February Players of the Month

The February Players of the Month have been announced. The Eastern Conference Player of the Month is Dwyane Wade, the guard for Miami. The Western Conference Player of the Month was Pau Gasol, the forward from Los Angeles. The Player of the Month is presented by Kia Motors.

Dwyane Wade was the leading scorer for the Eastern Conference at 30.7 points per game. He was also second in assists with over eight per game. He even averaged two assists per game, good for fourth in the Eastern Conference during the month of February. Even though the Heat went 6-6 and lowered their winning percentage, he scored at least twenty points in every game of the month. He shot over 50% from the field on average. On February 22, he scored 50 points against Orlando, becoming his new career high. He led his team in points for eleven of the twelve games during the month and led his team in assists in ten of those games.

Wade, as mentioned above, scored his career high on February 22^nd in Orlando, despite the 122 to 99 loss. He also had a career high 16 assists in a win over Detroit at home. His other notable game was against New York, where he led a furious comeback against the Knicks. He scored 46 points, including 24 points in the fourth quarter alone to fuel the Heat to a 120-115 win. He also had ten assists in the win to go along with eight rebounds.

Gasol, on the other hand, was the Western Conference Player of the Month. He shot 58.6% from the field and averaged almost 21 points per game. He helped the Lakers beat the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers on back-to-back games. He also averaged almost eleven rebounds per game. This rebounding total was second in the Western Conference, only behind his teammate Lamar Odom. Gasol has been relied upon more due to Andrew Bynum's injury.

Gasol scored twenty-four points and had fourteen rebounds in the one point win in Boston. Then, in Cleveland, he scored eighteen points in the ten point win on the Cavaliers. He also had twelve points and six assists in that win. Finally, he had a triple-double against the Hawks on the seventeenth of February, tallying twelve points, thirteen rebounds, and ten assists. This was his third career triple-double. This led the Lakers to a 96 to 83 win.

John Hollinger, ESPN.com