NBA Top Five Performances, Feb. 3: Fred VanVleet’s 32-Point Performance Helped Raptors Defeat the Houston Rockets

TOP PLAYER OF THE DAY:

Fred VanVleet’s name has been circulating in trade rumors as the deadline approaches.

He showed why teams are pursuing him. VanVleet had 32 points, five rebounds and four assists against the Houston Rockets.

After a sluggish start to the season, VanVleet is looking like the All-Star from last year. In his last 10 games alone, he is averaging 27.1 points, 7.5 assists and 1.8 steals.

“I’m a pretty decent player, believe it or not,” VanVleet said. “I understand what it’s going to take for our team to be successful most nights. We started a little slow, but we found our aggression to get a spark going a little bit. I just tried picking my spots and taking what the defense was giving me. We just gotta keep going and translate that to wins.”

OTHERS:

- Anfernee Simons had 33 points, five rebounds and six assists in the Trail Blazers’ win against the Washington Wizards. It was the first time since Jan. 22 Damian Lillard wasn’t Portland’s leading scorer.

- Mikal Bridges’ 25-point performance helped the Phoenix Suns get a comfortable victory against the Boston Celtics. It was his fourth consecutive 20-point performance.

- Joel Embiid’s double-double led the Philadelphia 76ers to victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Embiid finished the night with 33 points and 10 rebounds.

- Trae Young had 27 points, four rebounds and six assists in the Atlanta Hawks’ second consecutive victory.

Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.