Well, not really. But he should be.
When the news broke Sunday morning that Blake Griffin would miss considerable time following the discovery of a Staph infection in his elbow, most assumed it'd be Chris Paul that would pick up the majority of the slack. Paul, of course, is (arguably, but isn't everything arguable?) the Clippers' best overall player, and it made sense to assume he'd take on an even larger role in the absence of his team's leading scorer.
Make no mistake, Paul has been excellent in each of the last three games, but the player that has truly elevated his game has been DeAndre Jordan. In his first 511 NBA games (postseason included), DJ had never posted a line of 20+ points and 20+ rebounds in the same game. As of today (Thursday), Jordan now owns three such games...and he's played in 517 games total. Yes, he's gone for 20-20 in three of his last six games, including two in a row. Last night's 24-point, 20-board effort was truly exceptional, especially when you consider that he had just four rebounds at halftime.
Houston, playing without Dwight Howard, had absolutely no answer for Jordan in the second half, and he absolutely wrecked them. This was a one-point game through three quarters, and the Clippers wound up trouncing the Rockets by 15. He converted on six of his eight attempts from the field, extending his own NBA record of consecutive games shooting at least 50% from the floor to 39. His free throw shooting still leaves much to be desired, but his 12-26 effort from the stripe Wednesday night meant that he made more than twice as many FTs as James Harden (the league leader in free throws made and tried) even attempted. The Rockets tried to take advantage of DJ's poor free throwing by fouling him several times down-the-stretch, but Jordan was able to knock enough of them down to keep Houston at bay.
After the game, Doc Rivers called it a "travesty" that Jordan wasn't named to the Western Conference All-Star team. Initially, I didn't think Jordan had a very viable claim to make the roster. Sure, he's the league leader in rebounding (13.8 per game) and is second in blocks (2.35), but the West is loaded with deserving candidates. In order to make the team, Jordan would've needed an absolute cascade of injuries to befall those that were named to the team.
Well...that actually happened. Three players voted as starters (Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis and Kobe Bryant) are all injured and unable to play, but have since been replaced with Damian Lillard, DeMarcus Cousins and Dirk Nowitzki. The news of Davis' absence from the game came down late Wednesday night, before the league tabbed Nowitzki as his replacement.
I'm as big a Dirk fan as anyone, but I don't think he's more deserving of an All-Star spot than Jordan is this season. It'll be Nowitzki's 13th trip to the game, which is an incredible accomplishment, but I'll bet if you asked Dirk, he'd rather take the week off to rest and relax rather than partake in the All-Star rigamarole. Prior to Nowitzki's selection, Dallas and Phoenix were the only teams in the current Western playoff field without All-Star representation. I would assume the lack of any other Mavs was a major factor in Dirk getting the nod.
But we don't even know if Jordan would've been next in line, anyway. Memphis already has Marc Gasol in the game as a starter, but you can make the argument that both Zach Randolph and Mike Conley are deserving, as well. Whatever the case, Jordan is having his best season to-date, and absolutely deserves to be in the game. Maybe next year, DJ.
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