Lion Pride Newspaper
4th Edition Friday, February 22, 2019
Sports Section NBA Review It’s been a fun year in basketball so far, and we’re only halfway through the NBA season! It all began on June 21, 2018, when the Mavs traded the Trae Young, the college sensation from OU to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for the wunderkind from Europe, Luka Doncic. Luka quickly began one of the best rookie seasons of all time, on par with the likes of Lebron James and Kobe Bryant. Although Dallas continued to have a losing record, most could sense that big changes were coming to Dallas, as everyone wanted to play with this extraordinary young superstar. Kristaps Porzingis and some Knicks were traded to Dallas for Dennis Smith Jr. and some Mavs in one of the biggest trades of the year, strengthening the Mavericks for years to come. What most basketball fans were anticipating this year was seeing what Lebron James could do for the Lakers, and the current results are a bit surprising. The Lakers are 10th in the Western Conference, so they aren’t on track to make the playoffs. This would mark a turning point for Lebron, as he has not missed out on the playoffs in around 15 years. Even when he was on Cleveland, they made it to the NBA finals! There have been some great players this year, one being James Harden. This 6’5” point guard on Houston is averaging an unworldly points per game: 37! He is also averaging 8 assists and 7 rebounds per game. If he has a game in which he scores 35 points, gets 7 assists and 6 rebounds, that qualifies as a bad game for him, which is astounding. It should be a fun race into the playoffs, which will no doubt be more entertaining than the regular season. Currently, there are about 24 teams with a realistic opportunity, all within at least six games of a current playoff spot. The fan favorite ‘round these parts is five game out of a current spot, and time is running