Not at the moment, apparently.
Kevin Garnett was snubbed Monday for the conference's Player of the Week honors, as Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire took home the award for the second time this year. In six weeks since the season tipped off, only one Celtic has earned Player of the Week — Rajon Rondo, who won it in week one.
Garnett was the driving force behind a dominant 4-0 week for the Celtics, in which he notched three double-doubles including an absurd stat line in a Friday night win over the Bulls — 20 points, 17 rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block. Boston left Cleveland, Portland, Chicago and New Jersey all in the dust over its killer week.
But KG chose a bad week to go nuts and put up big numbers, because Stoudemire's were even bigger. The Knicks' $100 million free agent put up point totals of 35, 34 and 31 in his team's three decisive wins over New Jersey, New Orleans and Toronto, vaulting the Big Apple back into the Eastern Conference playoff discussion. The Knicks now rank sixth in the conference, only 4 1/2 games behind the Celtics.
Stoudemire deserved the award. He's gotten a lot of flak early this season for simply putting up good numbers on a bad team, but his performance this past week was transcendent. Stoudemire is making the Knicks relevant again. For that, he deserves his award and his nine-figure contract.
Stoudemire joins Dwight Howard and Russell Westbrook as the only players to win Player of the Week twice already this season, and it's hard to dispute. For his big numbers and his big-time leadership, he's earned it. But Kevin Garnett has had a stellar season thus far in his own right, and he deserves recognition soon.
Was KG or Amare the best choice for Player of the Week? Share your thoughts below.
