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HERO OF THE WEEK

He is a star that few can reach even now, but many experts believe that Carmelo Anthony has not yet reached the maximum brightness of the glow. Today, he is the NBA's first scorer, and his coach George Karl believes that Melo is the best in modern basketball who can be single-handedly trusted to score points. Anthony seems to be gaining “thirty” by the way, while his partners do not feel left out. Carmelo has never seen such a greedy in America - to take care of him together is tantamount to getting a ball from a free position into your own ring.

This week, “Denver” completed without a single defeat, and, in contrast to the usual favorites, who focus on defensive actions, showed fast and spectacular basketball, which became the hallmark of Karl’s teams and is in harmony with the explosive nature of the Nuggets leader and the US team. Anthony's successes are all the more significant, since his team had to do without powerful and mobile “big” ones - injured Kenyon Martin and Nene. Melo statistics - 31.3 points, 5.3 assists, 4.8 average rebounds per match.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

The successes of “Dallas” so far seem inconspicuous - four starting defeats left the finalist of the previous playoffs at an unfavorable starting position, because local successes have to be celebrated from the depths of the peloton. Success, I must say, considerable: after the misfire, “Jazz” winning streak of maximum length belongs to the “Mavericks”. “Cowboys” found a recovering light forward - Josh Howard - and galloped to a level that lifted them to the penultimate rung of the ladder to the title. At the same time, only over the past weekend the team held two principal matches - first with neighbors from San Antonio, then with “New Orleans”, aiming for the favorite regalia.

LEGIONARY OF THE WEEK

The underlying idea is to mention real stars in this nomination as little as possible, looking for heroes in the second tier, this week has disappeared somewhere. Because the game of Dirk Nowitzki did not cause other exclamations, except for "das ist fiction." He didn’t seem to be doing anything transcendental, but a stern “caput” attacked the stellar heavy forwards that came to hand. Playing against Emeka Okafor who started the season very well, the German Texan scored 24 points and made 14 rebounds, in the battle with Tim Duncan these figures were 31 and 10, except that it was more difficult with Kevin Garnett - only 15 points and 5 rebounds, but who cares? “Dallas” still won - the tenth time in a row.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK



11/25/2006. Golden State - Utah. Jason Richardson fans are greeted with open arms. He will please you with a beautiful slam dunk, and he will beat the favorite, and in general, is close to the people.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“You guys are even worse than us. I like it. Today you were worse no matter how you say it,” co-owner Charlotte Michael Jordan after his team’s home victory over Boston near the Celtics locker room. The legendary Boston club really started in the championship disgustingly, giving rise to talk about the upcoming resignation of coach Doc Rivers.

TOPIC OF THE WEEK

You can scoff at unconvincing “Boston” as much as you like, but this team is at least in the playoffs. And even has the same indicators as the head of the native Atlantic division of “New Jersey”. True, one can hardly be proud of the ratio of victories and defeats of 5-8, especially considering that Jordan's “Charlotte”, closing the conference, has 3-10. The weakness of the “East ” (and the usual density at the border of the playoff zone) has long become a byword. In this championship, so far only three teams - “Orlando” (!), “Detroit” and “Cleveland” - are above the 50 percent mark.

Usually the explanation for this is found on a financial plane: Western clubs are simply richer, therefore it is easier for them to lure the strongest players. And the climate in California and Texas is milder than on the east coast. Only last summer, however, no serious migrations towards the Pacific Ocean were noticed ... So, the crisis in the East is an accident? So, we still wait for a breakthrough from “Miami”, “Indiana”, “Chicago” and “Philadelphia”?

CONFUSES OF THE WEEK

On Thursday, in a meeting with Philadelphia, Ben Wallace's statistics for 20 minutes on the court amounted to 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 interceptions and 0 block shots . Sometimes it seems that just standing under the ring you can do more during this time ... First and foremost: even a man who is not knowledgeable in the internal affairs of “Chicago” will find a conflict between Ben Wallace and Chicago head coach Scott Skiles. The conflict, the reasons for which are not entirely clear, because Big Ben's defensive nature led him to break with the Detroit coach Flip Saunders and threw him into the arms of Skye, who was obsessed with defense. Most likely, everything comes from the fact that Wallace does not live up to expectations. Okay, there’s nothing in the attack from him - everyone has long been accustomed to this. But before, the veteran, who had been doing stubbornly stable labor, ceased to give out even what he used to be a dock.

It is unlikely that Wallace was offended by the fact that for such a game (if you can call it that) he was put on a bench. Apparently, between the main characters, another cat slipped by. One way or another, but in a meeting with New York, Skiles twice replaced Ben for violating the team’s prohibition rule ... by wearing a bandage on his forehead. Either the center was so used to her, or he really wanted to nerve the coach ... At the same time, Scott got so wound up that he managed to get the removal for two technical ones at “+23” in favor of “Chicago”!

If the conflict drags on, and the club’s results do not improve, the general manager of the “bulls” John Paxon will have to make a stern decision to part. And closer to the block is Skiles - his $ 3 million salary is not comparable to Wallace's $ 15 million.

Chasing the week

Somehow everything in these seven days was logical. And fantastic jerks came out somehow modest. Only the Cleveland’s Friday visit to Indianapolis dropped out of the general canvas. LeBron James and his comrades are not very convincing on the road, and here they suddenly started a natural blitzkrieg: in the first quarter they got a 10: 0 interval, and in the second they brought the advantage to “+16”. How do you believe after that that in the end the hosts won with a double-digit difference?

The Pacers regrouped during the break and so enthusiastically rushed forward that in the third quarter (ended with a score of 25: 9!) They took the lead after the “three” with 15 points Sharunas Jasikyavichyus, and in the last they didn’t reach Berlin - 97: 87 in total.

FIGURES OF THE WEEK

140: 129 - this is the score of the match, “Denver” and “Golden State”. An account worthy of the romantic 80s and, probably, a symbol of the regular season, in which boring persistence in defense should not reign. “It's like a pleasure game,” Carmelo Anthony smiled. “You run and score, and they just try to run over you.” The speeds were so great that the Nuggets scored 140 points for the first time in 15 years, and the Warriors missed so much for the first time in 13 years.
“We can do it even faster,” boasted the “nuggets” coach George Karl. “We nearly got 150,” his wards were perplexed in response.

MOMENT OF THE WEEK

To be honest, in the last segment I liked more another episode - with the participation of two-time MVP Steve Nash. But, it seemed to readers, they would not forgive if they did not show a fragment that American commentators vied to call the dunk of the year. Sacramento defender Ronnie Price nearly jumped Utah leader Carlos Boozer . It turned out really spectacular.



WAITING FOR THE WEEK

On Wednesday and Thursday in Salt Lake City are expected visits of teams that are currently the leaders of the divisions. First, “San Antonio”, who has never lost at a party, will turn to the Salt Lake, and then “Lakers”. This meeting is very important for Andrei Kirilenko, recovering from an injury. It is possible that the Russian Jerry Sloan will be entrusted with the custody of Kobe Bryant, who has also recently recovered and is gradually returning to optimal shape.

Nikolai TSYNKEVICH