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You have a few nights like this over the course of an NBA season, the league with the most extreme home court advantage of the major sports. Road teams won seven of the 10 games on last night's docket, with only the Spurs, Thunder and Wizards sending their fans home happy. Headlining the evening was another stellar comeback by the Utah Jazz, who leave Florida with a couple of confidence-boosting wins under their collective belts. Also, the Bucks put up their second terrific offensive performance in two nights and are suddenly jetting up the power rankings. Finally, in case you missed it, the night was capped by a career performance from Minnesota's Michael Beasley, who went off for 42 points at Sacramento. The best part was when Kings announcers Grant Napear and Jerry Reynolds suggested that, just maybe, the Heat would have been better off holding onto Beasley rather than shelling out for Chris Bosh. Hmmmm. Food for thought.
LIVE AT BASKETBALL PROSPECTUS
1. Every play counts for rebounding specialist Reggie Evans.
2. John Perrotto notes that Larry Drew's new offensive system in Atlanta seems to be working just fine.
3. John Gasaway discussed all things related to college hoops and even fended off a couple of NBA interlopers in his live chat.
4. Kevin Pelton explains our move to a premium model, a la the one in place at Baseball Prospectus. It's exciting for me because this move allows us to do more analysis and to take the evolution of the site to a higher level than I ever thought we'd reach. More articles, more data, more everything. And for less than $2 a month, why not?
5. John Gasaway is reacting to the reactors to his outstanding essay "The Trouble with Amateurism" from College Basketball Prospectus 2010-11. If you have any interest in college athletics, not just basketball, you've got to read that piece.
6. Kyle Whelliston looks at the University of Seatte's return to Division I college basketball, and what may lie ahead in the Pacific Northwest.
7. How much can we read into the early season results? Kevin Pelton takes a look.
8. There have been some terrific games already this season, but Utah's comeback against Miami might have been the game of the year--so far. Kevin Pelton examines the game and has some pointed observations about the Miami offense.
9. I was really excited when I wrote this post on Indiana's 54-point outburst in the third quarter against the Nuggets on Tuesday.
10. Kevin Pelton has a review of George Dohrmann's terrific book Play Their Hearts out.
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HOT FIVES
POWER RATING (POW) GR (11/10/10) WP82 - -ALL WP82 -- ROOKIES
heat,miami, 63.5 durant,kevin, 34.8 gay,rudy, 28.6 wall,john, 12.5
hornets,neworleans, 63.4 harris,devin, 32.9 williams,deron, 21.9 griffin,blake, 9.8
lakers,losangeles, 61.3 millsap,paul, 32.8 james,lebron, 21.7 johnson,wesley, 5.2
celtics,boston, 60.3 randolph,zach, 32.6 rondo,rajon, 20.4 bledsoe,eric, 3.9
magic,orlando, 52.1 chandler,wilson, 31.5 ellis,monta, 19.9 turner,evan, 2.5
Note: GR leaders are from previous night only.
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WEDNESDAY'S BOX SCORES & RECAPS
NOTE: Glossary is at bottom of page.
BUCKS 108, HAWKS 91 (box): The Bucks have now won three of four and have put up four straight excellent defensive performances and, for the second night in a row, put up a season-best Offensive Rating. Overall, the Bucks have soared to No. 6 in POW thanks to the league's 11th-best point differential and the fifth-toughest schedule to date. Milwaukee trailed early, before the Bucks' second unit came on and led a 67-33 charge in the middle quarters. The reserves were led by Corey Maggette, who scored 20 points on eight shots and has enjoyed his best two games of the season the last two nights. Atlanta dropped its third straight thanks to a leaky defense that has laid two absolute eggs in its last two home games, losses to Phoenix and Milwaukee.
MIL (4-5) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR ATL (6-3) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
ilyasova,ersan 56% 31% 1.09 +16 24.3 smith,josh 64% 21% 0.86 -14 19.9
salmons,john 62% 20% 1.34 + 5 19.4 pachulia,zaza 47% 27% 1.10 - 5 16.4
jennings,brandon 61% 27% 1.43 + 9 18.8 horford,al 60% 16% 1.49 -10 16.1
dooling,keyon 38% 22% 1.10 +12 13.2 crawford,jordan 33% 31% 1.05 + 5 11.5
bogut,andrew 53% 15% 1.13 + 1 13.1 johnson,joe 64% 25% 0.80 -22 9.5
maggette,corey 62% 19% 1.33 +18 9.5 teague,jeff 45% 21% 1.33 - 6 9.2
gooden,drew 44% 21% 0.89 + 5 8.2 bibby,mike 52% 15% 1.53 - 3 8.9
boykins,earl 39% 16% 1.94 + 8 7.4 crawford,jamal 71% 9% 1.30 -24 6.2
mbahamoute,luc 38% 11% 0.53 - 1 2.7 powell,josh 43% 22% 0.50 -11 3.4
brockman,jon 44% 4% 1.49 +12 1.9 collins,jason 22% 18% 0.00 + 5 0.0
sanders,larry 2% 40% 1.99 0 1.7 thomas,etan (DNP)
delfino,carlos (DNP) williams,marvin (DNP)
PACE: 90.0 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 90.0 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
bucks,milwaukee 120.1 .563 .306 .145 .068 hawks,atlanta 101.2 .527 .175 .189 .103
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JAZZ 104, MAGIC 94 (box): My gosh. The last two nights, the Jazz trailed by 22 points at Miami and 18 points at Orlando. Those are possibly the league's two best defensive teams and are clearly two of the prime contenders for this year's NBA title. Yet the Jazz outscored these teams by a combined 81-49 in the two fourth quarters and won both games. After dropping its first two games of the season by a combined 38 points, Utah has won five of six with wins at Oklahoma City, Miami and Orlando. Paul Millsap followed up his 46-point outburst with another solid outing, putting up 23 points. Millsap has posted better a GR than Al Jefferson in seven of Utah's eight games. Orlando was again hampered by Dwight Howard's foul trouble. Howard has had five fouls or more in five of Orlando's seven games, including four straight. And while Jefferson was again behind Millsap in GR, he did put up his second-best figure of the season under Howard's watch.
UTA (5-3) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR ORL (5-2) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
millsap,paul 81% 22% 1.18 + 5 32.8 carter,vince 76% 23% 1.28 - 5 21.2
williams,deron 88% 32% 1.32 +12 28.5 bass,brandon 76% 16% 1.11 - 5 20.5
jefferson,al 81% 26% 0.89 - 2 24.1 lewis,rashard 73% 22% 1.07 - 5 15.2
kirilenko,andre 74% 16% 1.26 +12 11.5 nelson,jameer 67% 23% 1.51 - 4 14.9
bell,raja 71% 7% 1.66 + 2 7.7 howard,dwight 69% 25% 0.95 + 5 12.3
miles,c.j. 55% 9% 1.20 +16 7.4 gortat,marcin 43% 11% 1.65 - 9 6.9
fesenko,kyrylo 19% 19% 0.75 +12 2.6 richardson,quentin 35% 17% 0.68 -12 6.1
elson,francisco 11% 9% 0.59 - 1 0.7 duhon,chris 33% 12% 0.62 - 6 3.7
price,ronnie 12% 23% 0.09 - 2 0.4 redick,j.j. 24% 9% 1.04 - 5 3.4
hayward,gordon 9% 10% 0.00 - 4 0.0 anderson,ryan 3% 62% 0.14 - 4 0.3
evans,jeremy (DNP) pietrus,mickael (DNP)
watson,earl (DNP) williams,jason (DNP)
PACE: 89.9 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 89.9 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
jazz,utah 115.7 .534 .207 .156 .137 magic,orlando 104.5 .506 .383 .234 .122
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BOBCATS 101, RAPTORS 96 (box): One of the big questions surrounding the Raptors entering the season was whether Andrea Bargnani could assume a larger role in the absence of Chris Bosh. Bargnani has been okay, though the deficiencies in his game are still glaring. Even more troubling is the lack of a consistent threat to team with Bargnani. Linas Kleiza has been up and down, mostly down, perhaps due to a sore Achilles tendon. Second-year guard DeMar DeRozan has been increasingly useless as of late. Toronto needs rookie Ed Davis to get back in the rotation if for no other reason than to offer some semblance of hope for the future. Charlotte's games continue to be fairly tight. Both of the Bobcats' wins have been by five points or less and Charlotte is 2-3 overall in those games so far this season. Seven of their eight games have been decided by 10 points or less.
CHA (2-6) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR TOR (1-7) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
wallace,gerald 91% 22% 1.13 +12 29.6 bargnani,andrea 80% 32% 0.99 - 1 30.6
jackson,stephen 84% 23% 1.09 + 2 27.8 weems,sonny 77% 17% 1.35 + 5 13.5
diaw,boris 79% 17% 0.84 +10 13.5 johnson,alexander 57% 24% 1.08 + 2 13.4
augustin,d.j. 71% 16% 1.71 + 9 13.4 wright,julian 44% 14% 1.54 +10 13.3
thomas,tyrus 44% 26% 1.21 - 3 11.1 jack,jarrett 51% 31% 0.94 - 6 12.5
hendersonjr,gerald 40% 18% 1.27 - 6 7.6 calderon,jose 49% 19% 1.01 - 1 11.7
mohammed,nazr 36% 27% 0.67 + 8 4.3 evans,reggie 62% 6% 1.06 - 9 5.5
livingston,shaun 29% 5% 1.96 - 4 2.6 derozan,demar 43% 8% 0.84 -16 3.4
carroll,matt 8% 12% 1.74 - 3 1.3 kleiza,linas 36% 17% 0.48 - 9 2.8
brown,derrick 10% 9% 1.47 0 0.9 alabi,soloman (DNP)
diop,desagana 8% 13% 0.00 0 0.0 banks,marcus (DNP)
collins,sherron (DNP) dorsey,joey (DNP)
PACE: 90.0 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 90.0 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
bobcats,charlotte 112.2 .536 .250 .189 .161 raptors,toronto 106.7 .475 .333 .189 .122
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WIZARDS 98, ROCKETS 91 (box): John Wall stole the headlines with his first career triple-double and also added six steals while committing a season-low one turnover. Al Thornton took GR honors for the Wizards because of his decisive positional win over Houston's Shane Battier. Thornton became the first Battier counterpart this season to produce points at a better-than-average rate. Thornton has been very efficient so far this season, with a .568 True Shooting Percentage that is easily his career best. He's doing that while using the same average-ish rate of possessions as last year and despite the fact that he has shot poorly from the three-point line.
HOU (1-6) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR WAS (2-4) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
martin,kevin 77% 33% 1.18 - 4 28.4 thornton,al 77% 20% 1.15 + 2 25.4
scola,luis 88% 25% 0.85 - 4 14.9 blatche,andra 73% 29% 0.97 + 8 22.3
budinger,chase 51% 17% 1.08 +13 14.8 wall,john 87% 17% 1.93 +12 17.3
smith,ishmael 55% 19% 1.34 - 2 11.3 mcgee,javale 47% 13% 1.37 - 3 12.3
lowry,kyle 44% 27% 0.47 - 7 8.7 jianlian,yi 60% 21% 1.01 +10 8.0
miller,brad 28% 22% 1.16 + 6 6.8 hinrich,kirk 61% 24% 0.68 - 5 6.9
hayes,chuck 52% 3% 1.64 - 7 4.9 arenas,gilbert 48% 17% 0.74 + 7 5.7
hill,jordan 19% 29% 0.67 - 7 2.6 young,nick 17% 21% 0.87 + 4 4.2
battier,shane 50% 2% 2.29 -18 1.9 martin,cartier 9% 10% 0.51 + 1 0.5
lee,courtney 23% 15% 0.16 - 3 0.5 armstrong,hilton 20% 1% 0.11 - 1 0.1
ming,yao 13% 7% 0.46 - 2 0.3 booker,trevor (DNP)
jeffries,jared (DNP) seraphin,kevin (DNP)
PACE: 95.5 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 95.5 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
rockets,houston 95.2 .425 .222 .157 .088 wizards,washington 102.6 .477 .320 .178 .101
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NETS 95, CAVALIERS 87 (box): This had to be a letdown for the Cavaliers, who were gunning for their fourth straight win. Devin Harris put up a season-best GR for the Nets in what has been a nice comeback season for the former All-Star. Harris clocks in at a solid 27th in the NBA with 11.1 WP82, which puts him in the 92nd percentile of the league. That's help compensate for the poor start of center Brook Lopez (6.5 WP82, 61st percentile). The Cavs got a tough break when Mo Williams re-injured his groin, a malady which could keep him out for awhile.
NJN (3-5) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR CLE (4-4) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
harris,devin 90% 33% 1.06 + 5 32.9 jamison,antawn 49% 33% 0.93 - 4 17.2
morrow,anthony 87% 12% 2.14 +15 27.3 moon,jamario 57% 13% 1.08 + 4 13.5
humphries,kris 84% 15% 1.40 + 9 17.1 varejao,anderson 73% 10% 1.04 -11 12.2
farmar,jordan 59% 20% 1.51 +10 14.6 gibson,daniel 61% 21% 0.58 -10 12.1
lopez,brook 39% 14% 0.71 0 5.3 hickson,j.j. 51% 32% 0.79 - 4 10.3
favors,derrick 47% 30% 0.54 + 9 5.2 sessions,ramon 54% 26% 1.01 - 4 10.2
outlaw,travis 65% 9% 0.83 + 1 4.1 williams,maurice 46% 25% 1.01 - 4 9.5
petro,johan 10% 29% 1.14 + 2 2.1 hollins,ryan 27% 24% 1.47 + 3 6.5
ross,quinton 10% 18% 0.00 - 7 0.0 parker,anthony 56% 10% 1.38 - 7 5.4
petro,johan (DNP) williams,jawad 25% 2% 2.36 - 3 2.6
james,damion (DNP) graham,joey (DNP)
uzoh,ben (DNP) powe,leon (DNP)
PACE: 87.4 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 87.4 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
nets,newjersey 108.7 .463 .313 .103 .176 cavaliers,cleve 99.5 .461 .175 .126 .111
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WARRIORS 122, KNICKS 117 (box): A promising fresh start is turning rancid for the Knicks, who have lost three straight and dropped to 1-3 at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks are also 1-3 in close games. The offense was better last night, but the defense couldn't contain the Warriors' super-quick backcourt. Former Knick David Lee was recognized before the game and then went out and put up his best game of the season. His 28 points were 11 more than he'd scored in a game so far for Golden State.
GSW (6-2) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR NYK (3-5) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
ellis,monta 84% 23% 1.02 + 7 25.6 chandler,wilson 85% 25% 1.10 - 5 31.5
lee,david 84% 25% 1.17 + 9 25.1 stoudemire,amare 85% 28% 1.16 - 2 24.1
curry,stephen 94% 21% 1.25 + 6 23.9 felton,raymond 78% 20% 1.27 -13 23.6
wright,dorell 87% 12% 1.33 + 3 13.9 fields,landry 71% 12% 1.04 + 9 11.9
williams,reggie 48% 21% 0.83 - 6 13.4 gallinari,danilo 68% 19% 0.98 - 7 9.8
biedrins,andris 55% 16% 1.09 +14 7.7 douglas,toney 71% 17% 0.62 - 1 9.0
wright,brandan 20% 25% 0.89 + 3 4.0 randolph,anthony 16% 10% 0.69 - 5 1.2
radmanovic,vladimir 13% 20% 0.69 - 9 2.8 walker,bill 21% 4% 1.18 + 2 1.2
lin,jeremy 6% 13% 0.84 - 1 1.1 mozgov,timofey 4% 17% 0.77 - 3 0.5
carney,rodney 10% 9% 0.12 - 1 0.1 mason,roger (DNP)
adrien,jeff (DNP) rautins,andy (DNP)
bell,charlie (DNP) williams,shawne (DNP)
PACE: 103.7 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 103.7 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
warriors,goldenst 117.7 .556 .220 .135 .136 knicks,newyork 112.8 .513 .250 .203 .182
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MAVERICKS 106, GRIZZLIES 91 (box): Dallas rode a season-best Offensive Rating to a get-even win at Memphis. Dallas lost at home to the Grizzlies on Oct. 29. DeShawn Stevenson played well in his second straight start after playing just two minutes in Dallas' first five games. Stevenson hit three three-pointers and hampered O.J. Mayo into his worst game of the season. Mayo had four points on 1-of-8 shooting in 29 minutes.
DAL (5-2) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR MEM (4-5) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
stevenson,deshawn 44% 13% 2.33 +16 19.7 randolph,zach 72% 24% 1.47 -12 32.6
marion,shawn 72% 21% 1.30 +12 19.6 gay,rudy 81% 24% 1.09 -14 15.4
kidd,jason 54% 13% 2.01 + 8 17.8 arthur,darrell 36% 17% 1.30 -11 13.7
terry,jason 65% 26% 1.62 + 7 17.2 conley,mike 77% 16% 1.04 -13 11.6
chandler,tyson 49% 16% 1.57 +13 11.6 gasol,marc 64% 18% 0.91 - 5 7.8
haywood,brendan 49% 22% 0.67 + 5 10.7 henry,xavier 42% 24% 0.70 - 4 7.3
nowitzki,dirk 62% 22% 1.08 +26 9.6 mayo,o.j. 60% 16% 0.66 -15 5.7
barea,jose 49% 22% 1.31 + 1 8.8 allen,tony 22% 28% 1.02 - 5 4.6
cardinal,brian 42% 15% 0.93 - 1 5.7 law,acie 19% 13% 1.55 0 3.2
novak,steve 4% 28% 0.51 - 1 0.8 vasquez,greivis 2% 45% 3.34 + 3 2.4
jones,dominique 2% 51% 0.34 - 3 0.2 young,sam 12% 8% 0.27 - 1 0.3
mahinmi,ian 8% 13% 0.00 - 8 0.0 thabeet,hasheem 12% 8% 0.00 + 2 0.0
PACE: 87.0 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 87.0 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
mavericks,dallas 121.9 .594 .282 .115 .056 grizzlies,memphis 104.6 .476 .240 .138 .096
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THUNDER 109, 76ERS 103 (box): Kevin Durant went 16-of-16 from the line and put up his third straight GR of 34 or better. Andres Nocioni, who has done a solid defensive job on Indiana's Danny Granger twice this season, did what he could with Durant, which wasn't much. However, the dropoff once Nocioni sat was considerable. Sixers coach Doug Collins may be stuck having to overexpose Nocioni as long as Andre Iguodala is out with his Achilles injury.
PHI (2-6) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR OKC (4-3) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
brand,elton 80% 22% 1.06 0 20.1 durant,kevin 83% 30% 1.09 +10 34.8
holiday,jrue 68% 24% 1.20 0 19.2 westbrook,russell 89% 34% 1.08 + 1 29.2
meeks,jodie 46% 22% 1.66 - 9 13.4 ibaka,serge 65% 11% 1.59 + 9 13.0
hawes,spencer 41% 14% 1.26 0 12.7 sefolosha,thabo 83% 8% 1.52 + 1 12.1
turner,evan 81% 15% 1.06 - 4 12.4 maynor,eric 34% 16% 1.12 + 5 11.6
nocioni,andres 64% 18% 0.89 + 7 10.6 harden,james 46% 18% 0.87 - 2 6.2
williams,lou 36% 31% 0.59 -12 6.9 krstic,nenad 74% 13% 0.65 - 5 5.9
young,thaddeus 47% 10% 1.56 - 2 6.2 cook,daequan 7% 25% 0.95 + 4 2.2
speights,marreese 16% 22% 0.66 - 8 4.4 aldrich,cole 19% 15% 0.00 + 7 0.0
battie,tony 21% 22% 0.58 - 2 3.0 ivey,royal (DNP)
brackins,craig (DNP) peterson,morris (DNP)
songaila,darius (DNP) white,d.j. (DNP)
PACE: 94.6 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 94.6 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
76ers,philadelphia 108.8 .512 .293 .180 .126 thunder,oklacity 115.2 .507 .167 .159 .172
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SPURS 107, CLIPPERS 95 (box): Gary Neal has had two good games this year, both of them outings in which he got on a three-point roll. That was enough for ESPN's Stuart Scott to proclaim Neal a future "superstar." Apparently, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich didn't get the memo, because Neal played one minute last night. I like Neal--I myself labeled him as the possible Bruce Bowen clone that Popovich has been searching for--but he's not a superstar. Not now, not ever. Anyway, you have to feel for the Clippers, who played without Baron Davis and Chris Kaman, a situation that is likely to persist for a couple of weeks at least. Of course, the way those two have played, it might be best for Vinny Del Negro to just go hyper young anyway. The Clippers have lost four straight but here's the thing: L.A. has played the league's toughest schedule--by a mile. The Clippers' opponents are an aggregate 49-19 this season.
LAC (1-8) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR SAS (6-1) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
butler,rasual 82% 16% 1.36 - 7 19.7 jefferson,richard 74% 22% 1.39 + 4 23.5
griffin,blake 80% 25% 0.72 -15 13.9 parker,tony 74% 26% 1.23 +18 21.0
bledsoe,eric 65% 26% 0.89 -17 13.4 ginobili,manu 74% 21% 1.55 +10 20.9
smith,craig 35% 25% 1.56 0 13.3 hill,george 54% 17% 1.38 + 5 15.8
jordan,deandre 31% 16% 1.37 -14 11.4 blair,dejuan 59% 16% 0.86 -14 11.0
gomes,ryan 79% 12% 1.15 - 8 10.2 anderson,james 23% 15% 2.15 - 1 10.3
cook,brian 24% 37% 0.96 + 1 9.0 duncan,tim 46% 18% 0.84 +15 5.4
aminu,alfarouq 55% 18% 0.95 - 8 7.3 mcdyess,antonio 54% 14% 0.79 +10 4.4
warren,willie 35% 9% 1.76 + 5 4.5 splitter,tiago 33% 17% 0.97 +10 4.3
collins,jarron 13% 21% 0.73 + 3 3.0 neal,gary 2% 36% 1.98 + 1 1.8
kaman,chris (DNP) gee,alonzo 2% 45% 0.45 + 1 0.5
davis,baron (DNP) quinn,chris 2% 45% 0.00 + 1 0.0
PACE: 89.9 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 89.9 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
clippers,losangel 105.6 .506 .295 .167 .068 spurs,sanantonio 119.0 .570 .323 .211 .147
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TIMBERWOLVES 98, KINGS 89 (box): This was the Michael Beasley show. Beasley doubled his season high with 42 points, which was also 12 points better than his previous career best. Beasley needed 31 shots to get those points, however. Beasley's outburst came primarily at the expense of the Kings' Omri Casspi. Casspi had decent defensive indicators as a rookie, but has been getting torched this season. Every one of his counterparts this season has produced points at a rate at least 2.6 percent better than their seasonal norms.
MIN (2-7) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR SAC (3-4) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
beasley,michael 86% 42% 1.01 + 9 27.3 udrih,beno 84% 19% 1.25 -10 25.2
johnson,wesley 64% 13% 1.59 - 6 23.2 garcia,francisco 59% 21% 0.85 - 8 15.6
love,kevin 58% 19% 0.74 - 4 14.0 casspi,omri 57% 25% 1.17 + 3 10.1
telfair,sebastian 83% 16% 0.87 + 5 11.0 dalembert,samuel 76% 13% 1.43 - 6 9.0
milicic,darko 66% 20% 0.89 - 5 9.4 cousins,demarcus 29% 29% 0.90 - 1 8.6
tolliver,anthony 40% 7% 1.80 +16 8.8 jackson,darnell 48% 18% 1.08 - 1 8.1
brewer,corey 49% 15% 0.58 +12 6.0 evans,tyreke 58% 19% 0.83 - 2 6.7
pekovic,nikola 34% 9% 1.27 +14 3.7 landry,carl 41% 17% 0.65 - 8 6.6
ager,maurice 17% 9% 0.29 + 4 0.8 thompson,jason 30% 20% 0.55 - 5 3.4
hayward,lazar 2% 54% 0.00 0 0.0 greene,donte 8% 10% 1.31 0 1.4
ellington,wayne (DNP) head,luther 7% 29% 0.00 - 5 0.0
koufos,kosta (DNP) wright,antoine (DNP)
PACE: 94.0 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 94.0 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
timberwolves,minn 104.2 .494 .267 .160 .094 kings,sacramento 94.7 .479 .216 .202 .150
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NEWS & MOVES
Minutiae from around the league
LEAGUE: "Quintin Dailey, a talented but troubled basketball player whose missteps, including a sexual assault conviction, contributed to the University of San Francisco’s decision to drop its storied basketball program for three years, died Monday in Las Vegas. He was 49. The cause was hypertensive cardiovascular disease, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Coroner’s Office said." (New York Times)
A sad end for a largely wasted life. Dailey had a ton of ability and was one of the main reasons to watch the Bulls before Michael Jordan was drafted.
LEAGUE: "Former NBA player Lorenzen Wright died in late July after being shot at least five times, an autopsy report released Wednesday showed. Bullet fragments lodged in Wright's skull, chest and right forearm, indicating five shots, the medical examiner's report showed. The report did not exclude the possibility of additional gunshot wounds to the body, which was found in woods in suburban Memphis on July 28. Wright, 34, had been missing for 10 days when his body was found. No arrests have been made in the months since the slaying, and Memphis police haven't offered a motive or suspects." (Associated Press)
CAVALIERS: "Mo Williams stared blankly toward the far wall in Cleveland's locker room, his eyes glazed and distant. The Cavaliers' starting point guard is hurt again. Williams, who missed most of training camp and the season's first three games with a right groin injury, suffered the same injury to his left side on Wednesday night in Cleveland's 95-87 loss to the New Jersey Nets. Devin Harris scored a season-high 31 points, Kris Humphries added 13 and 18 rebounds in his first start and Anthony Morrow added 21 points - 15 on 3-pointers - as the Nets snapped a five-game losing streak and got their first road win. For Williams, this was the worst possible scenario. After babying his previous groin injury so he would be able to come back at full strength and help the Cavs, he went out with 3:39 left in the third quarter with what the team called a left adductor strain. Based on the recovery time of his most recent injury, Williams could be out for an extended period." (Associated Press)
More run for Ramon Sessions and Daniel Gibson.
ROCKETS: "center Yao Ming left Wednesday's game with the Washington Wizards with a strained tendon in his left leg. The 7-foot-6 Yao played the opening 6:14 of the game and did not return. He did not score and grabbed one rebound. The injury-prone Yao sat out the entire 2009-10 season after undergoing surgery to repair his broken left foot. The Rockets have been limiting Yao's minutes early in the season and before the game coach Rick Adelman said no decision has been made on increasing his playing time." (ESPN)
The injury is not related to the stress fractures that kept Yao out last season. He likely won't play Friday in Indiana. He's getting some more tests today, so we'll see how this plays out.
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FAB FIVE
A selection of our favorite NBA links
1. Who are the biggest over- and under-achievers so far? Neil Paine has a look.
2. Ever hear of Satnam Singh Bhamara? Me either, but apparently he may be the Indian version of Yao Ming.
3. Though Magic Johnson divested himself of a share of the Lakers, he's still interested in owning a team.
4. The guys at Nets Are Scorching examine some troubling trends in Brook Lopez's game.
5. Are Raptors fans getting worried about DeMar DeRozan?
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ON TAP
Tonight in the NBA
WTC VIS @ HOM, GAMETIME NBAPET LINE OFFICIALS
+23 bos @ mia, 8:00 PM EST [ mia by 11 ]
+ 8 gsw @ chi, 8:00 PM EST [ gsw by 0 ]
+14 lal @ den, 10:30 PM EST [ lal by 7 ]
Note: WTC is a junk stat rating the "watchability" of a game, taking into
account the quality of the opponents and the likelihood of a close game.
Through Wednesday, 116 of 1,230 games (9.4%) have been played in the 2010-11 NBA regular season.
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GLOSSARY
+/- (Plus-Minus) Raw data is from official box scores from NBA.com.
GR (Game Rating) Reflects a player's Points Created total, or the portion of his team's offense for which he gets credit based on his box score line. This number is then adjusted for estimated defensive performance based on box score counterpart productivity. GR is pace-adjusted so you can compare players from game to game.
PCP (Points Created Per Possession Used) An estimate of each player's points created per possession used, a measure of offensive efficiency. The stat accounts for a player's entire box score line, not just the scoring categories.
PLY% (Play {ercentage) An estimate of the percentage of a team's possessions on which the player was on the court.
USG An estimate of how many of those plays a player used by shooting, going to the line or committing a turnover, with a portion the team's offensive rebound total subtracted.
TEAM STATS
PACE: Esimated possessions in the game.
ORTG: A team's points per 100 possessions.
eFG%: Team's shooting percentage with an extra half-point added for each made three-point field goal.
oRB%: Percentage of a team's misses that they retrieved off the offensive glass.
TO%: Percentage of at team's possessions resulting in a turnover.
FTA%: Percentage of a team's possessions resulting in a trip to the foul line.
You can follow Bradford on Twitter at twitter.com/@bbdoolittle.
You can order a copy of Pro Basketball Prospectus 2010-11 here.
Bradford Doolittle is an author of Basketball Prospectus.
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Two Weeks In (11/10)
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