Jordan Rips off 3 20-20 Performances in Final 6 Games Before Break
Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan may not be an All-Star, but he'll head into the NBA's midseason break with as much momentum as anyone playing in the actual game.
Jordan recorded 20 or more points and 20 or more rebounds in three of his final six games in the season's first half, most recently putting up 24 points and 20 boards in Wednesday's 110-95 win over the Houston Rockets.
He had 22 points and 27 rebounds in Monday's 115-98 win over the Dallas Mavericks, after posting 22 points and 20 boards back on Feb. 2 in a memorable 100-98 come-from-ahead loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
With Wednesday's performance against Houston, Jordan became the first player since Nikola Vucevic in April 2013 to record a 20-20 in consecutive games, per basketball-reference.com's play index.
If Jordan can somehow put up another 20-20 next Thursday against the San Antonio Spurs, he'll be the first player to accomplish the feat in three straight games since Kevin Love in March 2011.
Oddly enough, the 26-year-old center had never recorded a 20-20 game before this month, through 481 appearances in the regular season and another 30 in the playoffs, per NBA.com/stats.
Never much of a scorer, Jordan recorded the vast majority of his points on field goals in the first two 20-20 games, but he needed intentional fouls to reach the mark Wednesday night. He went to the line an incredible 26 times, converting 12 of those to provide half of his 24 points.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has never been reluctant to deploy the hacking strategy, and with Jordan making just 41.4 percent of his free throws this season, we could see more Hack-a-Jordan after the break.
