San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker crowned Western Conference Player of the Week
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has named San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker as the Western Conference Player of Week for games played between 7-13 March.
This marks the sixth time Parker has earned the Player of the Week accolade in his career and the second time during the current season. Previously, he picked up the award for his performances during the week spanning 13-19 December, 2010.
The 28-year-old French basketball player led the Spurs to a perfect 3-0 week, averaging 23.7 points and grabbing 8.7 assists per game. Parker scored more than 20 points and pulled down a minimum of six assists in the Spurs three-game winning streak. Adding
to that, he has finished with 21 or more points in 24 games this season.
After coming back from a two-game lay-off with an aching calf muscle, Parker has improved drastically in almost every contest and lit up the Spur’s powerful offence.
Parker is has been a key member of the Spurs squad this season, and helped them bounce back in style from a 99-83 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers at the AT&T Centre on Sunday night. Since then, San Antonio have won three in a row.
Parker scored a game-high 23 points, dished out a team-high seven assists, grabbed one rebound and blocked four shots in a 111-104 victory against the Detroit Pistons on 9 March. It was one of the Spurs' closest contests of the season, as Detroit cut the
deficit to five points with just two minutes to go until the final buzzer. However, Manu Ginobili passed to Parker, who scored a three-pointer to extend the Spurs advantage to ten points with just over a minute remaining in the game.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich appreciated Parker’s sizzling performance. He said, "Well, I thought he did a great job throughout the game, being aggressive, distributing the ball, and when we really needed some offence, he was scoring when [the Pistons]
made a run at the end. He was fantastic; taking it to them and scoring."
A product of Loyola University Chicago, Parker turned in another productive night, as he scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed six assists in the Spurs’ 108-103 win against the Sacramento Kings on 11 March.
Parker closed the week by posting a team-high 21 points, six assists and three rebounds in San Antonio’s 115-107 win over the Houston Rockets on 12 March. The victory over the Rockets marked the third consecutive win for the Spurs, who are leading the NBA
this season with an unsurpassable 54 victories.
The other short-listed contestants for the NBA player of the week included Boston Celtic’s centre Nenad Krstic, Chicago’s point guard Derrick Rose, Golden State’s combo guard Monta Ellis, New Jersey’s centre Brook Lopez and Oklahoma City’s small forward
/ shooting guard Kevin Durant and point guard Russell Westbrook.
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