John Wall and Blake Griffin receive T-Mobile Rookies of the Month honours
On April, 14th, 2011, the National Basketball Association (NBA) crowned Washington Wizards’ John Wall and Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin as the ‘T-Mobile
Rookies of the Month’ in their respective division for their performances during the month of April. The announcement came just a day after the regular season closed and ironically both Wall and Griffin would not be featuring in the play-offs.
John Wall
Wall who plays as a guard for the Washington Wizards, accomplished 19.4 points and 6.0 assists per game during April while pacing all the rookies of the Eastern Conference.
Not only that, but the player also made 3.0 steals per game during that stretch and led the league in steals made.
On April 3, Wall posted 18 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out five assists and made three steals in a 97-91victory against Charlotte Bobcats. Two days later,
he registered 26 points, pulled out a tremendous double-double by dishing out 12 assists and grabbed six rebounds, along with four steals as his team skidded past the Detroit Pistons, 107-105.
The 20-year-old tallied 19 points, dished out seven assists and pulled off five boards in a big win over Atlanta Hawks, 115-83, on April 9. He then led the Wizards
past the mighty Boston Celtics on April 11, by tallying 24 points, nine rebounds and three dimes. The Wizards squeaked past the Celts 95-94 that night.
Blake Griffin
Griffin, who plays as a forward for the Clippers, averaged 23.3 points and 11.9 rebounds per game to top all the rookies in the final month of the regular season.
The player also stood third amongst all the rookies by averaging 5.0 assists per game during that month.
The player was awarded the ‘Rookie of the Month’ award for the sixth consecutive month making him only the second rookie in the history of NBA to carry the title
throughout entire season. The first person to do that was Chris Paul, who achieved this feat during the 2005-06 season.
The 22-year-old led his team with 20 points, 13 rebounds and four assists in a 111-98 defeat against the Phoenix Suns, , on April 1. A night later, Griffin erupted
with 26 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out three assists as his team clinched a victory against the powerful Oklahoma City Thunder.
The player pinned 35 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out six assists and made two steals in loss against OKC Thunder on April 6. He then scooped out a triple-double
in high scoring thriller against the Memphis Grizzlies, 110-103, on April 13. Griffin pounded 31 points, grabbed 10 boards and dished out 10 dimes in that contest.
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