Arenas Makes It Two Straight as Player of the Week

Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas was named Eastern Conference player of the week yesterday for his performance in victories over Minnesota, Cleveland and New York. In those games, Arenas averaged 35.3 points, 5.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds while shooting 58.3 percent from the field.

In Friday's win over the Knicks, Arenas scored 46 points, shooting 13 of 16 in only 30 minutes of play.

It marks the second consecutive week and third time this season that Arenas earned the award and the first time in franchise history that a player has won back-to-back player of the week awards.

Arenas, who entered last night's game at Memphis as the league's fourth-leading scorer (28.7 ppg), and Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant are the only players to capture back-to-back player of the week honors this season.

Boston's Paul Pierce and Philadelphia's Allen Iverson also had strong weeks, but Arenas was able to win the award despite missing out on a chance to make history Friday night when Coach Eddie Jordan sat him for the fourth quarter against the Knicks because the game was well in hand.

"He's had a terrific two weeks," Jordan said. "I'm happy for him. He deserved it. It's even better because he had some real stiff competition from Pierce and Iverson."