Hot Stove Player of the Week: Devin Harris

The end of the week is finally here.

The Giants won again, but the Jets were a disappointment, holding off the New York-New York Super Bowl talk for now. The Nets are a surprising 9-8, the Knicks are a surprising 8-10, Stephon Marbury is surprisingly still here, Plaxico Burress is not-surprisingly gone and old friend Sean Avery surprised nobody with his “sloppy seconds” comment. He’s now on his fourth team in eight years. What does that make him?

This week’s prize for the winner is a Glock, a gun permit, a holster and lessons at a shooting range.

Winner: Devin Harris

Sure, he had a clunker (along with the whole team) on Wednesday vs. Washington (18 points, two assists), but he led the Nets to wins this week with dominating performances against Utah (34 points, six assists) on Friday and Phoenix (47 points, eight assists) on Sunday, where he schooled Steve Nash.

He’s sixth in the league in scoring, at 24.8 points per game, and he’s making people remember that there is an actual professional basketball team still playing in New Jersey.

Runners-Up 

Eli Manning

The Giants QB proved once again that his team can win any which way the opposition chooses. If they stuff the box and stop the run, Manning will take them apart through the air. He finished 21 for 34, with 305 yards, one TD and one INT.

Chris Duhon

On Friday night, the Knicks point guard set a franchise record with 22 assists (breaking the previous mark of 21, set by Richie Guerin 50 years ago), and added 12 points in the team’s win over Golden State. He threw in 23 points (with 13 assists) in the Knicks’ loss to the Blazers on Tuesday, and by Wednesday was completely worn out (six points, four assists) against the Cavs.

He’s playing through back spasms, but doesn’t have a choice – the Knicks are playing every game with only four players.

David Lee

With a depleted lineup, Lee’s getting his chance to play monster minutes and is putting up big numbers, too: 37 points and 21 rebounds on Friday, 19/12 on Tuesday and 16/16 on Wednesday.

Thomas Jones

The AFC’s leading rusher was pretty much the only bright spot in the Jets’ dismal loss to Denver. He rambled for 138 yards on 16 carries, and had two big touchdown runs.

Justin Tuck

The Giants defensive end led the D by making Jason Campbell look like Jason Campbell, and holding Clinton Portis to 22 yards rushing. Tuck sacked Campbell twice, and added three QB hits and six tackles.

Anti-Player of the Week 

Plaxico Burress:

This is an easy choice. When you shoot yourself, you’re the Anti-Player of the Week. We’ve had one player who refuses to play and another who shoots himself.

What’s next—a local player who first refuses to play, then bumblingly shoots himself while accidentally stabbing a teammate, who then falls on and kills a litter of puppies, and finishes it off by unintentionally setting the Empire State Building on fire?

That’s just about the only thing that can top the actions of Marbury and Burress.