sunday.
Jayson Tatum
Week in numbers: MP - 37.8, PPG - 31.5, AST - 3.8, RPG - 8.5, FG% - 48.8
Over in the East, Jayson Tatum took home his second NBA player of the week award of the season. The young forward had a stellar four games in which the Boston Celtics looked back to their best. Averaging well above his season average for points, Tatum took up the C's offensive responsibility and delievered.
Tatum's devastating scoring peaked in their overtime win against Minnesota, in which the 23-year-old put up a stunning 53 points, becoming the youngest player in the franchise's history to score 50+ in a game.
Not only did Jayson Tatum earn the NBA player of the week award by leading the Celtics in scoring, but by also grabbing a team-leading 8.5 rebounds, 94% of which were on the defensive end. Akin to George, Tatum was also hugely effective from the line, scoring 96.6% of free-throw attempts.
The Boston Celtics will certainly hope that Tatum can continue his fine form and become the third star to win three NBA player of the week award this season as they chase seed in the East.
Guess the Lakers players!
