Anthony Gruppuso-USA Today Sports
For the first time in a long time, it isn’t about Kim Kardashian or punchlines about their 72-day-long marriage. Now it’s finally about Kris Humphries the basketball player.
After having a miserable season that many attributed to his extended divorce settlement with the Hollywood starlet, the Brooklyn Nets forward has begun leaving his mark in his team’s first round playoff series against the Chicago Bulls.
With only 14 total points over the first four games of the series, a switch seems to have been flipped for Humphries, as he’s combined for that same amount of points in Games 5 and 6, which were both win-or-go-home situations for Brooklyn after falling behind 3-1.
His rebounding numbers have also seen the same transformation. After compiling only eight overall rebounds through that same four game stretch to begin the series, Humphries has ripped down 10 over the last two.
Five of those rebounds have come on the offensive glass, meaning he’s creating second chance opportunities for Brooklyn.
But Humphries’s impact can’t only be quantified through stats. On a team where nearly everyone, even the stars, have been criticized for playing passionless throughout most games, Humphries has been the one player that has provided a much needed shot in the arm with constant energy recently.
Although Humphries isn’t what he was last regular season, when he averaged career highs with 13.8 points and exactly 11 rebounds per game, he should’ve never been held to that standard considering the Nets had essentially no offensive weapons other than point guard Deron Williams for most of the year.
If the Nets want to complete their comeback in Game 7 on Saturday night and advance to the next round, Humphries will need to play with the same sort of intensity that has helped put them in this position in the first place.
An added bonus for him? It should halt the Kim K. jests as well.
Mike B. Ruiz is a Brooklyn Nets writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @mikebruiz and “Like” him on Facebook.
