HERO OF THE WEEKWhen Atlanta expressed its willingness to pay Joe Johnson $ 70 million in five years in the summer of 2005, the experts, to put it mildly, were surprised and complained about the revelry in the financial transfer market, where even the average player can get a contract for the maximum amount. Last season, when Boris Djo, who was later recognized as the league’s most progressive basketball player, began to work miracles at Phoenix, they began to twist their fingers around the temple, remembering that it was the Frenchman Hawks who had been given the right to get Joe-Joe. A year ago, Johnson was considered just a sensible attacking defender, great throwing from afar and defending qualitatively on the perimeter. What has changed now, when Atlanta suddenly began to win, and Joe scores at least 25 points against any opponent, be it Cleveland or Toronto? Is it a beautiful dream or reality?
“He began to talk more with us,” says teammate Josh Smith. “He’s trying to get us started, and I feel that he’s succeeding.”
“Now he’s the MVP of the league,” playmaker Tyrone Liu is confident. “But we should stay longer below the radars without attracting attention. Maybe we can get to the playoffs.”
By the way, the statistics of Joe-Joe this week are 29.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 4.3 passes and 9 of 22 three-pointer.
TEAM OF THE WEEKDreams about the playoffs for the “Atlanta” and really do not look fantastic. Not only that, “hawks” generally headed the Eastern Conference table, only on Tuesday night losing the lead to Cleveland, who had played more for the match. But the week began precisely with a beautiful victory over the LeBron James team!
Yes, as long as the real grandees do not come across the Hawks, and a home defeat in overtime from the middle peasant, “Seattle”, at all leads to irony in relation to the unexpected leader. But admit that even few people expected such successes from the club, who won 13 out of 82 matches in the 04/05 season, 26 in the 05/06 season, who released the second scorer Al Harrington in Indiana in the summer and acquired only an elderly Speedy playmaker Claxton, who in the aforementioned meeting with Cleveland broke his finger and dropped out for a month and a half.
But Joe Johnson matured, added confidence and stability to Zaz Pachulia, a long-range shot from Josh Smith, who previously played exclusively on outstanding physical data, made his way. The composition of the “Atlanta”, formerly oversaturated with light forwards, now seems balanced. He is perhaps lacking in “gravity,” in particular, a spare center at least an average level. However, now light teams are in fashion.
LEGIONARY OF THE WEEKThere was no particular choice in this nomination. Yao Ming over the past days has looked like a truly dominant center, deservedly sharing with Joe Johnson the official title of player of the week. In four matches, the Chinese scored 29.0 points (55.7% of hits from the game, 90.3% from free throws) and made 11.3 rebounds. Especially impressive was his performance against the “New York” - 35 points, 17 rebounds, 7 block shots. No, 34 points and 14 rebounds against Shaquille O'Heal look more significant.
“He stayed the same,” the upset bruiser spoke dismissively of Yao Ming. “Just tall, 226 centimeters. He does what he is supposed to do.” It is possible that it is in the pleasure received from the routine work that the difference between O'Neill and Yao lies. Because the Chinese are still bastard when he manages to dominate a star of this caliber.
“Every time I score through it, I feel like a child who was given candy for Halloween,” Yao rejoiced. “Because it's difficult to do it. Very. He is great! He is stronger and bigger than me. My only chance is to run across him.”
In a situation where Tracy McGrady's form is far from optimal, and Bonzie Wells did not really recover from injury, Yao's achievements are invaluable. It was his efforts, “Houston” has achieved four victories in a row.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK10/12/06. Lakers - Memphis. This is not women's basketball at all. In the role of Gyulchatay - Mike Miller, who jumped out next to Andrew Bynem and caught by the cunning AR photojournalist.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK"Could he fall into the ring? No way! Never!" - Vince Carter about the old official ball. In Sunday's meeting with “Washington”, a new ball released by the defender of “New Jersey” at the last second of regular time, having hit the back arch, fell into the net with a stone, thereby revealing his rare followers in the ranks of the “netters”.
TOPIC OF THE WEEKThe desire of the NBA commissioner David Stern to make the league good and fluffy, finally ran into a legal protest. The union leader, Billy Hunter, has threatened the headquarters of the association with litigation if the "purge ranks" continues at the same pace. Problem: instructions to the referees to punish basketball players for the slightest manifestation of protest against referee decisions saturated the league with unnecessary technical fouls (they were given 67 in nine days compared to 24 for the same period a year ago), and many are far from unambiguous. For example, in the opening match, Andres Nochioni from “Chicago” received comments only because he spread his arms in surprise and apologized immediately to the referee, and Rashid Wallace was “given the techie” for “and one” uttered calmly - after the hit, Chid considered that worthy to execute the penalty. At the same time, much more violent protests by authoritative Tim Duncan and Sam Cassell were ignored.
However, the matter is not only in the difference in interpretations of the episodes. The desire of the league to clear basketball of controversy leads to the deliverance of emotions, to the stifling of great players. Although sometimes they set a bad example for the younger generation, it is still better than turning the NBA into a company of stone-faced robots.
CONFUSES OF THE WEEKThe Detroit’s Saturday defeat against Golden State with a crushing score of 79: 111 cannot be justified by the absence of an injured Rip Hamilton. One of the favorites of the championship immediately fell into an inexplicable game pit, not only losing to the progressive team of Don Nelson in each of the quarters, but also demonstrating a strange spinelessness, which had not been seen in the fighting (literally) Pistons formations for a long time.
Chasing the weekThe seven-day period turned out to be rich in matches in which one of the rivals managed to “eat” a big gap. We highlight the feat of “Cleveland”, who achieved victory in a home meeting with “Boston” after “-25” in the third twelve minutes and “-19” in the fourth. The affairs of the owners immediately went awry: “Celtics” led 11-0 after the starting whistle, 25: 6 in the course of the first quarter, and 82:63 were the leaders before 10.16 before the siren. In the second half, “Cavaliers” saved, of course, LeBron James, who scored 25 points after the break.
In the end, a funny thing happened. At 94:93 in favor of the “Cleveland” and 1.2 seconds before the end, James, a free kicker, ruined the first attempt and deliberately oiled the second one to kill the remaining time. But he didn’t even hit the arch of the ring, leaving the last chance to “Boston”. Fortunately for the hosts, Paul Pierce fired at the "milk" from a distance.
FIGURES OF THE WEEKIn a meeting with Utah, Michael Redd scored 57 points and survived, probably, the best evening in his life. He broke a club performance record that did not belong to anyone - the great Karim Abdul-Jabbar (55 points, 12/10/1971)! May I rejoice? No matter how! His team lost to the “jazzmen” who lost injured Andrei Kirilenko during the meeting.
Redd is still well done, even if he missed the last “three”, which could bring him 60 points, and “deer” - a victory. Well done also because he did not focus on the banal "it would be better if my team won." Of course, Michael said these words from the text of the compulsory program of a self-respecting professional, but did not hide his enthusiasm for his personal achievement. "Perhaps I should go home and thank the gentlemen. For the guy who was selected in the second round of the draft, who did not know if he would be part of the team, to reach such a result ... I just appreciate fate. I can’t even describe it."
By the way, Redd was not only next to the great Karim. The last who scored no less points in the lost match was Michael Jordan, who in 1993 scored “Orlando” 64 points, but along with “Chicago” lost in overtime.
MOMENT OF THE WEEKOver the usual aerial acrobatics last week, numerous hits in the last seconds of matches dominated. Among those, Jamal Crawford's ball at the same time as the overtime siren in the meeting “Denver” - “New York” we considered the most fantastic. In moments Jamal managed to make a loss, interception and crazy throw with a deflection and resistance from eight meters. It is curious that in this fight Crawford for the first time this season left in the starting lineup - instead of injured Steve Francis.
WAITING FOR THE WEEKAlready today, fans are looking forward to the show: Houston and San Antonio will meet in a Texas brawl, which means that the dispersed Yao Ming will test Tim Duncan for strength. At the meeting of the leaders of the Western Conference “Utah” (6-1) and “Clippers” (5-1), a change of seats is quite possible - “jazzmen” for the first time this season will do without the defensive qualities of the injured AK-47. On Wednesday, Philadelphia, which had just surrendered after a successful start, will begin an exhausting tour along the Pacific coast - from a meeting with Seattle, who won three consecutive victories. On Friday, the first serious opponent will go to “Atlanta”, which will be awarded the league champion “Miami”.
Nikolai TSYNKEVICH