| Kirilenko Reloaded Authored by Derek Flack - December 6, 2007 - 4:01 pm
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His summer continued to spiral out of control like an attacked plane when his All-Star caliber teammates Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer questioned his desire to be with the team and play hard by saying “Some guys already have vacation plans.” These comments were directed towards Kirilenko during Utah’s Western Conference Finals bout with the heavyweight champs, the San Antonio Spurs.
The roller coaster ride continued as he participated in the European Championships and led his Russian National team to the title while earning MVP honors. This was the height of the ride but was only the set up for a loop in the coaster.
Immediately following his European tourney dominance he made comments to a Russian newspaper saying “I don’t want to play in Utah.” These words quickly found a way to the US where people started firing trade rumors involving Kirilenko around the NBA like a Russian rifle.
It seemed like everything was falling in to place for a trade to happen, but the Jazz front office stood their ground and didn’t budge. Instead of dealing him the Jazz sat Kirilenko down in a face to face meeting with Utah head coach Jerry Sloan and decision maker Kevin O’Connor to try and work out their differences.
After the meeting Kirilenko served up plenty of “no comments” in his interviews but was no longer complaining and whining. There was no way of telling if things had really changed until he stepped onto the court.
Once the season started all eyes were on Kirilenko. On the opening night against the Golden State Warriors Kirilenko transformed like Optimus Prime into his old form, AK-47, the Russian Rifle.
He dominated the Warriors and scored only 9 points, but he narrowly missed an opening night triple double with 9 boards and 8 assists to go along with the made baskets, but the most impressive stat of the game was his 6 blocks. He was a beast in the paint, swatting away any shot that was taken near the basket. By the end of the game the Warriors were intimidated, which showed in their next meeting with the Jazz only a few days later when the Warriors quit attacking the basket and opted to settle for outside jump shots instead.
Since the opening game AK-47 has been on a roll, his numbers are up across the board. He is averaging more points (10.5), rebounds (6.8), assists (5.9), steals (1.7), and blocks (2.4) then he did a year ago. His scoring is still below his career average of 12.8 points a game, but that’s only because the Jazz are so talented and have scorers like Williams, Boozer, Mehmet Okur, and the emergence of second-year player Ronnie Brewer who has solidified himself as the starting shooting guard, as well as Matt Harpring, Paul Millsap, and Gordan Giricek scoring points off the bench. Each starter is putting up more than 10ppg, so that leaves fewer shots for Kirilenko to take.
Kirilenko has only recorded one triple double so far this season but has barely missed it on a couple of occasions. In four straight games in November against the Seattle Supersonics, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, and the Toronto Raptors he came very close to getting a triple double, only missing it by a rebound or two or an assist. During that stretch of games he averaged 12ppg, 9.75apg, 9.25rbg, 3.25spg, and 2.5bpg, a very impressive stretch of games which showed that AK47 might be the most versatile players in the NBA. Not since Hakeem Olajuwon in the mid 90’s has there been a player with such versatility.
Kirilenko’s best game of the season so far came against the Los Angeles Lakers on November 30th. This game featured the Jazz without two of the best players, Boozer and Okur, both out due to injury.
With so much talent and scoring absent from the Jazz’s lineup, Kirilenko, as well as the rest of his teammates, stepped up their game tremendously. In this match up Kirilenko posted his first triple double of the season and displayed maybe the most impressive stat sheet by any player so far this year. He had 20 points, 11 assists, and 11 rebounds to fill out the triple double. This impressive game almost ended with a 5 X 5, he was stealing the ball like a kleptomaniac and took away 6 steals but could only manage 4 blocks. He missed the 5 X 5 by 1 block, but it was still an outstanding performance.
Andrei is playing more minutes so far this year then he did last season, but the biggest reason for is improvement seems to be his attitude towards the game and his teammates. He is playing like he has accepted his role on this team.
His body language has been completely reversed from last season. A year ago he looked and played like he was disinterested and didn’t play with the all out hustle that he has been known for over his career. This year, however, he is playing the fire and passion that superstars display. It is helping his team win games and play at a very high level.
Kirilenko might not be their leading scorer but he is the catalyst that sparks the Jazz with his energy and defensive prowess. If he continues to play great he can help take this team to another level. |
