Mike Conley hasn’t gotten the recognition he deserves in his career but it’s good to see the Memphis Grizzlies star get selected for this Player of the Week award.
The Memphis Grizzlies continue their pursuit to convey their draft pick and Mike Conley‘s play is increasing their chances of making that happen. His play was so good this past week that he earned Western Conference Player of the Week honors. This was the first time in his career he has earned the award.
JUST ANNOUNCED: The @NBA has named @mconley11 the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from March 4-10. Press release below.
— Grizzlies PR (@GrizzliesPR) March 11, 2019
Conley averaged 31.3 PPG (NBA-best 15.3 4Q PPG) and led the @memgrizz to a 3-0 week. He scored a career-high 40 points on March 5. pic.twitter.com/eLXYUk1rIB
The Eastern Conference player to win the award was Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons who averaged 22.3 points, 18 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game as the Pistons had a 3-0 week.
Conley has been absolutely outstanding this past week especially in the fourth quarter of games. The way he has taken over down the stretch has been a big reason why the Grizzlies have been able to pick up these wins.
He started off the week by setting a career-high in scoring with 40 points against the Portland Trail Blazers. He was extremely efficient in that game going 12-18 from the field and 6-7 from three-point range.
His play all game was good but he took it to another level in the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies trailed 93-85 with eight minutes left to go before Conley decided to take over this game. He scored 19 points in the fourth quarter but he did have some help from Jonas Valanciunas who scored eight of his 17 points in the final period.
Conley was big in the win over the Utah Jazz on Friday and once again Valanciunas was instrumental as well. Conley finished with 28 points on 11-18 shooting while Valanciunas had 27 points on 12-17 from the floor.
Once again the Grizzlies and Conley had a successful fourth quarter, which is great to see after so many struggles earlier this season. Conley had 13 in the fourth quarter to lead Memphis to the 114-104 win.
The final win of the week came in comeback fashion against the Orlando Magic. Conley finished with 26 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds. He was phenomenal in this fourth quarter as well as he scored 14 of his 26 points in the final period.
In that game, the Grizzlies trailed 95-88 with just under three minutes remaining when a Mike Conley and one sparked the comeback. After that point, he scored 10 points and is looking like a guy who could compete for an all-star spot next season.
It’ll be interesting to see the Grizzlies’ plans, but if they do intend to trade him still then it’s very possible his value will increase. He is playing like an all-star caliber player and whether it’s in Memphis or somewhere else we hope he can keep it up for many years.