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Pierre Jackson is simply amazing. On Saturday night against the Mad Ants, he played all 48 minutes and scored a new season-high 49 points, while shooting an incredibly efficient 14-for-20 from the field, 5-for-7 from three and 16-for-18 from the charity stripe. He also dished out four assists and ripped away two steals, en route to a 98-94 victory for the Stampede.
If you can cast your mind back as far as nine days (tough, I know), you'll remember that Jackson set his season-high of 43 points against the Springfield Armor. You'll also remember that he left six points at the free throw line, which is very un-Pierre-like, so it was good to see him capitalise on those opportunities against the Mad Ants.
Here's what Jackson had to say about his incredible night on Twitter after the game:
Smh #blessed broke my career high again.. Shout out to my team!! #49pts #theysleep
— Pierre Jackson (@PierreJackson55) December 15, 2013
The 5-foot-11 point guard is now averaging a ridiculous 30.9 points, 5.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game on the season. And in the month of December, he's averaging 33.2 points per game on 47.7 percent shooting from the floor and 46.5 percent from three, which is all kinds of impressive. He finds himself trailing only Jarvis Varnado on the "Prospect Watch" list, if that helps in explaining how amazing he has been thus far. Something else that helps his cause: The Stampede remain at the top of the D-League at 9-0 and are the only undefeated team remaining after the Vipers lost on Friday to the Texas Legends.
But here's an unfortunate reminder: The Pelicans hold Jackson's rights, so no other NBA team can call him up unless they trade for him. Therefore, the likelihood that we'll see Jackson in the NBA anytime soon is pretty slim, which is sad. But for all us D-League lovers, let's enjoy it before he becomes the next Nate Robinson on the big stage.