For most of this season (which is now half over – where did the time go?), Malik Beasley has been the undisputed leader for the “Best Beasley in the NBA” award. And here, we can really say “undisputed”, because the other Beasley, Michael Beasley, wasn’t even appearing in games for the Lakers. All Malik had to do was score a little bit some of the time, and he was all but guaranteed the award.
Things have changed with LeBron’s scrote injury. Michael Beasley is now playing, and not only is he playing, but he’s scoring a lot of points while doing it. In the past three, he’s had totals of 13, 19, and 17. If Malik wants to maintain his lead for the BBITN award, he has to come out and show that he can score better than that.
After just nine points against the Heat two games ago, and fifteen points in the last game against the Clippers, Malik had a STATEMENT GAME (a close relative of the common REVENGE GAME) here against the Suns. The Nuggets still somehow lost, but at least Malik was able to reassert his dominance in the race for the BBITN award. A bunch of threes, a pair of high-flying whamjams, this game was a direct message to the inferior Beasley from the superior Beasley: step it up soon, my man, or I’m running away with this thing AGAIN.
(Note: there is no fan voting for the BBITN award, so don’t even try.)