1. Dirk Nowitzki: Dirk has won 3 matchups in the last four games. Besides the game against the 76ers, where he played against Reggie Evans he had to deal with stars like Chris Bosh, Tim Duncan and Yao Ming. By winning his matchups he lead the Mavericks to a 4-0 winning streak. This week’s number one goes to Dirk for his effort to come back from being down as much as 24 points against the Toronto Raptors – thanks to Dirk’s 32 points season high.
2. Tony Parker: If you have been following the NBA’s Top 10 plays of each day last week I am sure you have seen a lot of the fearless French. This guy really does not care who waits for him in the paint – he goes right around him. A 31 point season high against Atlanta lifts him right behind Dirk. You want to know why? Well the Spurs lost against the Mavs and Tony also lost his matchup against Devin Harris.
3. Andrei Kirilenko: I guess it is hard to win a matchup against Lebron James, especially when LeBron gets a eff. of 41 in that game. Besides this matchup he won against Jamario Moon (Raptors) and Francisco Garcia (Kings) which led the Jazz to two wins. His matchup with Richard Jefferson was almost tied but the Jazz still ended up winning the game against the Nets.
4. Andris Biedrins: The Warriors didn’t have the best start with 6 lost games in a row. It took Biedrins to step up with consecutive double-doubles to finally get their first win this season. Andris “killed” Chris Kaman in the paint with a eff. of 40.
5. Pau Gasol: The Grizzlies only played one game this past week against the Los Angeles Clippers. Normally this wouldn’t qualify Pau to be in the Top 10 but with a eff. of 40 it almost is a must. He won his matchup against Chris Kaman by as much as 17 points difference in eff. and the Grizzlies also won the game 122-105. Since the Spanish players haven’t been showing a lot so far it is good to see that Pau always comes up with good numbers.
6. Zydrunas Ilgauskas: Talking about Cleveland doesn’t always mean you have to talk about LeBron James, right? Well, maybe most of the time. But Lithuanian center is a important piece in LeBron’s team and the fans love Big “Z”. In the game against the Utah Jazz it was Ilgauskas’ matchup against Mehmet Okur that gave the Cavs the win.
7. Beno Udrih: Last friday it didn’t look as good as it does now for Beno. He lost his matchup against Stephon Marbury although the Kings pulled away from the Knicks. I guess nobody really wants to lose against the Knicks right now. But on Nov. 18th, when the Kings won against the Pistons, Beno scored 23 points against Chauncey Billups. This is what I call “step up when needed!” after Beno is a starter in Sacramento with Mike Bibby sidelined. Looks like Beno is another example that if you give players some minutes they will not let you down, right Luis Scola?
8. Hedo Turkoglu: I know, normally we should rank a Orlando Magic Euro much higher than 8th. The Magic gave the Celtics their first loss. But it wasn’t Hedo who led them to that victory: he lost his matchup against Paul Pierce. He also did lose his matchup against LeBron James eff. of 50!
9. Peja Stojakovic: Not even mentioned in the NBA’s global Top 10 (hey they had to mention David Stern on #3), we had to talk about Peja. With an average of 17 points in the last 5 games and 4 out of 5 match ups Peja really deserved his spot in this top ten ranking. The only thing that looks bad is the lost matchup against Danny Granger from the Indiana Pacers. But Danny is playing well for Indiana – people just don’t really know what to do with his name.
10. Jorge Garbajosa: These Top 10 have been pretty serious right? If you know BallinEurope you should know by now that there has to be at least ONE “smart ass” comment. So here we go – I will place Jorge on 10 just for getting to play for 24 minutes against the Indiana Pacers. Jorge went crazy – taking 12 shots in only 24 minutes and only scoring 8 points – that is why I waived Jorge from my Fantasy league team – Garbajosa was inactive for Tuesday night’s game after team doctors noticed something unusual on an MRI of his leg, the Associated Press reports. Remember what happened last season to Jorge’s leg? I can imagine that something looks unusual after an injury like that! Good luck Jorge!
