To freedom - with a clear conscience

Previous Weekly Reviews: ... | 12/26 - 1.01 | 2.01 - 8.01 | 9.01 - 15.01

HERO OF THE WEEK

Enrolling in Kevin Garnett’s winners is easy. But today, the leader of the Timberwolves was not in the spotlight because of basketball merit, and rather deserves the title of antihero. His behavior in the match with the “Pistons” does not hold water. First, he began to bully with Antonio MacDyess, whose struggle for selection with Mark Madsen ended in the fall of the latter - rather, ostentatious. Secondly, Kevin threw the ball at the veteran. Thirdly, he did not behave respectably, stepping back from the angry McDeey and brandishing his fists as girls.



Garnett’s act provoked a full range of opinions, the most extreme of which was expressed by George Karl. The Nuggets coach suggested that KJ deserves not a one-match, but a 15-match suspension, because he behaved almost like Carmelo Anthony who served that term.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"And what a successful exchange! The team will somehow survive without me, but the Wolves cannot live without KJ," Antonio MacDyess about the skirmish with Kevin Garnett and the mutual removal in the Minnesota - Detroit match.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

On the way to the “Phoenix” caught “Houston” without injured Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, then a weak “Portland” and, finally, “Minnesota” without disqualified Garnett and Ricky Davis . But this does not detract from the merits of the team that won 13 consecutive matches for the second time this season. Only seven clubs managed this before, of which five subsequently received sets of championship rings. After an unsuccessful start (1-5), the “solar” simply blind the league with the splendor of their game, scoring 31 victories in 33 matches.

LEGIONARY OF THE WEEK

A rather modest nomination for the magnificent Steve Nash , who is again called the main contender for the title of the most useful player in the championship. Steve deservedly received official recognition as the best basketball player of the Western Conference last week, and for our reporting period, on average, scored 16.7 points (with 60% of hits from the game and 100% of the free kicks) and made 13.3 assists.

CONFUSES OF THE WEEK

Baron Davis got a one-match suspension for hitting Quinton Ross stripper Clipper and missed the Cleveland home game on January 20. Nothing extraordinary? Maybe. It was not until January 20, 2006 that the Golden State also hosted the Cleveland. And in this match Bi-Diddy did not take part - he was disqualified for a hit by Luke Ridnur from “Seattle”.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

01/22/07. “Cleveland” - “Orlando” / 01.21.07. Phoenix - Minnesota. To break into the base from the stock, you need to fill a lot of bruises and cones. Or wait until the match will be missed by both leaders of your team. Justin Reid of Timberwolves now knows for sure. ydrunas Ilgauskas learned this science a long time ago.



TOPIC OF THE WEEK

So far, the number of conversations about exchanges exceeds the number of exchanges themselves. Nevertheless, those that do occur are impressive. The deal, “Indiana” with “Golden State” , will undoubtedly become the largest of the season - after all, four to four waved - but certainly not the last. Now they say that even these two clubs have not yet quenched the thirst for business: they say that Pacers can be exchanged by Mike Dunlavy Jr. ), and the Warriors are Monta Ellis, whom several clubs, including Detroit, are eager to buy.

Even more assumptions are expressed about the possible transition of Po Gasol, who is suffocating in a weak “Memphis”. According to rumors, the MVP of the World Cup itself asked for a trade , and general manager Jerry West is in talks with customers. So far, most often among these are called "New Jersey" and "Chicago". True, the first for this will have to sacrifice someone from an untouchable company of leaders (Kidd, Carter, Jefferson, Krstic), and the second to give young and promising (moreover, the bulls do not want to part with Gordon and Deng).

FIGURES OF THE WEEK

51 points - this is the total return on the first test of the duo Carmelo Anthony - Allen Iverson. This is almost 10 points less than their total average performance, but coaches and fans are not upset. The couple showed tremendous mutual understanding (by the way, they already played together - for the US team at the 2004 Olympics) and all the way showed that they would not particularly care about the fight in the list of snipers.

By the way, Iverson had only 6 points left to reach 20,000 for his career - this mark was submitted to only 29 basketball players in the history of the NBA. Someday, Melo will get to her.

MOMENT OF THE WEEK

On Wednesday, Kobe Bryant twice mocked Tim Duncan, beautifully scoring through him from above. That day, the first of the slam dunks was at the top 10, and we liked the second one more. Note the jewelry pass from Smush Parker.





Chasing the week

Play for a quarter of 20 points at the “New Jersey”, in the ranks of which Jason Kidd marked another triple double - a real feat. Such on Monday succeeded “Sacramento” , in the ranks of which Mike Bibby reminded himself. The playmaker of the “Kings", on whose account there was a miserable 1 point in three periods, scored the last 15 Kings points.

WAITING FOR THE WEEK

Remember the promise of Gilbert Arenas to score 50 points against each of the coaches of the US team, who refused him on the eve of the World Cup? He had already scored 54 against the Phoenix, led by Mike D'Antoni, and recently reiterated his intention to do the same with Portland on February 11th. To this date is still far away, and today, January 23, “Washington” again confronts “Phoenix”. If Gil wants to really annoy D'Antoni, he should at least get a victory and interrupt the series “Suns”. Moreover, Mike successfully pinned a superstar: "I can’t wait, I want to see what he will do with Duke. He’ll just kill the guys." This is a hint at the head coach of the national team Mike Krzyszewski, who heads the team of the named university. Too bad they won't meet.

By the way, “sunny” will have a difficult trip around the East. Route - New York, Milwaukee, Cleveland. Among other worthy matches, we note the visit of San Antonio to Los Angeles: will Duncan answer for Bryant's insult?

Nikolai TSYNKEVICH