HERO OF THE WEEK
52 points in one mast - this, of course, is not so hot what a record. Not even the best result of the season, which, incidentally, belongs to the officially recognized player of the week - Michael Redd. Which, incidentally, was the only one in seven days who threw Kobe Bryant in a full-time meeting and inflicted his only defeat in four matches. It's not about statistics.
Just the performance of Kobe in a meeting with Utah again made a breath of admiration for the whole NBA. The Lakers defender sometimes seems completely unstoppable. Remember last season? Stupid question - how can I forget Bryant’s 81 points in a meeting with Toronto! Then the press seriously argued that, if desired, the Lakers leader could encroach on the 100-point mark established in ancient times by the legendary Wilt Chamberlain. That's just the need for this, it seems, does not arise. The ambitious Wilt sought to achieve everything from life, he collected records and women, a little worse he was dealing with titles, but ambitions clearly prevailed. Kobe is a more relaxed companion, and is valued more - times are not the same. That is what his coaches save just when he could dumbfire the whole world.
Although sometimes it seems that it costs him nothing. In the same last season, before bringing down the aforementioned 81 “dinosaurs,” Bryant stretched out 62 points at Dallas (then the Mavs fought for leadership in the West), setting a club record of 30 points in the third quarter. On Thursday, he did almost the same thing with another favorite - “Utah”, and again went to rest long before the final whistle. “I felt like I was playing the PlayStation,” Kobe boasted.
However, why did you boast? Rather, I stated a fact. Poor Jerry Sloan honestly tried to keep numbers 24 of the Lakers with the help of Andrei Kirilenko, one of the best personal staffers of the league. It was painful to look at Andrey’s attempts: no matter how low he sat, no matter how high he jumped, one after another the balls flew into the ring through his outstretched arm. Sloan tried to change the guardian - it only got worse. In that third quarter (having slightly hooked the second one), Bryant made 11 shots from the game in a row! And only a couple from under the ring. He lagged behind the “schedule 81” only by a point, but here, unlike the record match, the fate of the match was predetermined in advance - and Phil Jackson met his leader on a bench with open arms.
Yes, it's not about statistics, but it's worth mentioning. These days, Kobe scored an average of 32.3 points with 50 percent of hits from the game. So much because one of the four matches brought 52 points. So little, because tonight he twisted his ankle (they say, not much) and limited himself to a modest 21 points in two quarters with a small tail.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
The choice is easy. Last week, without defeat, only two teams completed. “Dallas” broke off the winning streak on Monday, ending our reporting period, returning from the “circus” tour of “Chicago” now playing mainly at home and all with outsiders, so the Phoenix became the laureate.
“Suns,” however, played only twice, coping with “Houston” and “Milwaukee”. But on the other hand, they indicated a trend that was pleasant for the fans after a disgusting - 1-5 - start. Raja Bell, the leading column on the ESPN website, explains the setbacks by poor physical fitness (primarily due to participation in NBA Europe Live) and lazy defense. Obviously, the guys tightened both components, strengthened by Jalen Rose ... But the main thing is still the stunning progress of recovered Amar Staudemair. The center “solar” gradually returns to its former condition, in four games in a row passed over the grandmaster mark of 20 points and 10 rebounds. At this pace, Amar will soon become a contender for the title of MVP.
LEGIONARY OF THE WEEK
Let's welcome Yao Ming - player of the month in the NBA Western Conference! Incidentally, the first Houston man to win recognition since the legendary Hakim Oladzhuvona. That is, for 11 years.
You can give as many arguments as you like, say, what about Carmelo or Dirk, but the fact remains - Yao spends a brilliant season, almost single-handedly making Houston to stay at the top of the standings. The composition of the “Rockits”, of course, became more decent, but the stars in it did not increase. On the contrary, Tracy McGrady, who has health problems, has become an ordinary player. At least statistically.
Previously, experts secretly teased Yao's Chinese origin, writing off a guaranteed position in the starting five of West All-Stars for the growing internetization of the two-billion-strong Celestial Empire. Now, perhaps, no one will argue with the fact that Yao is the best clean center NBA. I bet that the merit in this belongs to a couple of graduates of Georgetown College - Chinese substitute Dikembe Mutombo and assistant coach Patrick Ewing. Surely the guys are not just admiring Yao during training ...
By the way, Deck’s hard elbow is another reason that made Yao merit last week. This same elbow accidentally "knocked out" poor T-Mac at the very beginning of the meeting with "Cleveland." That did not stop the “rockets" to achieve victory, leaving LeBron and Co. to experience club anti-record performance - 63 points. And 23.8 points and 7.3 rebounds of the Chinese center last week can be pronounced with the word “only” - for the season, in sum, its numbers look more decent.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
11/29/2006. Clippers - Memphis. If someone did not believe our words in the commentary on the photo of the second week , look again - well, not the girl Mike Miller! Although, given that the Grizzlies urgently needs to change something - the team doesn’t play at all - there is a proposal to start with Mike’s image.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I remember how Jerry Sloan gave me his 15th size sneakers. They were too big for me, and for that reason it was too difficult to sell them,” New York-based head coach, Chicago-born Isaiah Thomas in a story about children’s Bulls games in the old Chicago Stadium and the habit of begging for shoes from players.
TOPIC OF THE WEEK
What happened to Orlando over the summer? Why did the team that did not make it to the playoffs 2006 finish the first month of the new season at the top of the Eastern Conference ? In the personnel sense, nothing has improved - only attacking defender of the starting five DeShawn Stevenson just left for Washington, by the way, who is considered a very good defensive specialist.
The incident was noted by two factors. Firstly, Dwight Howard has become the best player in the conference - this is official recognition for the month. Secondly, just as officially, Brian Hill became the best coach of the East. It seems that yesterday, Howard, who finished school, learned to dominate under the shields. Hill, which seemed to be a loser yesterday, is now being praised by the namesake Grant Hill for successful maneuvers with the roster and high-quality options for the game. "This coach came up with everything!" - Grant admired, completing a beautiful all-up, which a second and a half before the end brought a guest victory over the “Portland”.
And Howard, to the question of how far Magic intends to go, answers the untranslatable literally All the way. I mean immodestly going to become a champion. Before laughing at a guy whose team didn't win 40 matches out of 82 the previous season, note that the same happened in the NBA four times - with the Philadelphia Warriors in 1955, the Boston Celtics in 1956, " St. Louis Hawks in 1957 and Portland Trail Blazers in 1976.
CONFUSES OF THE WEEK
Cheerfully rushing in November to the cherished mark of 1200 victories for a coaching career (only the legendary Lenny Wilkens has so much), Don Nelson sharply braked at 1199 ...
In the last minute of the match with the Pacers, the Warriors preparing for the anniversary of the coach were 106: 102, and even after Al Harrington's “three” the chances of “Indiana” were not much higher. In the last attack of the guests, Danny Granger missed, and the ball bounced towards the hero of the match, Baron Davis. The defender brushed the ball away from the ring, but hit straight at Stephen Jackson, who was at the wrong time in the wrong place (for the “warriors”, of course). Stephen did not even have time to think, he just threw it and hit.
I had to wait for a visit to Milwaukee, but even here it turned out to be a shame. The Californians were crippled by the activity of Maurice Williams, with whom they actually coped well in defense. The main playmaker “Bucks” realized only 3 of 19 shots from the game, but his hits came precisely at the key moments of the meeting. And it’s doubly disappointing that when Mo Williams missed the second free kick 13.7 seconds before the end with a score of 110: 112, Matt Barnes, without any interference rushing to the selection, missed the ball for the front line ...
"Good," thought Nelson on the eve of his visit to San Antonio. "It can't be any worse. Especially since we have already dealt with the spurs." Yeah ... Angry Texans rolled the guests from California under the nut, winning 129: 89! At the same time, 75 points from “Spurs” scored reservists!
Meanwhile, Jerry Sloan won the 999th time tonight. Will it clutter Utah?
Chasing the week
The undisputed leadership in this nomination is given to the failed Hornets race for the Bulls in Oklahoma City. In the third quarter, the hosts conceded 62:80, but made the first spurt - 15: 3 - thanks to 11 points of Rasul Butler. The guests answered with 9 unanswered points and at the beginning of the final period received a comfortable “+15”. But then the solo was played by former Chicago defender Janero Pargo, who scored 7 points in a row, and “fines” by Chris Paul (who finished the game with an amazing triple double - 25 points, 11 rebounds, 18 assists!) Reduced the difference to 5. The guests left again a double-digit distance, and again Butler took up the matter (33 points, 7 “three rubles”!). He pulled the Hornets into the middle throw distance, but after the free-kick Ben Gordon there was only time left to throw from the center of the field. Paul missed - 111: 108, “Chicago”.
FIGURES OF THE WEEK
It was 14.0 minutes, 6.4 points and 2.2 rebounds - it was 25.8 minutes, 12.5 points and 4.0 rebounds . This is the dynamics of the statistics of the first issue of the draft this year, Andrea Bargnani for the past week. The start of the season made people wonder why the talented European was sitting in the “dinosaur-red” pants on the Toronto bench, but head coach Sam Mitchell seemed to just keep an eye on the Italian. Only on November 20 did he first entrust Andrea with more than 20 minutes of time on the court, and over the past 10 days the guy turned from a deep reservist into an “iron” sixth player. This is the first step to the stars.
MOMENT OF THE WEEK
"How did he do that?" - American commentators shouted in puzzled admiration, looking at the replay of Dwayne Wade’s fantastic ball in the match against Philadelphia on November 28. Although it seems like nothing surprising happened - the Flash tricks such tricks with enviable regularity. Just think, almost the entire opposing team flew under the ring ...
WAITING FOR THE WEEK
I wonder if Don Nelson and Jerry Sloan will celebrate the anniversary victories. “Golden State”, without injured Jason Richardson, will visit Houston today, will receive “New Orleans” on Saturday, and will play in Seattle on Sunday. Utah will be celebrated in Minneapolis on Friday, and Dallas is on a visit on Monday. Not the easiest schedule.
The decoration of the week will be the battle of Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade on December 8th. There may not be a fight, but the sight is guaranteed.
And yet - we will monitor the health of Kobe Bryant. Maybe he will change his mind and tune in to a hundred ...
Nikolai TSYNKEVICH