Archive for Number Crunchin

Raptors Road Trip – 3 Games, 3 Goals

December 30, 2011 Nat Number Crunchin, Raptor Ramblings

The Raptors have looked better than expected in their first two games but the real test starts tonight as they kick off a three game road trip. Up first are the defending NBA Champion Mavericks, who have started slow out the gates but are probably salivating looking at their Friday night matchup. It doesn’t get much easier with the Magic & Knicks due up before the team heads home.

With this season being less about wins and losses, rather a learning process, I have broken down 3 issues the team needs to address to deem this road trip a success.

4 Quarters from DeMar DeRozan – 4 first half points through 2 games. It may be nice to pick up your team when they are down but DeRozan would be better served getting his team going early. Both coach and DeMar have addressed the issue and now its up to him to put his words into action. Goal: 2 games of double-digit scoring in the first half.

Rebounding from Andrea Bargnani – 10 rebounds through two games is not what the coach ordered. Even the naysayers can admit Bargnani has looked more active on both ends but the rebounding numbers don’t reflect it. Before the season coach said he wants to see Andrea pull down 2 rebounds per quarter and right now he is falling short. Surprisingly, the issue hasn’t been effort but rather those butter fingers. This trip will have him defending guys who play outside in (Dirk, Amare) and should give him an opportunity to up that rebounding average. Goal: One double-digit rebounding game.

Defensive Intensity – Early stats show the Raptors are buying into Dwane Casey’s defensive philosophies. Sure there have been breakdowns, but for the most part they are greatly improved on that end of the floor (Raptorblog broke down some stats in detail here). Coach Casey believes the team has a grasp on his defensive system, it’s just a matter of time and practice to carry it out consistently. Turnovers have been an issue early on but the guys have been active on the boards and in the passing lanes. Out on the road its easy to fall back into old habits when things are not going well but the Raptors need to stick to the game plan. Goal: Keep opponents under 45% shooting.

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Number Crunchin’ — Winless No More…

November 8, 2010 Nat Number Crunchin

If you are like me, you are trying to watch as many games as possible but still feel a step slow on that TV remote. It’s almost overwhelming, but in a good way. Unlike the NFL, where parity reigns, it took almost 2 weeks for every team in the NBA to register atleast one win. Just two teams remain undefeated, one of them expected the other not so much. There have been some early surprises in terms of performance, but can you argue that this is shaping up to be the year of the point guards?

The Night in Numbers
Every night, I scour the box scores and pick out some of the most telling numbers from the games. These numbers directly or indirectly have an impact on the final scores.

Philadelphia 76′ers 106 – New York Knicks 96
20 Points on just 11 shots for Brand as he is starting to show signs of his old self.
15% from 3pt land for the Knicks with Gallinari making 2 of the 3 they made as a team.
26-15 the Sixers won the 4th quarter, playing without Igoudala. 5 guys stepped up and scored in double digits.

Phoenix Suns 118 – Atlanta Hawks 114
10 Suns players saw the floor and all of them managed to score en route to handing ATL their first loss.
2 double dbl’s in this game. One for each team as Nash and Horford put up big numbers.
27 shots for Joe Johnson who scored 34 points. struggling early in the season, I guess he will try to shoot himself out of the slump.

Golden State Warriors 97 – Detroit Pistons 102
15 lead changes in this one but the Pistons found that last bit of something to close it out.
48 points from the back court of Hamilton and Stuckey. That kinda production will win you a few
26% from 3 were the Warriors. Curry struggled with his shot going just 3-12 from the field.

Minnesota Timberwolves 94 – Houston Rockets 120
24 Points for Louis Scola as he led the Rockets to their first win of the season.
16 Rebounds and 16 points for Kevin Love. Finally getting minutes, and making his coach look silly.
1st Career start for rookie Ish Smith as he stepped in for an injured Aaron Brooks (out 4-6 weeks).

Boston Celtics 92 – Oklahoma City Thunder 83
21 point half time lead for the Celtics. They executed perfectly on offense scoring 58pts in that time.
10 assists for Rondo feels little then you see the OKC stat, 17 assists as a team.
2 OKC players accounted for the teams total offensive output in the 3rd quarter — Durant & Westbrook

Portland Trail Blazers 96 – Los Angeles Lakers 121
53 minutes was all it took for Pau Gasol to record his 4th career triple double. (20pts, 14rbs, 10ast)
29 Points was the largest lead for the Laker who remain one of only two unbeaten teams in the NBA.
4 Blazers scored in double figures — Brandon Roy was not one of them (8pts). On the other side 7 Lakers put up 10+ points.

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Number Crunchin’ – D. Rise And An Extra 5

November 5, 2010 Nat Number Crunchin

After last weeks TNT games, all I was hoping for was 1 good one tonight. The Knicks had a ton of time off due to the whole asbestos thing and pounced on the Bulls early. Things were not looking too good until Derrick Rose exploded for a massive 2 handed slam. The dunk is already an early candidate for dunk of the year (video below) and everything that followed was gravy. The 2nd game on the schedule was a Western Conference duel and those rarely disappoint. The Thunder got in late to Portland but they had the extra pep in their step to play the extra frame. Back n forth to the end, games like this one remind me why this is the best league in the world.

The Night in Numbers
Every night, I scour the box scores and pick out some of the most telling numbers from the games. These numbers directly or indirectly have an impact on the final scores.

Fantasy Freaks
PG: Derrick Rose — 24 PTS, 1 RB, 14 AST
SG: Toney Douglas — 30 PTS, 1 RB, 4 AST, 4 STL
SF: Kevin Durant — 28 PTS, 11 RBS, 2 AST, 4 BLK
PF: Danilo Gallinari — 24 PTS, 6 RBS, 1 AST, 1 BLK, 2 STL
C: Joakim Noah — 12 PTS, 13 RBS, 3 AST, 2 BLK, 2 STL

New York Knicks 120 – Chicago Bulls 112
70 1st half points given up by the Bulls. Isn’t Tom Thibodeau supposed to be a defensive guru?
30 points, a career high for Knicks rookie Toney Douglas. Gallinari added 24 points as well.
67% from behind the arc. The Knicks were better from the outside hitting just 42% from 2.
4th straight game that Joakim Noah put up a double-double. Bulls starters were benched for the final 9 minutes as the bench made a game of it.

Oaklahoma City Thunder 107 – Portland Trail Blazers 106 (OT)
52:28 minutes played by Durant who got his shot back after a rough game vs. the Clippers.
15 offensive rebounds for the Thunder. Westbook had 6 of them, 11rbs in all and added 28 points.
7-31 from deep for the 2 teams combined. OKC you expect, the Blazers — not so much.
1 FG in OT for the Blazers. They scored just 6 points in the extra frame
8 man rotation for Nate McMillan who is running out of bodies. The team lost rookie guard E. Williams for the season and Oberto to retirement today.

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Number Crunchin’ — Time to update the record books

November 4, 2010 Nat Number Crunchin

They say records are meant to be broken right? Last Friday we had Rondo and his triple double with the 24 assists. This week, John Wall started it off by becoming the first player in NBA history to have a game with 29 points, 13 assists and 9 steals. He also joined Oscar Robertson in the record books as only the 2nd rookie to have at least 70 points and 30 assists through the first 3 games of his career. Tonight Kobe, Pierce and Rondo got in on the action. Be it a league record, team record or personal one, I never get tired of witnessing what these athletes accomplish playing the most beautiful game in the world.

The Night in Numbers
Every night, I scour the box scores and pick out some of the most telling numbers from the games. These numbers directly or indirectly have an impact on the final scores.

Detroit Pistons 85 – Atlanta Hawks 94
22 points and 11 rebounds for the man allegedly on the trading block — Josh Smith.
17 lead changes in this one but the Hawks turned it up hitting 8-11 to end the game.
0-5 start for the Pistons, they look to have completely tuned out their coach.

Charlotte Bobcats 85 – New Jersey Nets 83
11,778 fans showed up at the Prudential Center to kick off Andrew Unterberger’s tour.
26% from 3 for the Bobcats. The Nets were not much better shooting just 29%
11 FG attempts by G Wallace to score 20 points. He added 11 rebounds to give CHA their 1st win of the season.

Minnesota Timberwolves 86 – Orlando Magic 128
78 first half points allowed by the Wolves. They managed to put up just 45.
7 Magic players managed to score in double figures and none cracked the 30min mark.
30 minutes was a season high for Kevin Love, scoring 22 points but still in the coaches doghouse.

Indiana Pacers 75 – Philadelphia 76ers 101
26 point halftime lead for the 76′ers as the Pacers shot just 29% in the first 24min.
12 rebounds and 25 points for Elton Brand. The first signs that he can still play!
2nd half, assistant coach Michael Curry take over for Doug Collins who is still dealing with Vertigo symptoms.

Milwaukee Bucks 102 – Boston Celtics 105 (1OT)
15 assists for Rondo adding to his rapidly growing total. His 82 through 5 games is a record.
19 turnovers for the Bucks was the killer. They held their own in pretty much every other cat.
12 of Paul Pierce’s 28 points came in OT as he joined the 20,000 point club. He becomes only the 3rd Celtics player to reach the mark.

New Orleans Hornets 107 – Houston Rockets 99
43 Points combined for the back court of Chris Paul and Marco Belinelli.
1 FT for the Rockets in the final frame. They jump shot themselves out of this one.
4 games in a row, the Rockets have led at the half and failed to win. This has gotta be a record right?

Dallas Mavericks 102 – Denver Nuggets 101
46.7% from deep. Terry went 4-6 in the 3rd and Butler hit one late that gave the Mavs the lead for good.
22 Foot Buzzer beater missed by Carmelo Anthony that would have won the game for the Nuggets.
12 points for rookie Gary Forbes who was in the starting five for an inured Nene.

Toronto Raptors 108 – Utah Jazz 125
27 points for Al Jefferson (season high). Slowly finding his comfort zone, now just needs to stay healthy.
30-16 in the assist category, the Jazz shared the ball and had 6 players score in double digits.
5 shots from behind the arc for C.J Miles. His shot to end the 3rd completely deflated the Raptors.
9 rebounds for Bargnani was a season high. He added 26 points by scoring in a variety of ways.

San Antonio Spurs 112 – Phoenix Suns 110
23 turnovers for the Spurs did not hurt thanks to Tim Duncan’s monster night of 25pts and 17rbs.
16 minutes and just 6 points for Hedo Turkoglu as he struggles to fit in with a new team. De Ja Vu?
1 game winning 3 for Richard Jefferson. He was 4-5 on the night and put up 28 points.

Memphis Grizzlies 109 – Golden State Warriors 115
1 rebound and 2 assists shy of a triple double. Monta Ellis continues to ball as he added 39 points.
7-13 three pointers made by the Warriors Dorell Wright to tally 25 points on the night.
13 assists to go with 18 points for newly PAID guard Mike Conley in 44 minutes of action.

Oaklahoma City Thunder 92 – Los Angeles Clippers 107
2 Eric’s in the Clippers starting backcourt. They combined for 44 points and 12 assists.
0-10 from 3 point land for Durant. He jacked up 24 shots and only made 6 for 16 points.
30th in the league in 3-point percentage, the Thunder went for 15% behind the arc… the Clippers hit 50%

Los Angeles Lakers 112 – Sacramento Kings 100
17 career triple doubles for Kobe. 20 points in the 1st half for the second straight game… what knee issues?
20-8 run late in the 2nd quarter put the Lakers on top and they never looked back.
4 fouls on Tyreke Evans in a span of 10 minutes. Each of them were drawn on Kobe.
37 minutes for Kobe Bryant to give him 37,528 in his regular-season career and pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s franchise record.

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Number Crunchin’ – Where Mike Conley gets paid $45mil

November 2, 2010 Nat Number Crunchin

The Memphis Grizzlies signed Mike Conley to a new 5 year, $45 million contract. There are no words. Well there are but I can’t do this justice the way Matt Moore did. He broke it down while breaking down, check it – HPBasketball on Conley (thanks to @slcdunk for compiling this). Still in shock… a picture is worth a thousand words!

The NBA: Where Heisley manages to make David Kahn look good...

The Night in Numbers
Every night, I scour the box scores and pick out some of the most telling numbers from the games. These numbers directly or indirectly have an impact on the final scores.

Portland Trail Blazers 98 – Chicago Bulls 110
40 Point explosion from Luol Deng. He scored his career high in a variety of ways and did it efficiently (14-19)
13 Assists for Derrick Rose. That tied his career high as he took a season low 11 shots. (16 points)
0-14 from 3 for Portland. RudY Fernandez jacked up 6 of them. Rare from a team ranked high in made 3′s.
60% the Blazers allowed the Bulls to shoot from the field. You can’t win giving up those kinda numbers…

Toronto Raptors 108 – Sacramento Kings 111
23 Points for Tyreke Evans after he started out slow. He added 7rbs and 5 ast.
3-6 From long range for Omri Casspi. 2 of them were daggers coming in the waning minutes of the game.
17 Point 1st Q. lead for the Raptors was erased as the Kings outscored them in each of the next 3 quarters.
19 Rebounds for Reggie Evans. 10 of them the offensive variety. Beastin’

San Antonio Spurs 97 – Los Angeles Clippers 88
1 monster SLAM by Eric Gordon. No need for words, here is the video (link)
1 flagrant 2 foul on Craig Smith. He took out George Hill who did not return to the game.
1 Tiago Splitter sighting. 10 minutes for the rookie and he got 2 points and 2 rebounds.
26 year old Spurs rookie Gary Neal scored 16pts off the bench. 4 other Spurs scored in double digits.

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