Late Sunday night in Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki and rookie point guard Darren Collison of the New Orleans Hornets traded basket for basket in a fourth quarter battle. Dallas won the game 108-100, but not before blowing most of a 25-point second-half lead. Collison’s 20 first-half points prevented this game from becoming an early wipeout. And his clutch fourth quarter performance nearly allowed the Hornets to pull off their second highly improbable comeback in days.
Rookie point guards continue to make headlines in the NBA. While Tyreke Evans and Brandon Jennings jumped out as early ROY candidates (and probably continue to be the favorites), Collison and Golden State’s Stephen Curry are making strong late season surges. Collison has made the most of his added minutes with the injury to starting point guard Chris Paul.
And Curry appears to be hitting his stride in a free-flowing Golden State offense that suits his skill set. Johnny Flynn in Minnesota has also had a very solid rookie campaign as has Ty Lawson in Denver. At draft time last year, the expectation was that Blake Griffin might be the only potential star among the rookie crop – but these point guards may turn out to be the real story.
And they’ve had the opportunity to compete among a number of greats who came before them. In the first round of last year’s playoffs, Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo went toe-to-toe in one of the classic playoff series of recent years. Both also made their first All-Star appearances this year. Russell Westbrook is having a superb season with the surprising Thunder as is Aaron Brooks with the Rockets. This is even before mentioning the triumvirate of Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Tony Parker, who are hitting the prime of their careers, and the old guard of Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd, all of whom are enjoying terrific seasons.
Together with the rookies, this group forms what may be one of the finest collections of point guards in NBA history. Kentucky point guard John Wall may soon join their ranks as many expect him to be the first pick in this year’s college draft.
Q: Do you think there has ever been a more dominant group of NBA point guards or are these guys in a league of their own?
