2005-06 NBA Season Discussion (1 Viewer)

[Scott Merryfield]

I'm no fan of Kobe, Jackson, or the Lakers, but it sounds like both player and coach handled the situation very well.

 

[Mark Leiter]

I was listening to a anouncer regarding NBA defense and he made the point that how many points a team allows per game is not a good indication of how good the team is defensivly. For example last year Orlando allowed about 100 point per game. This year they are allowing only about 87. That dosent mean they've suddenly become defensive juggernutts. It just mean thev'e changed to a slow down style of play. They are still a crappy defensive team they just play less possesions per game than before. Which makes sense to me.

So my question is, by reading the box-score how can somebody tell how many possesion a team had in one game??

Would it be Field goals attempted + Tournovers = Total possesions?

 

[Haggai]

Not exactly, Mark. You can have multiple field goal attempts on one possession, of course, or your possession can end without any field goal attempts or turnovers if you draw a foul. There are websites out there that do more detailed stats, although I'm not sure what the best place is to go for expanded box scores that would have stats like total possessions.

 

[Hunter P]

I don't know about how to tell how many possessions per game. However regarding defense, I've always put more stock into point differential.

A team might be a scoring machine. They might not wait until the shot clock is under 5 seconds to put up a shot. Faster shots means more shots which means more possessions for both teams. The opposing teams might be scoring 100 pts per game but compare that to the 120 pts per game your team might be averaging.

On the other hand, you might have a team that averages 75 pts per game while their opponents score 80. I would be more inclined to say that the scoring machine team is playing better defense.

Of course pt differential still is not the full picture but it helps a lot more than pts per game.

 

[Shane Martin]

This quote made me laugh....at what the NBA has became. Jeez I miss the old Isiah, Bird, Magic NBA..

 

[Brandon_T]

I think what also speaks volumes about the NBA is the fact that the two best teams, the teams that play the best TEAM baseketball were severely overshadowed on Christmas day by the Shaq v. Kobe showdown.

I also don't want to hear that San Antonio lost because they didn't have Manu. He doesn't make up for a 27 rebounding difference.

 

[Chris Farmer]

Nah, the Spurs aren't playing with much urgency right now. It's a statement of just how good that team is that they can be this lackadaisical and still hold the second best record in the NBA. I'm not worried though, the Spurs generally start off sluggish and don't really start to approach their peak until late January/early February. It will be interesting to see if the Pistons can keep up their game for an entire season plus playoffs. They're playing their usual hard-nosed defense, but also have a pretty up tempo offense at the other end of the floor. You rarely see a team combine the two because it's so tiring, but if they can do so they, not the Spurs, just might end up as the team to beat. Either way though it's too soon to say anything definitive.The Spurs have peaking going into the playoffs down to an art and it's early enough in the season they they haven't even begun to do so, Manu hasn't gotten any sort of rhythm going from an unfortunate series of injuries, and even Duncan is playing semi-hobbled. Just have to wait and see where things go. It's a long season for sure and things have only just gotten started.

Hey,you all knew I couldn't stay out of this thread forever. Actually I haven't been on the HTF much at all the last few months and have really only just started coming back.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

This fact while ashame, is not surprising...the league has trended towards featuring players instead of teams since probably the Jordan Bulls rose to the top of the league.

Welcome Back, Chris!s

 

[Andy Sheets]

I would say Bird and Magic were the ones that caused the NBA to build around stars instead of teams (I'm pretty sure David Stern has mentioned that in interviews about marketing). Jordan was the one who took the baton from them, except that he never really had a personal rival (unless you count the entire New York Knicks franchise). Of course, no one has really emerged as a new candidate to for the league to build around and attract casual fans, so that's gotten the NBA lower ratings in the long run.

 

[Hunter P]

I would say it harkens back to the old ABA days. They marketed their league around superstars. The NBA recognized this was working and adapted it when they merged.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

A very strange play occurred in last night's Pistons win over Seattle. Richard Hamilton was attempting a 3 point shot from the baseline in front of the Sonics bench. Seattle's coach, Bob Hill, was standing on the court and interfered with Rip's attempt, which missed. The officials ruled Hamilton's shot good for three points and hit Hill with a technical foul, resulting in a 4 point play.

The funniest part of the incident was watching Bob Hill argue the call. The replays clearly showed him looking down, realizing he was on the court while Rip was next to him, and stepping back. He obviously knew he'd screwed up, but still was arguing. Here is a photo of Hill still looking down just after he stepped back off the court.

 

[Hunter P]

Wow, nobody has an opinion on the Davis incident? I think the Sportsguy summed it up best in his current article when he said:


When I first saw the clip, I thought his body language wasn't showing a person who was trying to save his wife from danger. I think he knew his "Crazy Chick" was probably to blame and thereby should have had the security handle it. Probably just went up there personally to make sure that security handled it in his wife's favor. At any rate, the suspension is justified.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

It certainly sounds like his wife was causing a problem. The NBA was in a tough position. On the one hand, you can understand Davis going into the stands to protect his wife (even if it may have been from herself), yet the NBA cannot condone players going into the stands, especially after the Pistons - Pacers incident last season. I think, all things considered, the league handled things fairly.

 

[Brian Perry]

Davis is apparently going to appeal the 5-game suspension. Question: in such an appeal, can the punishment be revised upwards? Is there (or should there be) risk in appealing? Let's say David Stern obtains new evidence which would suggest a stiffer penalty, say 20 games. Can that happen?

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

According to this article the wife seems to revel in creating controversy. Antonio Davis should have been aware of this and shown better judgment than trying to "protect" his loudmouth wife.

 

[ZacharyTait]

This is not a joke, I repeat not a joke.

Kobe just went for 81 points against the Raptors. Unfreakingbelieveable. I remember how astounding it was when David Robinson scored 76 points.

For a single player to score more points than some teams do in a game is amazing. Kobe was surely in the zone tonight.

Betcha M.J. was watching and wishing he could have scored 70 or 80 at some point in his career.

 

[Ray Chuang]

I can't believe it--you'd think the NFL conference championship games would have the most attention in terms of sports news but one Kobe Bryant literally pushes it into the background with that AMAZING performance.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

Everyone was wondering how much he would go for after that 62 points in three quarters game. I guess we now have a potential answer. The way he's going now, I wouldn't be surprised if he goes over 60 again this season. The guy shoots over 60% while putting up 46 shots, that's just amazing.

 

[BrettGallman]

If MJ was watching, I'm sure it didn't bother him, cause all he has to do is look at the 6 rings he won.

Jordan could have done this in his prime, no doubt. But that's no reason to take this away from Kobe. A truly outstanding performance by him.

 

[Brandon_T]

I was getting ready to post the exact same thing Brett. It is an amazing performance. I'm sure Lamar Odem was elated for Kobe...