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Read on for details on an 11-game smorgasbord in the league.
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LIVE AT BASKETBALL PROSPECTUS
1. Growing Pains: Disappointing Rookies. Kevin Pelton looks at the first-year players that so far have fallen short of expectations.(premium)
2. One-and-done's a really small bargaining chip. (Unfiltered)
3. Toasts of NYC: KU, Syracuse Cruise. (Free preview)
4. Poll Position: Rise of the Aztec Empire. (premium)
5. Cream of the Crop: Is Record vs. Winning Teams Meaningful?. (premium)
6. The Replacements. A look at big nights from little-used Ian Mahimni and Patty Mills. (Unfiltered)
7. Kevin Pelton, our resident expert on hoops in the northwest, breaks down Washington's win over Portland--college style. (free preview)
8. Sebastian Pruiti breaks down the Pacers' breakout season using video, text and all sorts of tricks. (premium)
9. The latest Trend Watch looks at the Lakers' slump, Wesley Matthews' ascension and the history of point guard scoring. (premium)
10. Why are so interested in the North Carolina Tar Heels? (Unfiltered)
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FANTASY PROJECTIONS
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UPCOMING CHATS
Basketball Prospectus authors will be taking your questions. All chats begin at 1 p.m. EST on the day listed, but you can go in and submit a question now if you like.
Dec. 16: Kevin Pelton
Dec. 29: Bradford Doolittle
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HOT FIVES
POWER RATING (POW) GR (12/06/10) WP82 -- ALL WP82 -- ROOKIES
celtics,boston, 64.9 williams,deron, 44.1 james,lebron, 25.2 griffin,blake, 16.4
mavericks,dallas, 61.7 williams,reggie, 40.4 williams,deron, 23.4 wall,john, 9.1
spurs,sanantonio, 61.0 durant,kevin, 40.1 bryant,kobe, 21.8 bledsoe,eric, 3.8
heat,miami, 57.7 james,lebron, 39.2 ellis,monta, 19.3 fields,landry, 3.1
hornets,neworleans, 56.3 love,kevin, 34.9 westbrook,russell, 18.9 cousins,demarcus, 3.0
Note: GR leaders are from previous night only.
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WEDNESDAY'S BOX SCORES & RECAPS
NOTE: Glossary is at bottom of page.
CELTICS 105, NUGGETS 89 (box): The Celtics have been NBAPET's top-rated team for awhile now, and they've done it with Rajon Rondo functioning at less than full capacity because of his battle with plantar faciitis. Rondo has missed four games overall and has played hurt in several others and there have been whispers that he may be held out for an extended period of time to let the injury heal. That's really all you can do about that particular malady. In the meantime, Boston continues to build up an early-season buffer as it has the last couple of years with a fast start. However, it seems like the Celtics would be pushing their luck to let up on the accelerator and drop down the seeding ladder, as happened last year. The quality of the teams around them in the upper crust of the conference standings are too good to hope for a repeat of last year's run to the Finals from the four-seed. It'll be interesting to see how Doc Rivers manages his team's health situation with the need to win games this time around.
DEN (13-8) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR BOS (17-4) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
lawson,ty 70% 26% 1.26 + 4 28.8 pierce,paul 77% 24% 0.87 +23 21.3
smith,j.r. 55% 34% 0.76 - 5 15.1 allen,ray 74% 25% 1.41 +27 19.7
hilario,nene 74% 15% 1.00 -21 13.7 davis,glen 55% 27% 0.95 + 9 18.6
billups,chauncey 69% 15% 0.74 -21 9.7 rondo,rajon 63% 12% 1.59 +20 16.6
afflalo,arron 70% 14% 1.39 -16 9.2 garnett,kevin 64% 14% 1.83 +21 11.3
forbes,gary 41% 17% 0.74 - 7 6.1 o'neal,shaquille 44% 19% 0.99 + 3 9.0
harrington,al 67% 22% 0.52 + 1 5.2 erden,semih 28% 8% 1.56 + 2 4.5
williams,shelden 31% 21% 0.75 -22 4.5 robinson,nate 37% 23% 0.86 - 4 4.2
ely,melvin 23% 3% 0.03 + 7 0.0 harangody,luke 5% 18% 2.12 - 3 1.6
anthony,carmelo (DNP) wafer,von 13% 47% 0.25 - 6 1.1
balkman,renaldo (DNP) daniels,marquis 36% 7% 0.41 - 9 0.9
carter,anthony (DNP) bradley,avery 4% 22% 0.35 - 3 0.3
PACE: 96.4 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 96.4 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
nuggets,denver 92.3 .462 .116 .187 .114 celtics,boston 108.9 .588 .121 .197 .164
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BULLS 88, CAVALIERS 83 (box): The Bulls had a hard time maintaining their intensity in this one, at times looking like they were on the verge of blowing out Cleveland only to let the Cavs creep back into the contest. Then, in the third quarter, Cleveland got hot from three-point range and entered the last quarter with an eight-point lead. As well as the Bulls have played this year, they haven't yet been able to put together an prolonged winning streak, and a loss to the slumping Cavs would have been a buzz kill. Happily for Bulls fans, Kyle Korver scored all 12 of his points in the first half of the final period, igniting a stagnant offense, and Derrick Rose went to work down the stretch. Chicago's cause was aided by some horrific shot selection by Cleveland guards Mo Williams and Daniel Gibson in the last quarter--a seemingly endless barrage of contested three-pointers early in the shot clock, most of them missing badly. They combined to go 1-of-6 from beyond the arc in the last quarter and the only make came when Williams clanked one off the backboard, but banked it in. Didn't call that one, Mo. On "Seinfeld" they only referred to George's "chukking" and never actually showed it. This is what it must have looked like.
CHI (12-8) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR CLE (7-15) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
rose,derrick 79% 35% 1.18 + 3 32.5 jamison,antawn 71% 32% 0.93 - 2 24.3
korver,kyle 46% 24% 1.08 + 5 13.5 gibson,daniel 78% 27% 0.87 - 5 21.1
deng,luol 89% 15% 1.17 + 6 13.1 varejao,anderson 78% 13% 1.61 - 9 13.3
brewer,ronnie 61% 15% 1.44 +20 11.6 williams,maurice 79% 25% 1.01 - 3 11.4
noah,joakim 78% 21% 0.88 +10 9.6 parker,anthony 69% 8% 2.14 -10 10.5
gibson,taj 44% 7% 1.43 + 7 6.9 harris,manny 44% 19% 1.04 - 2 8.9
watson,c.j. 34% 10% 1.40 - 4 4.7 williams,jawad 41% 13% 0.87 + 2 2.5
boozer,carlos 43% 15% 0.71 -13 3.5 hickson,j.j. 19% 19% 0.09 0 0.4
asik,omer 9% 43% 0.44 - 5 2.4 hollins,ryan 22% 7% 0.04 + 4 0.0
bogans,keith 18% 16% 0.13 - 4 0.3 graham,joey (DNP)
johnson,james (DNP) powe,leon (DNP)
thomas,kurt (DNP) sessions,ramon (DNP)
PACE: 89.6 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 89.6 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
bulls,chicago 98.2 .487 .238 .179 .098 cavaliers,cleveland 92.6 .444 .244 .179 .088
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KNICKS 113, RAPTORS 110 (box): The Knicks' sixth straight win, and 11th in 12 outings, didn't come easy. Ray Felton's three with 2.7 seconds left provided the winning margin, and Andrea Bargnani missed a 29-footer at the buzzer for the Raptors, who continue to play competitive basketball. NBAPET favored the Knicks by 11 in this one and the system has favored New York in 11 of the 12 games in this current stretch. The lone exception was the Dec. 3 win over the favored Hornets in New Orleans. The Knicks were actually favored in their home loss to Atlanta on Nov. 27. This means that the Knicks' schedule has been exceedingly favorable. There is a ton of buzz going around about New York right now, but I must again sound a note of caution. NBAPET is built to be forward-looking, ie., it's callibrated to determine which teams will fare best in the postseason. It does this by making a litany of adjustments to a team's results and calculating a "true talent" level for that team. At this point in the season, it's early enough that NBAPET is probably over-penalizing New York for its No. 29 ranking in strength of schedule. However, even though the Knicks are on pace for 50 wins, the system sees them as a 39-win outfit. Just sayin'.
TOR (8-14) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR NYK (14-9) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
bargnani,andrea 82% 33% 1.41 - 8 33.4 felton,raymond 90% 26% 1.26 + 5 29.4
derozan,demar 71% 18% 1.27 - 1 18.7 gallinari,danilo 79% 20% 1.14 +14 27.3
kleiza,linas 62% 21% 0.65 + 6 13.9 chandler,wilson 84% 15% 1.14 + 3 20.5
calderon,jose 61% 20% 1.11 - 5 11.6 stoudemire,amare 89% 32% 1.03 + 6 19.5
barbosa,leandro 53% 14% 0.98 - 4 9.5 douglas,toney 46% 14% 1.08 - 2 10.9
bayless,jerryd 39% 19% 1.31 + 2 9.3 fields,landry 70% 13% 1.14 + 9 7.5
johnson,amir 40% 18% 0.73 - 2 7.1 turiaf,ronny 17% 8% 0.09 -10 0.2
weems,sonny 69% 12% 0.90 - 2 6.9 williams,shawne 24% 1% 0.00 -10 0.0
davis,ed 22% 11% 0.43 - 1 1.8 mason,roger (DNP)
dorsey,joey (DNP) mozgov,timofey (DNP)
stojakovic,peja (DNP) randolph,anthony (DNP)
wright,julian (DNP) walker,bill (DNP)
PACE: 98.1 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 98.1 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
raptors,toronto 112.2 .506 .182 .112 .139 knicks,newyork 115.2 .528 .261 .153 .099
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BUCKS 97, PACERS 95 (box): It's pretty simple for the Bucks. If they can score a point per possession, they have a pretty good chance to win. If they don't, then the losses pile up. Milwaukee is 6-4 this season when positing an Offensive Rating of 100.0 or better. The Bucks are 2-9 the rest of the time. Against Indiana, the Bucks reached that magical barrier despite a shooting performance that was horrific even by their standards. Their .378 eFG% marked the second straight game in which they've posted below a 38 percent success rate. They've fallen short of 40 percent eight times this season, and they've hit the league average (49.7 percent) in just five of 21 games. On Wednesday, the Bucks were able to compensate for the lousy shooting by dominating on the offesive glass and getting to the foul line.
IND (10-10) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR MIL (8-13) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
mcroberts,josh 52% 8% 2.52 + 8 19.5 bogut,andrew 78% 22% 1.01 + 1 24.7
granger,danny 78% 33% 0.97 + 4 18.8 jennings,brandon 71% 31% 1.00 + 5 22.9
collison,darren 67% 29% 0.82 + 1 14.8 salmons,john 84% 22% 0.96 - 1 19.1
posey,james 47% 12% 1.39 - 8 11.2 ilyasova,ersan 82% 18% 1.46 +12 15.0
dunleavy jr.,mike 62% 16% 1.15 + 4 11.1 mbahamoute,luc 66% 6% 2.17 0 8.5
hibbert,roy 65% 22% 0.84 + 1 11.0 dooling,keyon 29% 21% 1.01 - 3 6.5
rush,brandon 61% 18% 0.43 -12 8.0 maggette,corey 34% 19% 0.92 + 2 6.2
ford,t.j. 33% 14% 1.13 - 3 4.0 douglas-roberts,chr 16% 2% 3.13 + 3 2.0
foster,jeff 22% 3% 2.28 - 2 3.2 sanders,larry 32% 18% 0.27 - 6 1.3
jones,solomon 13% 23% 1.10 - 3 2.5 brockman,jon 5% 22% 0.00 - 1 0.0
hansbrough,tyler (DNP) skinner,brian (DNP)
price,a.j. (DNP) boykins,earl (DNP)
PACE: 91.3 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 91.3 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
pacers,indiana 104.0 .493 .139 .131 .149 bucks,milwaukee 106.2 .378 .373 .120 .193
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THUNDER 111, TIMBERWOLVES 103 (box): The battered T-Wolves went small with Darko Milicic out of the lineup. Kevin Love led a charge on the offensive glass that nearly made up for the lack of size in the interior and poor shooting, but the machine-like Thunder salted the game away with another near-perfect (25-of-27) performance from the foul line. Oklahoma City remains on pace to set a new league standard for free-throw precision.
OKC (15-8) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR MIN (5-17) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
durant,kevin 82% 36% 1.02 - 1 40.1 love,kevin 85% 29% 1.01 + 4 34.9
westbrook,russell 68% 36% 0.99 - 1 28.4 beasley,michael 68% 41% 0.76 -13 25.6
ibaka,serge 74% 11% 1.23 +13 13.8 brewer,corey 64% 18% 1.30 +14 9.9
sefolosha,thabo 62% 11% 1.90 + 7 8.2 pekovic,nikola 52% 21% 1.18 - 7 9.4
harden,james 51% 13% 1.39 + 5 6.2 ridnour,luke 75% 6% 2.18 + 9 9.2
green,jeff 56% 16% 0.96 0 6.1 johnson,wesley 89% 4% 2.03 -10 6.6
maynor,eric 33% 26% 0.93 +11 5.9 ellington,wayne 36% 16% 1.30 -15 6.5
collison,nick 48% 5% 2.28 +13 3.5 telfair,sebastian 25% 31% 0.67 -17 3.9
krstic,nenad 25% 7% 1.36 - 7 2.0 koufos,kosta 6% 17% 0.00 - 5 0.0
ivey,royal (DNP) gaines,sundiata (DNP)
mullens,byron (DNP) hayward,lazar (DNP)
white,d.j. (DNP) milicic,darko (DNP)
PACE: 97.1 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 97.1 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
thunder,oklacity 114.3 .558 .107 .154 .122 timberwolves,minn 106.1 .462 .278 .124 .118
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HORNETS 93, PISTONS 74 (box): After an 11-1 start, the Hornets had lost six of eight against a pretty gnarly set of opponents, so it did them some good to see the Pistons come to town. On the downside, Jarrett Jack shot just 2-of-9 off the bench for New Orleans. He's now 12-of-47 since coming to the team from Toronto.
DET (7-16) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR NWO (14-7) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
gordon,ben 60% 26% 1.31 - 9 17.4 paul,chris 61% 15% 1.90 +24 19.0
stuckey,rodney 73% 25% 0.81 -17 16.7 belinelli,marco 57% 24% 1.67 + 7 18.6
prince,tayshaun 49% 22% 0.54 - 9 9.9 okafor,emeka 59% 23% 1.08 +17 16.1
hamilton,richard 51% 28% 0.95 -14 9.7 west,david 63% 28% 1.38 +22 14.3
mcgrady,tracy 39% 11% 1.24 -15 8.9 ariza,trevor 61% 11% 0.92 +24 9.1
maxiell,jason 54% 15% 1.33 -16 7.8 pondexter,quincy 37% 19% 0.84 - 3 8.6
monroe,greg 46% 11% 0.95 - 3 4.9 smith,jason 49% 8% 1.29 + 1 7.2
wallace,ben 50% 1% 8.26 -13 3.2 andersen,david 29% 18% 1.03 - 2 6.3
daye,austin 42% 24% 0.31 - 5 2.8 jack,jarrett 45% 23% 0.56 + 3 5.6
villanueva,charlie 21% 28% 0.27 - 2 2.5 green,willie 38% 27% 0.83 + 2 5.2
wilcox,chris 7% 47% 0.68 + 4 2.2 ilungambenga,didier (DNP)
bynum,will 7% 13% 1.65 + 4 1.5 thornton,marcus (DNP)
PACE: 84.6 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 84.6 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
pistons,detroit 87.5 .400 .280 .154 .094 hornets,neworleans 110.0 .541 .118 .118 .109
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SPURS 111, WARRIORS 94 (box): The Spurs are a league-best 18-3 and have the NBA's top point differential (+9.3). Why then are they ranked just third in the NBAPET power rankings? It's a fair question. The answer, as it always is this early in the season, is the schedule. The Spurs' group of opponents so far gives them a No. 25 ranking in strength of schedule, and they've also played 12 of their 21 games at home. Also, San Antonio has gone 4-1 in close games, which pads their luck factor just a bit. None of this is to say that the Spurs aren't for real or aren't the league's best team. They've been terrific all season. It's just too soon to know exactly what they are and there isn't a whole lot to separate them from the other top teams in the NBA right now.
GSW (8-14) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR SAS (18-3) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
williams,reggie 74% 22% 2.00 - 1 40.4 parker,tony 57% 29% 1.33 +13 26.5
ellis,monta 91% 30% 0.73 -13 17.6 hill,george 56% 30% 1.09 +10 22.0
wright,dorell 84% 20% 0.97 -18 15.5 ginobili,manu 58% 23% 1.34 +21 16.9
lee,david 75% 20% 1.38 - 3 12.2 splitter,tiago 50% 20% 1.13 + 6 13.8
radmanovic,vladimir 34% 9% 3.02 + 1 7.2 duncan,tim 37% 20% 1.22 + 9 11.2
amundson,louis 45% 17% 0.75 -12 5.3 blair,dejuan 56% 18% 1.73 + 8 9.9
biedrins,andris 49% 10% 0.81 -10 3.6 jefferson,richard 56% 15% 1.29 +12 8.0
curry,stephen 23% 15% 0.53 -15 1.1 bonner,matt 57% 9% 1.95 +11 6.2
gadzuric,dan 12% 9% 0.74 - 4 0.5 neal,gary 33% 20% 1.21 - 3 4.1
lin,jeremy 10% 7% 0.83 - 7 0.4 quinn,chris 6% 16% 4.13 + 1 2.8
adrien,jeff 4% 26% 0.00 - 3 0.0 udoka,ime 33% 7% 0.91 - 3 1.2
bell,charlie (DNP) mcdyess,antonio (DNP)
PACE: 90.6 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 90.6 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
warriors,goldenst 103.7 .524 .295 .243 .053 spurs,sanantonio 122.5 .583 .238 .121 .087
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GRIZZLIES 104, SUNS 98, OT (box): The Grizzlies dropped an improbable game at Phoenix earlier this season when they allowed the Suns' Jason Richardson to score on a lob at the buzzer of regulation, sending the game into overtime. This time, Memphis blew a 15-point lead in the final quarter and were on the cusp of losing when Rudy Gay nailed a fall-away three at the buzzer, sending this game into an extra session. Once there, the Grizz took care of business, scoring 12 points on nine possessions and grabbing all four available rebounds. These Memphis-Phoenix games are becoming must-watch affairs.
MEM (9-14) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR PHX (11-11) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
randolph,zach 82% 26% 1.46 +18 25.5 turkoglu,hedo 44% 24% 1.56 +17 17.2
conley,mike 84% 18% 1.30 +14 23.0 dragic,goran 66% 25% 1.10 + 3 16.8
gay,rudy 91% 17% 1.37 + 4 22.1 nash,steve 58% 33% 0.78 - 9 14.2
arthur,darrell 56% 30% 0.78 -11 15.6 frye,channing 64% 11% 1.56 -16 13.6
henry,xavier 63% 17% 0.62 + 9 10.3 childress,josh 44% 15% 1.25 + 8 12.2
gasol,marc 50% 15% 0.92 +10 6.6 dudley,jared 54% 16% 1.17 + 9 9.3
mayo,o.j. 46% 12% 0.91 - 4 4.1 hill,grant 46% 13% 1.48 -24 8.9
vasquez,greivis 16% 16% 1.26 - 8 3.0 warrick,hakim 44% 12% 1.42 + 8 5.4
young,sam 13% 29% 0.49 - 2 1.2 richardson,jason 40% 30% 0.30 -16 4.5
allen,tony (DNP) barron,earl 40% 13% 0.86 -10 2.9
carroll,demarre (DNP) clark,earl (DNP)
thabeet,hasheem (DNP) siler,garret (DNP)
PACE: 93.4 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 93.4 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
grizzlies,memphis 111.4 .506 .333 .182 .104 suns,phoenix 104.9 .460 .365 .171 .127
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HEAT 111, JAZZ 98 (box): This was the best I've seen Miami this year, and by winning on the home floor of an excellent Utah team, the Heat now have a signature win to call all its own. Miami has won six straight after reaching its nadir of 9-8, a mark which had everyone either in a panic or just offering up an "I told you so" nod. The smallest margin of victory in Miami's streak has been 10 points. It was just one game, but Miami kept going on runs when LeBron James went to the bench and Dwyane Wade was left to dominate the ball by himself. However, down the stretch, the duo both went to work, with a string of disruptive defensive possessions and breathtaking transition baskets. This is what Pat Riley had in mind.
MIA (15-8) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR UTA (16-7) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
james,lebron 82% 29% 1.52 0 39.2 williams,deron 88% 24% 1.28 -13 44.1
wade,dwyane 85% 25% 1.35 +18 25.6 millsap,paul 84% 18% 1.05 0 21.5
bosh,chris 81% 21% 0.87 +19 17.2 jefferson,al 86% 27% 1.14 -13 18.5
jones,james 33% 16% 1.58 + 8 12.6 bell,raja 79% 10% 1.48 + 5 10.5
ilgauskas,zydrunas 54% 18% 1.67 + 2 11.1 kirilenko,andrei 81% 17% 0.95 -15 10.1
chalmers,mario 53% 19% 1.04 +16 10.6 miles,c.j. 38% 34% 0.57 -14 5.5
dampier,erick 46% 3% 2.79 +11 6.7 watson,earl 12% 7% 1.99 0 1.4
howard,juwan 18% 20% 0.85 - 6 3.5 elson,francisco 23% 12% 0.01 - 9 0.0
arroyo,carlos 47% 6% 0.00 - 3 0.0 price,ronnie 9% 9% 0.00 - 6 0.0
anthony,joel (DNP) evans,jeremy (DNP)
house,eddie (DNP) fesenko,kyrylo (DNP)
magloire,jamaal (DNP) hayward,gordon (DNP)
PACE: 87.8 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 87.8 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
heat,miami 126.4 .569 .455 .171 .125 jazz,utah 111.6 .513 .270 .171 .135
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KINGS 116, WIZARDS 91 (box): John Wall was actually introduced as a starter before the game, but then pulled himself from the lineup because of his problematic knee. Kirk Hinrich started in his place, but the Wizards played shell-shocked, with an erratic offensive performance that saw just 11 assists on 31 field goals. Meanwhile, Jason Thompson continues to play so well for the Kings that you can't help but wonder what Paul Westphal was thinking when he had him buried on the bench earlier this season.
WAS (6-15) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR SAC (5-15) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
arenas,gilbert 84% 26% 0.85 -31 26.2 thompson,jason 80% 18% 1.53 +45 31.2
thornton,al 68% 21% 1.05 -12 15.8 casspi,omri 52% 30% 0.90 +17 21.2
hinrich,kirk 77% 18% 1.35 -21 14.8 udrih,beno 54% 30% 1.59 +20 17.0
mcgee,javale 60% 17% 1.18 + 3 11.0 evans,tyreke 55% 17% 1.19 +29 12.7
martin,cartier 20% 26% 1.32 + 6 6.5 jeter,pooh 56% 12% 2.64 +21 12.0
seraphin,kevin 33% 27% 0.53 -16 6.2 greene,donte 58% 18% 1.18 + 1 8.2
jianlian,yi 28% 32% 0.35 - 6 5.8 cousins,demarcus 48% 24% 0.75 - 5 6.1
booker,trevor 62% 3% 2.78 -16 4.9 garcia,francisco 22% 15% 0.99 -14 5.1
young,nick 54% 18% 0.32 - 8 4.5 jackson,darnell 32% 12% 1.41 +15 4.9
gee,alonzo 7% 24% 0.15 -12 0.2 head,luther 14% 26% 0.94 - 6 3.1
armstrong,hilton 7% 14% 0.00 -12 0.0 landry,carl 30% 9% 0.23 + 2 0.9
wall,john (DNP) dalembert,samuel (DNP)
PACE: 94.8 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 94.8 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
wizards,washington 96.0 .447 .289 .253 .158 kings,sacramento 122.4 .590 .410 .200 .111
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LAKERS 87, CLIPPERS 86 (box): Come on, throw the Clippers fans--a decided minority in what was actually a "home" game--a bone. The Clips built a nice lead, lost it, then re-established a working advantage going down the stretch. Eric Gordon's free throw with 1:14 remaining put L.A. up 84-79. But then Pau Gasol hit a jumper and Kobe Bryant hit a pair--both coming off of Gordon turnovers. The Clippers went back ahead when Gordon got into the paint and found DeAndre Jordan along the baseline for a stuff. Bryant ran the clock down on the last possession and Gordon fouled him when he made a move and just 3.1 seconds remaining. The Clippers had a foul to give, however, so it looked like a great play. Only Gordon's reaction suggested that he didn't know there was a foul to give--he was pissed. So the Lakers called timeout and set up a play for Kobe. The Clips denied him the ball and you could see him drop his arms, visibly annoyed that he didn't get the inbounds pass, which instead went to Derek Fisher on the weakside. Fisher drove and threw up a runner just a millisecond before the clock expired. And, since we're talking Lakers-Clippers here, I almost don't have to tell you that the ball banked in at the buzzer.
LAL (16-6) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR LAC (5-18) PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
bryant,kobe 64% 33% 1.08 - 3 20.8 griffin,blake 70% 33% 0.72 -10 19.1
brown,shannon 36% 27% 1.88 + 4 13.6 gordon,eric 72% 29% 1.20 + 5 18.6
gasol,pau 83% 19% 0.85 + 2 12.3 bledsoe,eric 72% 14% 1.42 + 5 12.5
odom,lamar 72% 15% 0.75 - 2 10.4 jordan,deandre 71% 10% 1.41 - 7 12.0
barnes,matt 51% 20% 0.96 0 8.5 aminu,alfarouq 45% 18% 1.00 + 1 9.6
blake,steve 49% 19% 0.70 - 7 7.9 smith,craig 32% 26% 0.90 + 8 6.0
artest,ron 72% 15% 0.61 + 6 7.8 davis,baron 28% 19% 1.00 - 6 5.4
fisher,derek 51% 12% 1.05 + 8 6.3 butler,rasual 29% 26% 1.17 - 4 4.4
walton,luke 16% 17% 1.47 - 4 4.3 gomes,ryan 61% 11% 1.18 - 6 4.0
caracter,derrick 5% 15% 1.24 + 1 1.1 collins,jarron 21% 2% 1.80 + 9 0.5
ebanks,devin (DNP) cook,brian (DNP)
vujacic,sasha (DNP) warren,willie (DNP)
PACE: 93.5 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 93.5 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
lakers,losangeles 93.1 .469 .133 .182 .089 clippers,losangele 92.0 .456 .283 .214 .089
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FAB FIVE
A selection of our favorite NBA links
1. Guard Stephen Curry turned his ankle yet again in Golden State's game at San Antonio on Wednesday and while x-rays didn't reveal a fracture, it's possible the second-year player could be out a while. Anybody that has sprained an ankle knows how easy it is to re-injure once those ligaments get stretched out.
2. Apparently Rashad McCants is tired of getting passed over by the NBA, because it looks like he's leaving the D-League and heading overseas.
3. The league suspended Andre Miller for his hard foul on Blake Griffin the other night, snapping his consecutive games streak at 632, and he's not happy about it.
4. The success of Kevin Love has at least one scribe re-thinking the Kevin McHale era in Minnesota.
5. The Lakers' Ron Artest is contemplating giving away his entire salary next season, but also gets in a nice shot at the tax rates in southern California.
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ON TAP
Tonight in the NBA
WTC VIS @ HOM, GAMETIME NBAPET LINE OFFICIALS
+ 9 bos @ phi, 8:00 PM EST [ bos by 7 ] Ken Mauer, Scott Wall, Leon Wood
+ 7 orl @ por, 10:30 PM EST [ orl by 6 ] Marc Davis, Eric Dalen, David Guthrie
- 3 njn @ dal, 8:30 PM EST [ dal by 17 ] Bill Kennedy, Mark Lindsay, Zach Zarba
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, 325 of 1,230 games (26.4%) 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 percentage) 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: Estimated 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.
The 2010-11 Pro Basketball Prospectus is now available in paperback form on Amazon.com. For sample chapters and more information, see our book page.
Bradford Doolittle is an author of Basketball Prospectus.
You can contact Bradford by clicking here or click here to see Bradford's other articles.
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