Turkey - Turks head to the NBA playoffs

From www.turkishdailynews.com.tr
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Mehmet Okur slowly improves to his best, while Hidayet Türkoglu has a stellar performance all year, but it is undeniable that both Turkish players in the NBA play key roles for their teams. There is little doubt that this will be the same in the playoffs

The 14 games played Wednesday night capped a regular season to remember in the NBA that started with a referee's match-fixing allegations, was concerned at the woes of arguably its biggest star, Kobe Bryant, sped up with the Boston Celtics' return to title chasing pack and peaked with the trade-frenzy in midseason.

And in this part of the world, it was remembered for two Turkish players, Hidayet “Hedo” Türkoglu and Mehmet Okur, reaching the top of their games.

Hedo was stellar all year, helping the Orlando Magic to a thunderous start to the season and to attain their best winning record since 1996 (52-30). This was the best basketball played by the Turkish forward in his nine-year NBA career.

He started the season in the limelight of the sensational Rashard Lewis deal, reportedly worth more then $100 million for six years, but quickly showed that he was going to have his say. Türkoglu averaged 19.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and five assists per game, all of them his best figures ever. In late January and early February, he was voted Player of the Week for the Eastern Conference on back-to-back occasions and was a serious contender for a spot in the All-Star game. While players such as Kevin Garnett and Caron Butler were drawn out of the East team, he could have been added, but was not picked, despite open support from former stars Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller and Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers.

It was ironic, considering the most memorable of the game-winning clutch shots Türkoglu made all year was against the multi-starred Celtics on Jan. 27.

Hedo's all round game was an important factor in the Magic's clinching the Southeast Division, as well as being a great help to center Dwight Howard, whose monstrous numbers are now only comparable to an early Shaquille O'Neal. Howard, nicknamed “Superman” after his show at this year's Slam Dunk Contest, had 69 double-doubles to lead the league, as he did in rebounds (14.9 per game) and dunks (269). Nevertheless, “Baby Shaq” badly needs to improve his playoff game and get ready for the toughened challenge. Coach Stan Van Gundy hopes that his young team learned its lessons from last year, when Howard and company could not make a decent impact in a first-round sweep at the hands of the ever-consistent Detroit Pistons.

To be matched with Detroit again in the Eastern semifinals, Orlando has to overcome the Toronto Raptors, seemingly one of the two tightest ties in the first round. Led by Chris Bosh, the Raptors are known for playing European-style basketball with names like Italian Andrea Bargnani, Spaniard Jose Calderon and Slovenian Rasho Nesterovic. Another Spaniard, Jorge Garbajosa, could be added to the tally, if only an injury had not kept him out for the season.