lost World

Previous Weekly Reviews: 31.10 - 6.11 | 7.11 - 13.11 | 14.11 - 20.11 | 11/21 - 11/27 | 28.11 - 4.12 | 5.12 - 11.12

HERO OF THE WEEK

More recently, fans were perplexed, for which “Chicago” pays Ben Wallace $ 15 million a year, and laughed at the incident with bandages on his head. Now again, voices sounded loudly, singing the praises of the Bulls in general and Big Ben in particular. Unsurprisingly: Wallace now not only resembles himself. Sometimes it seems that right now he is reaching the pinnacle of excellence. 27 rebounds in one match is not just the best result this season: for his entire career there are more rebounds - 28 - Wallace collected only three times. Last week, Ben didn’t show where the makings of a playmaker came from, but most of all he surprised Atlanta by transferring the match to overtime with a couple of penalties in the last seconds of playing time! Despite the fact that his career result is 45 percent of the implementation. Wallace statistics in three matches of the week - 10.3 points, 20.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 3.67 block shots and 2.67 interceptions.

In general, out of the last 12 matches, Chicagoans won 11, for the first time in club history, they had eight consecutive home games and suffered only one defeat in them. Impressive.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Just don’t laugh. In our opinion, this is Toronto . It just so happened that all the monsters that produced impressive series - “San Antonio”, “Dallas”, “Chicago”, “Boston” and having won 14 matches in a row “Phoenix” - fought completely with teams of the level of “Philadelphia”, “New Orleans and Charlotte. The dinosaur schedule turned out to be much more complicated, and even exacerbated by Chris Bosch's injury.

As often happens, the loss of a leader liberates the guys from the second echelon. Barniani and Garbajosa played brilliantly, woke up from hibernation Nesterovich, and the explosive playmaker Tee Jay Ford stopped implicitly searching on the court for one person to whom the ball must be brought. Guest victory over “Orlando” and home over the “New Jersey” with “Golden State” have become a worthy reward for their efforts.

LEGIONARY OF THE WEEK

If anyone is to blame for the three defeats of “Houston” in four meetings, then not Yao Ming . The Chinese - for the second time became our laureate thanks to impressive statistics - 32.8 points (49% of hits from the game, 91% of penalties), 12.0 rebounds and 3.25 block shots. No other comments are required.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

It all started with that. A fight at the Madison Square Garden venue on Saturday would probably have happened anyway, but the reason was needed - here it is, a foul of Mardi Collins on Jay Ar.



In a situation where excuses were not needed - it would be a shame, the most stupid one was invented by one of the most active participants Nate Robinson, referring to the excessive enthusiasm of the rivals for defeat, expressed in the long presence of the base players on the site. More precisely, he didn’t come up with it - he announced: “They wanted to disgrace us. It was a slap in the face. And as a team we could not allow it. There was a clean but tough foul, after which it all started.” Judge for yourself how clean it is.

CONFUSES OF THE WEEK

The fight in New York , during which Nate Robinson and Jr. Armit Smith fought right in the audience, Carmelo Anthony waved his fists, and Jared Jeffries chased after him, it turned out not very spectacular. Childish, uncertain, and therefore even more depriving the image of the league.

Anthony disgraced himself more than others. Melo was the first to rush to help partners, but his participation turned out to be ugly (we won’t tell in detail again, the video, photo, story and opinions are here ). His disqualification for 15 matches is a fair punishment, but much more harm will be caused by the bewildered authority of a good guy, the captain of the US national team, a man who just donated more than a million dollars to charity a couple of days earlier.

A real embarrassment was the impunity of the coach of “New York” Isaiah Thomas, a minute earlier advised Melo not to tear under the shield. You’ll be whole - read between the lines. The mutual dislike of the coach of the "nuggets" of George Karl and Thomas has been known for a long time. Carl probably wanted to get even with Thomas, who fired his friend Larry Brown. Isaiah chose unsportsmanlike wrestling methods.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Unfortunately, I was involved in a couple of fights, in one of which I made a fool of myself. Therefore, I sympathize with everyone who lost control of themselves. Of course, this is unpleasant, but I do not see anything indicating a problem. It was it’s just a separate incident. It’s not typical for the NBA, ”Houston head coach Jeff Van Gundy , recalling his time at New York and the brawl in which he was lying on the floor trying to hold Alonzo Mourning by the leg.

TOPIC OF THE WEEK

Most of the analytical materials about the NBA for the second week are devoted to the same topic, that is, the question of the Answer. Allen Iverson’s alleged exchange either seems to be getting closer (they say that in the Philadelphia locker room they already removed the Iverson plate from the locker that had been owned by Allen for 10 years), it is removed indefinitely (club president Billy King says he won’t be in a hurry). Some clubs have already abandoned claims on the super sniper, some are still burning with the desire to strengthen.

Here, incidentally, stands out “Denver”, which is ready to offer at least Andre Miller and Nene as compensation. Therefore, observers are wondering: will the league allow the exchange of disqualified players?

And another question: while in the voting of the fans for the selection of the starting lineups of All-Star Game, Iverson appears in the Eastern Conference. What will happen if he is sent to the West, and his fans include East All-Stars in the base?

FIGURES OF THE WEEK

How often do you have to see that the excellent performance of Kobe Bryant did not bring the “Lakers” victory? To Kobe scored 45 points, and lost to someone 15? On Sunday it happened. 60 points of Gilbert Arenas on the Staples Center flooring were won by Washington (147: 141), the Wizards leader got the club’s record for performance and the NBA record for points scored in overtime (16).

Chasing the week

The defeat of “Wizards” in overtime for the “Lakers” was the reckoning for Fortune’s smiles in a pair of fights with “Houston” , held on Tuesday and Friday. In the first, the Ozerniki almost squandered a 27-point lead, but lost the injured Lamar Odom's knee. In the second, the advantage of the Rockits in the first half was an impressive 21 points. “I felt that the game was shaping in our favor, no matter how funny it may sound,” Kobe Bryant expressed a paradoxical thought. So that the words do not contradict the deed, the Lakers defender took the game upon himself and habitually pulled the team on his own shoulders, as a result, exceeded the “fifty dollars” and ruined the magnificent evening for Yao Ming. For the first time, the Ozerniks managed to equalize the score only a minute and a half before the siren, Smash Parker transferred the game in the first overtime (both times from Kobe passes), and in the second five-minute the Los Angeles team scored 9 points in a row.

MOMENT OF THE WEEK

On Thursday, in a duel with Houston, Golden State playmaker Baron Davis looked like he was only spending the second season in the NBA. His passage through the entire defense of the “rocketeers” with a slam dunk through Bonzie Wells and the winning ball in the last seconds became an adornment of not only the day, but the whole week.



WAITING FOR THE WEEK

It will not be boring today: in Phoenix, a match will be held between two national teams - “Suns” versus “Raptors”. Given the outsider status of the latter, there is a chance to wait for the Arizona club record - the 15th consecutive victory. Cleveland will meet with Detroit on Thursday - today the pair is heading the Eastern Conference table. Friday's meeting, “San Antonio” with “Houston” brings back memories of how Tracy McGrady scored 14 points in the last minute of such a match a couple of years ago. It’s a pity that Ti-Mac is worried about his back: it’s not the fact that he will appear at the site.

And we are waiting for Christmas. It will crown our next reporting period and give the confrontation of “Miami” and “Lakers” in Florida. It is a pity that this will not become a classic meeting between Shaq and Kobe - hardly waiting for the “regular season” under the guise of an injury, O'Neill decides to interrupt his vacation on the occasion of a religion alien to him.

Nikolai TSYNKEVICH