Did Stephen Curry Have a Better Week Than Isaiah Thomas?
In a press release on Monday, Stephen Curry and Isaiah Thomas were voted Players of the Week for the Western and Eastern Conferences. After all, the two were, in the truest sense, the players of the week in the NBA.
Thomas' Boston Celtics went 4-0 against the Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers. Leading the way was their point guard and the NBA's leading scorer, with averages of 37.8 points and 6.8 assists. He went two straight games with 40-plus points and scored at least 28 in each of these contests.
Meanwhile, Curry was busy leading his conference with 34.3 points and 3.0 steals per game. He also tallied 9.3 assists, which placed him second in the Association over the past week of play. However, the Golden State Warriors dropped the last of their three contests to the Sacramento Kings.
Given those facts, it's certainly difficult to decide who was better. On account of the Celtics' perfect 4-0 week, most people would lean toward IT2. But, after looking at the advanced stats, is that true?
Through the eyes of nERD -- our in-house metric that measures a player's total contribution over the course of a season, based on their efficiency -- we can see a player's impact on a single contest. This will help us decipher who was better during this time.
