Los Angeles (AFP)
The NBA knows how to cure its former stars: Carmelo Anthony, enlisted by Portland on November 19 after a year without play, was named player of the week of the Western Conference by the League, ahead of Luka Doncic, LeBron James or James Harden.
The beautiful story. Three weeks ago, Anthony, 35, was unemployed and had little hope of continuing his NBA career. His last match was in October 2018 in the jersey of Houston Rockets, who had then sold in Chicago in January, without him playing a game for the Bulls.
But finally the Blazers, struggling at the beginning of the season have made the bet to engage the winger veteran, ten times All-Star, for a contract of one year non-guaranteed. Which means that the club can choose whether or not to stop until early January. Beyond this date, if he is in the "roster", he is sure to go to an end.
And for now, Anthony is doing everything he can to justify the trust placed in him. His stats on the past week, or on the last three games of Portland are 22.3 points, 57.4% shooting, 45.5% to three points, and 7.7 rebounds average.
A remarkable performance, which coincides with the recovery of his winning team in his last three games and now 11th in the West, but still suffers from the comparison with other stars of the League.
The Slovenian prodigy of Dallas Luka Doncic compiles him almost a triple-double average over the same period (30.3 pts, 9 rbds, 9 assists), LeBron James turned him with 27.5 points and 11 assists, as for James Harden, author of 60 points in 31 minutes against Atlanta, he has joined Michael Jordan in the number of matches (4) successful with this mark.
In the East, unchallenged this time, the player of the week is the MVP of last season, Giannis Antetokounmpo, whose 34.8 points, 11.3 rebounds, 4 assists and 1.5 against average coincided with four Milwaukee wins in as many games.
© 2019 AFP