Matthews Steal Highlights Top Plays of NBA Weekend, Gives Trail Blazers 3-1 lead

Matthews Steal Highlights Top Plays of NBA Weekend, Gives Trail Blazers 3-1 lead

Wesley Matthews’ fourth steal of the game just after 1 AM EST Monday morning with two seconds to play gave the Portland Trail Blazers a 3-1 series lead heading to Houston Wednesday. The Trail Blazers were the only team with five of the top 50 players this weekend on the table below, while LeBron James leads the list (30 points + 10 rebounds + 6 Assists + 2 Steals + 0 Blocks – 8 Missed Shots – 1 FT Missed – 2 Turnovers = 37 Efficiency), and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was the 165th and worst player this weekend. Breakdowns of all eight series follow, but first, the worst players this weekend:

Rnk Worst Weekend Performances Team NBA Efficiency FGMi FTMi TO REB AST STL BLK PTS
160 Al Harrington, PF Washington Wizards (1) (1) 0 -1 1 0 0 0 0
161 James Johnson, PF Memphis Grizzlies (1) (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
162 Cartier Martin, SF Atlanta Hawks (1) (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
163 Danny Granger, SF Los Angeles Clippers (2) (4) 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
164 Toney Douglas, PG Miami Heat (3) (3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
165 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, SF Charlotte Bobcats (3) (5) -3 -4 5 0 0 1 3

Miami 98, Charlotte 85: Heat can sweep Monday in Charlotte: The NBA Efficiency rating used by NBA coaches takes a point away for mistakes (turnovers, missed free throws for field goals), while adding a point for every rebound, assist, steal or point scored. Kidd-Gilchrist missed five shots and three free throws to go along with four turnovers while he scored only three points as part of a -3 Efficiency rating for the game.

Portland 123, Houston 120 (OT): Trail Blazers can win 4-1 in Houston Wednesday. LaMarcus Aldridge (pictured) opened the series with 46 points to give Houston an overtime win, but Sunday was part of a much more balanced attack. He had the 10th best weekend performance, while Matthews came in #23 with four rebounds, three assists and 21 points to go along with his four steals.  Robin Lopez ranked 29th despite only six points because of his 11 rebounds and no missed shots. James Harden missed 12 shots and turned the ball over five times to drop to a respectable but not dominant 30th.

Dallas 109, San Antonio 108: Mavs can take 3-1 lead in Dallas Monday. Vince Carter wasn’t one of the four Mavs on the list, but his buzzer beater from the corner overcame 13 rebounds by Tiago Splitter (9th best performance) and 22 points by Tim Duncan (13th best) for the Spurs.

Oklahoma City 92, Memphis 89 (OT): winner in OKC Tuesday will lead 3-2. Reggie Jackson turned in the fourth best performance of the weekend by scoring more points than Kevin Durant (54th due to 16 missed shots and five turnovers, with only 15 points) and Russell Westbrook (18 missed shots, seven turnovers, 15 points).

Washington 98, Chicago 89: Wizards can win series 4-1 in Chicago Tuesday. Trevor Ariza (5th, 30 points) to help the Wizards win again without Bradley Beal (25th) or John Wall (47th) having one of their dominant games.

Golden State 118, LA Clippers 97:  Winner Tuesday in LA takes 3-2 lead. Stephen Curry was second to only James with a 33 point, seven rebound, seven assist game, and he received plenty of help from Andre Iguodala (22 points on only two missed shots to rank 8th). The Clippers were distracted by the news barrage over their owners comments.

Toronto 87, Brooklyn 79: winner Wednesday in Toronto takes 3-2 lead. The Raptors did not have a top 25 performance, but had the defensive performance of the weekend with only 79 points allowed. Paul Pierce (19th) was the only Nets player in the top 50.

Indiana 91, Atlanta 88: winner Monday in Atlanta takes 3-2 lead. The Indiana trio of Paul George (7th, 24 points, 10 rebounds), George Hill (24th, 3 steals) and David West (26th, five rebounds, three steals) had just enough to hold off Atlanta and even the series. The Hawks Paul Millsap (6th) put in 29 points and grabbed seven rebounds to almost give the Hawks a 3-1 lead.

Rnk Best Weekend Performances Team NBA Efficiency FGMi FTMi TO REB AST STL BLK PTS
1 LeBron James, SF Miami Heat 37 (8) -1 -2 10 6 2 0 30
2 Stephen Curry, PG Golden State Warriors 36 (10) -1 -2 7 7 1 1 33
3 Taj Gibson, PF Chicago Bulls 35 (3) -1 -3 7 1 1 1 32
4 Reggie Jackson, PG Oklahoma City Thunder 35 (5) 0 -4 9 1 1 1 32
5 Trevor Ariza, SF Washington Wizards 32 (7) -1 0 8 0 2 0 30
6 Paul Millsap, PF Atlanta Hawks 31 (8) 0 -3 7 2 1 3 29
7 Paul George, SF Indiana Pacers 29 (8) -2 -2 10 5 0 2 24
8 Andre Iguodala, SF Golden State Warriors 29 (2) -2 -4 4 9 1 1 22
9 Tiago Splitter, C San Antonio Spurs 29 (2) 0 0 13 3 1 0 14
10 LaMarcus Aldridge, PF Portland Trail Blazers 28 (11) -3 -1 10 2 2 4 25
11 Chandler Parsons, SF Houston Rockets 27 (7) -2 -2 8 2 1 1 26
12 Serge Ibaka, PF Oklahoma City Thunder 26 (5) 0 -1 14 0 1 5 12
13 Tim Duncan, PF San Antonio Spurs 26 (6) 0 0 5 2 0 3 22
14 Marc Gasol, C Memphis Grizzlies 25 (11) -1 -4 11 4 1 2 23
15 Joakim Noah, C Chicago Bulls 24 (5) -1 -3 15 5 1 2 10
16 Dwight Howard, C Houston Rockets 23 (7) -6 -3 14 2 2 2 19
17 Monta Ellis, SG Dallas Mavericks 23 (10) 0 -1 2 3 0 0 29
18 Samuel Dalembert, C Dallas Mavericks 23 (4) 0 0 10 0 0 4 13
19 Paul Pierce, SF Brooklyn Nets 22 (5) -1 -2 5 2 1 0 22
20 Blake Griffin, PF Los Angeles Clippers 22 (6) 0 -4 6 3 2 0 21
21 Al Jefferson, C Charlotte Bobcats 22 (5) -1 0 5 0 0 3 20
22 Kawhi Leonard, SF San Antonio Spurs 22 (1) -2 -5 5 3 5 0 17
23 Wesley Matthews, SG Portland Trail Blazers 22 (7) -1 -2 4 3 4 0 21
24 George Hill, PG Indiana Pacers 21 (3) -1 -1 3 5 2 1 15
25 Bradley Beal, SG Washington Wizards 20 (6) 0 -1 5 3 1 0 18
26 David West, PF Indiana Pacers 20 (6) -3 -1 5 2 3 2 18
27 Amir Johnson, PF Toronto Raptors 20 (4) 0 -2 5 1 2 1 17
28 Mike Conley, PG Memphis Grizzlies 20 (11) -1 -1 4 10 4 1 14
29 Robin Lopez, C Portland Trail Blazers 19 0 -2 11 2 1 1 6
30 James Harden, SG Houston Rockets 19 (12) -1 -5 4 6 1 0 26
31 Dirk Nowitzki, PF Dallas Mavericks 19 (6) -2 -3 7 3 2 0 18
32 David Lee, PF Golden State Warriors 19 (4) 0 -2 6 2 2 0 15
33 Chris Douglas-Roberts, SG Charlotte Bobcats 19 (2) 0 0 3 1 0 0 17
34 Harrison Barnes, SF Golden State Warriors 19 (1) -1 -1 2 4 1 0 15
35 Chris Paul, PG Los Angeles Clippers 19 (4) -1 -4 5 6 1 0 16
36 Kyle Korver, SG Atlanta Hawks 19 (5) 0 -1 9 0 1 0 15
37 Chris Andersen, PF Miami Heat 19 (3) 0 0 7 1 1 1 12
38 Nicolas Batum, SF Portland Trail Blazers 19 (12) -1 0 6 6 0 0 20
39 Jose Calderon, PG Dallas Mavericks 18 (3) 0 -4 0 9 0 0 16
40 Kyle Lowry, PG Toronto Raptors 18 (10) 0 -1 4 2 1 0 22
41 Tony Allen, SG Memphis Grizzlies 18 (8) -1 -2 13 0 1 1 14
42 Damian Lillard, PG Portland Trail Blazers 17 (7) -2 -2 1 8 0 0 19
43 Jamal Crawford, SG Los Angeles Clippers 17 (10) -1 0 0 2 0 0 26
44 Tony Parker, PG San Antonio Spurs 16 (9) 0 -4 2 6 2 0 19
45 DeMar DeRozan, SG Toronto Raptors 16 (12) -2 -1 5 2 0 0 24
46 Dwyane Wade, SG Miami Heat 16 (9) -1 -2 3 6 1 1 17
47 John Wall, PG Washington Wizards 16 (11) -1 -2 3 10 2 0 15
48 Kemba Walker, PG Charlotte Bobcats 16 (3) -1 -2 2 5 2 0 13
49 Josh McRoberts, PF Charlotte Bobcats 16 (6) -1 -2 9 2 1 0 13
50 Trevor Booker, PF Washington Wizards 15 (6) 0 0 9 1 0 3 8

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