1-15-09 Recap
Trail Blazers defeat Nets: Portland’s two top scorers for the night did most of their damage from the free throw line. Brandon Roy was 13-16 from the charity stripe and rookie Jerryd Bayless was 11-11 … Besides the 29 points, Roy’s game was impressive in numerous other ways. He had eight rebounds, five […]
Analyzing the Surprise Teams Part IV: Denver Nuggets
The fourth part in this five-part series will be the first to feature a Western Conference team, the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets were not a horrible team last year, but they weren’t fighting to be among the West’s elite like they are this season. Denver will also be in a heated three-way battle […]
A Melo Behind the Superstars
The following was published at RealGM.com. It is the first of an ongoing series where Christopher Reina comes up with questions on his mind and asks for my analysis:
In a new series with Jon Nichols of Basketball-Statistics.com, I pose a question that has been on my mind and he examines the statistical evidence.
CR: One […]
12-16-08 Recap
Bobcats beat Bulls: This was undoubtedly Derrick Rose’s worst game as a pro. He shot 3-16 and was torched by fellow rookie D.J. Augustin. Augustin shot just 6-16 but got to the free throw line 13 times and made all of his attempts … The Bobcats as a team did a great job […]
12-15-08 Recap
Hawks beat Bobcats: This was not a pretty game to watch. Not only did both offenses struggle (efficiencies of 98.8 and 94), but they played at a snail’s pace. That’s why the final score was 83-79 … Boris Diaw exploded for a season-high 25 points in the loss. His previous season-high […]
12-13-08 Recap
Hawks beat Cavaliers: Atlanta had a nice back-to-back set of games, defeating Miami pretty handily on Friday night and ending Cleveland’s winning streak on Saturday … LeBron James and Mo Williams again formed a dynamic duo, combining for 59 points on efficient shooting and committing just two turnovers. However, the rest of the Cavs […]
12-10-08 Recap
Raptors beat Pacers: Two years ago, Danny Granger had a usage rate of 16.7. Last season, he decided to take more control of the offense and finished with a usage rate of 21. The trend has continued so far this season, and his rate is now 26.3. He took 25 shots in […]
Offensive/Defensive Four Factors Leaders
For those who may not be aware, Dean Oliver, author of Basketball on Paper, developed a list of four factors that a team must excel in to be good on both offense and defense. For offense, those factors are shooting percentage (measured by effective field goal percentage), turnovers (measured by turnover percentage), offensive rebounds […]
12-4-08 Recap
Mavericks beat Suns: In a battle between two teams that not too long ago were the class of the league, Dallas showed that they’ve slipped just a little bit less … Shaquille O’Neal finished with four points and missed five of his six shots. In fitting with the theme of this game, I should […]
12-2-08 Recap
Pacers beat Lakers: The Lakers finally got their second loss of the season, and it took an amazing fourth quarter run by the Pacers to do it … Troy Murphy hit the game-winner, but that shot shouldn’t overshadow the work he did all game. Murphy scored 16 points and added a whopping 17 rebounds […]