NBA Best Performances 2018-2019: Derrick Rose, Kemba Walker, and LaMarcus Aldridge

Derrick Rose, Kemba Walker, and LaMarcus Aldridge have had some of the best games in the NBA through the 2018-2019 season. Let’s take a look at how they put together these superstar performances.

Let’s start with one that hits home for me and my fellow Chicago Bulls fans, the 50-point game from Derrick Rose. D Rose had 50 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds with 61% (19-31) from the field, 57% (4-7) from 3-point range, and was 8 for 11 from the line. Rose crossed and double-clutched his way into a legendary performance and it couldn’t have been more inspirational.

D Rose was clutch down the stretch, this game felt like the entire 2011 season all over again. At the end of the 4th quarter, Rose had back-to-back buckets and free throws for five points in a row to put the Timberwolves up three for Utah’s final possession. And as if the performance wasn’t miraculous enough already, Derrick blocks the game-tying three…unreal. If someone put this in a movie, people wouldn’t believe it.

As Rose catches the ball after the block, he was overflowing with emotion and that’s where the passion really comes out. The tears aren’t from 50 points and an early-season win against an alright Utah Jazz team. The tears are from the grind of getting up and working every day to get healthy and get his game back, while just bouncing from team to team. He needed an old coach to take a flyer on him for some scoring off the bench…and now he’s scoring 50 and leading his team to victory just like its 2011 again. The only thing that could’ve made this better for me would’ve been a good old fashion Stacey King call on the game.

Check out the highlights and the post-game interview here.

Kemba Walker went off for 60 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. Kemba shot 61% (21-34) from the field, 42% (6-14) from 3-point range, and was a perfect 12 for 12 from the three-point line.

Kemba was so hot he banked-in a step back three with 45 seconds left in regulation. Cardiac Kemba Walker was absolutely un-guardable the entire game. With the ball in his hands, Kemba moved around that court like a water bug; the 76ers defense looked like a cat chasing a laser pointer.

Not to hate on this ridiculous performance, but there are a couple facts working against Mr. Walker here, the first being that they lost. An L is never a great way to end the night. Second, at the end of OT, Jimmy Butler blocked his shot, saved it from going out of bounds, and then hit a pull-up three to win the game. It’s tough to distract from a 60-point game, but Butler stole his thunder here to be honest.

Check out that last sequence and some highlights of Kemba breaking ankle after ankle on November 17^th in a home loss to the 76ers, 119-122.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 56 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 4 assists. He did this on 60% (20-33) shooting from the field and shot a perfect 16-16 from the free throw line. The crazy thing is that there was not a single three-ball. In today’s NBA, this is almost unheard of. Check out this shot chart, the right side is LaMarcus Aldridge and the left is the entire OKC roster. (The dot in the top right is from being fouled on an inbounds play.)

Aldridge scored 56 and they were all on classic LaMarcus Aldridge moves. He dominated the game but wasn’t out there breaking ankles or posterizing defenders. Aldridge kills you slowly with his unstoppable old school moves. The jump hook over the right shoulder, followed by the left. He can hit a mid-range jumper with his eyes closed and once he’s hot…good luck stopping his fadeaway jumper. He’s automatic and an absolute machine out there. The Spurs as a team did a great job finding him open in the lane for easy dunks too. Nothing fancy (okay, well, the pass to himself off the glass might be considered “fancy” but he just grabbed it and laid it back in soft. Not like the MJ/Kobe/LeBron self-alley oops) but it gets the job done. LaMarcus Aldridge’s offensive game is the “ole' reliable” of the NBA.

Check out the highlights here.