Translated material
European quality
The main stars of the overseas season were players from the Old World
Last week, the next season in the National Basketball Association ended. The final series was won for the fourth time in their history by the San Antonio Spurs, who first achieved victory in 1999. Now the Spurs have achieved success in the confrontation with Cleveland, first in two home matches (86:75 and 103:92), and then on the road (75:72 and 83:82). The last time the finals series was this short was in 2002, when the Lakers beat New Jersey.Never before has a European been recognized as the most valuable player in a super final. The fate of the pioneer fell to the black Frenchman Tony Parker, who in these four meetings brought an average of 24.5 points per match to San Antonio. And in the previous three winning years (1999, 2003, 2005) of the Spurs, this title invariably went to Tim Duncan. That is, the past season for the overseas league turned out to be completely unique, because the title of best basketball player of the regular season also went to a representative of the Old World for the first time - the German forward of “Dallas” Dirk Nowitzki.
As for Duncan, a native of the Virgin Islands, he is equal in the number of titles with another great master, also selected first in the NBA draft, Shaquille O'Neal. When San Antonio registered the rights to Duncan ten years ago, many, not unreasonably and, as life has shown, absolutely correctly predicted that with the advent of Tim, a championship team would be born. At the upcoming 2007 draft on June 28 at New York's famous Madison Square Garden, the first choice belongs to Portland. No one doubts that the Trail Blazers' managers will point to center Greg Oden, who is just a freshman out of Ohio University. Oden has already stated that he does not intend to continue his studies and is going to start a career as a professional basketball player. Experts assign Greg the same fundamental role in his future team as his colleagues in the role of Duncan and O'Neal had.
San Antonio forward Robert Orry, who will turn 37 in August, has already won the seventh title in his career (with three different teams, besides the Spurs, Houston and the Lakers) and by this indicator ranks first among players , who have never performed in Boston. The Celts became champions 11 times between 1957 and 1969, and, naturally, the team's basketball players have the leading position in the number of titles. Bill Russell has the maximum result (11), Sam Jones has one championship ring less, followed by five more players with seven or eight victories. But if you do not take into account the period of Boston’s unconditional hegemony, then Orry, after his seventh championship, was ahead of such celebrities as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, who celebrated triumph six times each with their clubs.
Broadcasts of matches in the 2007 final series recorded a record low television rating. The same applies to the decisive matches for the Stanley Cup hockey between Anaheim and Ottawa. However, these indicators do not at all indicate that these two professional leagues in North America are in decline. On the contrary, the average attendance at NBA matches (regular season plus playoffs) was the highest in all the years of the association’s existence.
No sooner had the season ended than a large number of rumors appeared regarding the transfer of certain basketball players from club to club. For example, according to the AP agency, citing the regional publication Riverside Press Enterprise, Lakers leader Kobe Bryant, while on vacation in Spain, met there with club owner Jerry Bus and demanded an exchange to another team.
The 2006 world champion in the Spanish national team, Pau Gasol, announced his desire to be exchanged to some other team that lays claim to serious sporting results. “If the Memphis bosses want to keep me, then in the offseason they should work on acquiring high-quality players. I want to play in a team with ambitious plans, capable of fighting on equal terms with the strongest clubs in the league,” Gasol is quoted as saying by his official website.