Stats and ways to evaluate the performance of a player have been evolving every since records were kept. Enter John Hollinger who has taken NBA statistics to a whole new level and not always do they tell an accurate story. First there was PER, then the Daily Power Rankings and two days ago we were introduced to VA (Value Added). This new stat is supposed to take into consideration the amount of time the player is on the court to measure his effectiveness not just by quality but also quantity. I like looking up crazy stats, I like finding anomalies, but Hollinger is pushing it once again coming up with another formula that he justifies with an arbitrary constant that he can’t break down. He got bashed on PER because players who played 15 minutes of garbage time had a better numbers than a starter, now with VA, his numbers are trying to tell us that stats say Wade brings 3 times more wins to the Heat than Charlie Villanueva brings the Bucks. I am not convinced, are you?
The Night in Numbers: The TNT rule was in full effect as on this night the League went 3 for 3 on blowouts!
9 Game losing streak in Auburn Hills was snapped as the Lakers, led by Kobe’s 30-8-7, were able to put away the pistons 92-77
20-0 Run by the Lakers to end the 3rd sealed the fate of the shorthanded Pistons who got a solid night from Will Bynum – career high in Points (25) and Assists (11)
13 of John Salmons 27 Points came in the 3rd Quarter which helped the Bulls grab the game by the horns and hand the heat their 2nd straight loss.
4 Double-double’s in the last 5 games for Tyrus Thomas who has found some consistency with his role on this Bulls team that has won 6 of their last 7 games.
6 game win streak came to an end for the Suns, they allowed the Blazers to shoot 60% from the floor and were stuck playing catch up through most of the game.
12 Rebounds to go along with a season high 29 Points for LaMarcus Aldridge as he notched his team leading 18th double-double in the win.
Bracket Breakdown: 3 for 4 on yesterdays picks…. a lot better than my bracket was going! The early games were a snoozefest – Pitt barely squeaked out the win and UConn didn’t really need Thabeet’s 15-15 for the win over Purdue. The late games didn’t disappoint though – Mizzou brought it right from tip, never really giving Memphis a chance to settle in and in Boston, Barack knew whats up as Villanova jumped on the Blue Devils sending them packing for the season. There are 4 more open spots to round out the Elite 8 and Friday’s games may have a few upsets in store.
My Picks: Louisville over Arizona, Syracuse over Oklahoma, Michigan St over Kansas, North Carolina over Gonzaga
An 18 Hour dribble Marathon was taking place while the Phoenix Suns were engaged in a must win game v/s The Utah Jazz. 25 contestants started the day at 6 AM and last man standing would get to go on a road trip with the suns next season. This is just one of the many ways the Phoenix Suns have grabbed the attention of their fans. They already dominate twitter – with a representative from every branch of the organization. The team held a “
The Toronto Raptors became the first team to broadcast a NBA game in Punjabi today as CBC simulcasted the game on two channels. Hosts Parminder Singh and Harnarayan Singh crossed over to hoops, building on the success they have had calling Leaf games in Punjabi which is the 4th most spoken language in Canada. This is not the first time the Raptors have embraced the South Asian community, every year with the help of “superfan” Nav Bhatia the raptors host Baisakhi Night (a Sikh holiday) which has featured in the past, an elephant presenting the game ball and a very skilled 
Sunday evening concluded the 2nd round of March Madness as the strong survived. My brackets are looking OK with 13 sweet sixteen teams still alive, but these 4 days have just re-enforced how weak this years draft class really is. With the Raptors looking to be heading to the lottery I can’t help but feel concerned that we will get stuck picking based on upside and potential again. Should James Harden stay another year in school? Will Blake Griffin be the biggest bust of the 2009 draft class? I don’t have these answers but this years tournament has been lacking that excitement factor that makes me not want to miss a game!
The Cleveland Cavaliers ended the night with the best record in the association at 55-13. Halfway through March they Cav’s have secured their first division title in 33 years and done it with a home record of 31-1, with the Lakers coming in 2nd at 31-5. Looking at their upcoming schedule, I don’t see why the Cav’s should lose another game at home until the playoffs and I don’t think they can afford to. Lebron has come out and said that he wants to play out the rest of the season to make sure they secure home court where they have been absolutely dominant. With the fairly new NBA finals format, the team without home court has to try to sweep the middle three games which is a daunting task. Seeing that the Cav’s have lost their last three games on the road v/s the teams in the hunt for home court by double digits, this may be the most important goal they need to achieve in the regular season.
I must have checked my brackets at least 20+ times throughout the day and 13 of 16 is not too shabby but unlike most years there were not too many upsets on Day 1. The story of the day wasn’t a typical Cinderella one, rather it was the absence of Jim Calhoun on the sidelines as UConn got the win over Chattanooga. 11 of the 16 games were decided by double digits and the only game that resembled an upset was W. Kentucky over the Illini. On this day Tyler Hansbrough became the leading scorer in ACC history grabbing the title from JJ Reddick, Roburt Sallie made 10 3′s a NCAA record to help Memphis come away with the Win and Robert Maynor had a chance to pull an upset over UCLA with the ball in his hands in the closing seconds of what was arguably the best game of the day.
