The Portland Trail Blazers continued a strong stretch of play this week by besting the Houston Rockets twice and falling to the New York Knicks in a competitive game for a 2-1 record.
Despite continued
high-level contributions from all the usual suspects, this week’s Blazer of the Week goes to guard Caleb Love.
Love averaged 16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game this week. It wasn’t his most efficient week from the field, shooting just 41.9%, but he shot 42.3% from three with 26 of his 43 shot attempts coming from deep.
The 6-foot-3 rookie has continued to be a spark plug off the bench for Portland and has spent most of his two-way contract playing with the Blazers instead of in the G-League. After struggling with efficiency early in the year, Love has settled in and become a reliable threat from behind the arc.
With these three games, Love has now scored double-digit points in 11 straight games. His scoring abilities have helped Portland get a boost in close games despite being devastated by injuries.
This week’s honorable mention is Deni Avdija.
Deni was great once again this week. He averaged 28.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. This included a season-high 41. During Portland’s 123-114 loss to the Knicks on Sunday, Avdija exited late in the fourth quarter due to a back injury. The Blazers will reveal more about Avdija’s status later today when they release the injury report for Tuesday’s game against the Golden State Warriors.
