Boston Celtics v Portland Trail Blazers
PORTLAND, OR – FEBRUARY 25: Gary Trent Jr. #2 of the Portland Trail Blazers and Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics fights for position to grab the rebound on February 25, 2020 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. | Photo by Cameron Browne/NBAE via Getty Images

As we discussed here, Zion Williamson has become a major disruptive force in the NBA. He did it again vs. Cleveland Sunday night, lighting the Cavs up for 38 while shooting 16-22 and 6-9 from the line. Fellow Brotherhood member Brandon Ingram had 27 as well.

Williamson shot just under 73 percent in this game which would be one thing if it were once a month. He’s doing this kind of thing all the time. No one right now can stop him and even if they can slow his scoring he’s slipping the ball to other guys.

At Duke, he liked to say that it was RJ Barrett’s team which we thought showed great insight. No one is close to Williamson athletically but Barrett’s personality pushes him to center stage. Williamson recognized that, let him have it and was fine with it.

In his first season with the Knicks, Barrett took a lot of heat, mostly over his shooting, and in the beginning of his second he took more. Not so much lately.

A few games ago someone – we can’t remember who – said that his team wanted Barrett to take the final shot: “that’s exactly who we wanted.”

Be careful what you wish for.

The other night Barrett hit a clutch shot to force overtime against Memphis and on Sunday, he hit another clutch shot to put New York up 98-94 over Gary Trent and the Toronto Raptors with 34.8 to go.

Barrett shot 5-12 and finished with 19 points and five assists and is starting to emerge as a team leader.

For his part, Trent finished with 23 points.

And in Boston, Jayson Tatum finished with 28 points against Denver. Solid night for the Brotherhood.

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