Shaq punches Ernie Johnson!
All Miami Heat highlights… and the comeback.
Bosh
Nice putback jam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7VrPv6zN9k
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PTI426B1
Lebron
BEAST putback dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0QSxUJ6UhY
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9ZTJO4L2
Tough shot, gets fouled and still makes it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHDSRy_zG0M
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L503WS22
2 handed fastbreak jam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlG4vZ2LSlI
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MR53CE6J
Wade to Lebron layoop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip14JlnSxig
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EBK5RS13
Sick super fast driving dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9CyC7kG7vo
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5HYGDAL4
Wade
Putback dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REFVEO-qnDo
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TTI7C2N8
Sweet fastbreak dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSRl6Kb0pa4
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OMAFN6NG
Siiiickness, behind the back dribble to lose Dirk, then reverse jam on the break
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2hyqyI0w-k
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5Y8FNKTJ
Goes to work backing down JKidd, then gets the open 2 handed jam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5FDy-65_v0
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0ZKJ9GM8
On the break outruns Dirk to get the dunk yet again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ6JzVT53Dc
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P63LB3R4
THE COMEBACK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH85PrKDY0A
Bynum fastbreak vs Mavs
(Source: youtube.com)
Philosophy 101… Phil Jackson’s last one ever? :(
(Source: youtube.com)
Ron Artest runs into the Mysterious Asian Lady!!!
(Source: youtube.com)
The mysterious Asian lady at Lakers games is excited!!
(Source: youtube.com)
Presser sponsored by Gatorade
(Source: youtube.com)
A constant question asked of all the great NBA players, no matter how much they seem to score or win, is… “But does he make his teammates better?”
NBA.com recently released its “StatsCube” which I find amazing. It opens up so many doors in the world of stats. Since I’m a Lakers fan and all obviously, and Kobe is our star/elite/HoFer/legend/leader, I decided to look up if Kobe Bryant makes his teammates better, or worse, in one particular way.
The StatsCube shows stats from the 2010-11 season, per 36 minutes. It doesn’t show PER and I honestly have no clue how to calculate it (looking at the formula just scrambles my brain), so I avoided that. I did not look at rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, or any of that (mostly because I didn’t want to). What I did look up though (something that is definitely relevant to how Kobe affects the team), is each of the Lakers’ FG%, and their “points per points possible” with Kobe on and off the court (per 36 minutes). I’ll clear this up in a second.
I looked at the stats for 9 Lakers players from the regular season… sorted by mpg they are: Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Ron Artest, Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum, Steve Blake, Matt Barnes, Shannon Brown, and Luke Walton. All of these guys played a minimum of 50 games this season.
I figured simply looking at something like points would not show much, as some players (Bynum for example) will score a lot more without Kobe getting FGA next to him. What matters though is if he’s shooting a great percentage either way, and if he’s making the most of the chances he gets. This is where “points possible” comes in. It’s a very simple stat with a very simple formula (Hell, someone probably made/uses this with a better name but this is how I’m doing it). Points Possible = FTA + (2pt FGA * 2) + (3pt FGA * 3). Basically, if a player was to make every single shot he took, he would get that many points, hence “points possible”, or pp. It does not require knowing how many shots were actually made.
Now that we got that out of the way, lets get to the results. What do we find? Does Kobe help everyone? Does he hurt the team? Here we are, sorted by who benefits the most by playing alongside Kobe Bryant (net pt/pp), to the player who is most thrown off by playing with Kobe. Some of these results may surprise you.
___________________________________
Greatly helped by Kobe's presence:
1. Ron Artest
FG% with/without Kobe - 41%/28% (Net: +13%)
Pt/pp with/without Kobe - 15.53/10.80 (Net: +4.73)
2. Shannon Brown
FG% with/without Kobe - 52%/40% (Net: +12%)
Pt/pp with/without Kobe - 18.80/15.30 (Net: +3.51)
3. Steve Blake
FG% with/without Kobe - 43%/34% (Net: +9%)
Pt/pp with/without Kobe - 16.21/12.86 (Net: +3.35)
4. Pau Gasol
FG% with/without Kobe - 55%/48% (Net: +7%)
Pt/pp with/without Kobe - 21.32/19.05 (Net: +2.27)
___________________________________
Play consistent with or without Kobe (within 1pt/pp):
5. Andrew Bynum
FG% with/without Kobe - 57%/58% (Net: -1%)
Pt/pp with/without Kobe - 21.32/21.43 (Net: -0.11)
6. Lamar Odom
FG% with/without Kobe - 54%/52% (Net: +2%)
Pt/pp with/without Kobe - 19.14/19.31 (Net: -0.17)
7. Luke Walton
FG% with/without Kobe - 33%/33% (Net: 0%)
Pt/pp with/without Kobe - 11.11/11.94 (Net: -0.83)
___________________________________
Hindered playing next to Kobe:
8. Matt Barnes
FG% with/without Kobe - 37%/50% (Net: -13%)
Pt/pp with/without Kobe - 13.83/18.50 (Net: -4.66)
9. Derek Fisher
FG% with/without Kobe - 38%/57% (Net: -19%)
Pt/pp with/without Kobe - 14.99/22.56 (Net: -7.57)
I don’t know about you… but that last one surprised me. Here’s a graph if you like it simple. Just shows the net change in Points per Point Possible with Kobe on/off the court.
Hope this was insightful.
(Source: nba.com)
This is a very valid theory I’ve been thinking of recently..
This year we’ve seen way too many games come down to the wire. Games where we have the lead and blow it, and it comes down to the last shot. Games where we see Kobe shoot 0-6 in the 4th, as the other team catches up, before making the game winning shot…
This got me thinking… what if Kobe is just biologically addicted to the suspense, to the clutch situations? What if he gets a rush of endorphins near the end of games, and he tries to get that feeling when he can? What if the regular season is so boring that he needs to practice clutch moments to get ready for the playoffs? Can’t really practice clutch in practice.
I’m not saying he misses shots on purpose or anything… but we’ve seen his shot selection in some 4th qtrs. What if he takes crazy shots to test himself because he’s bored, and figures if they miss, oh well I can get the game winner and it’s all good? Or, we’re up 2-1, might as well try some stuff this game and see what happens at the end… because it gives him that rush? If we lose then it’’s only 2-2.
Of course he knows when not to play like that, when he needs to play for real all game so we don’t get knocked out of the playoffs or so we win it all.. He won’t be trying to get that high in game 5 of this series, or near the last few games of the Finals…
But just think about it. I know I’m on to something
Since the 2010-11 season just ended, decided to look up some of Kobe’s boxscore stats for the regular season and postseason - with and without Shaq. You can use these stats for whatever purposes you desire…
Career - Regular Season:
1103 games played, 36.4mpg
25.3ppg, 5.3rpg, 4.7apg
45.4%FG, 33.9%3pt, 83.7%FT
Career - Playoffs:
198 games played, 39.4mpg
25.5ppg, 5.2rpg, 4.8apg
44.8%FG, 33.7%3pt, 81.5%FT
___________________________________________
Shaq-Era - Regular Season (Rookie - 03/04):
561 games played, 34.4mpg
21.8ppg, 5rpg, 4.3apg
45.4%FG, 33.1%3pt, 83.4%FT
Shaq-Era - Playoffs:
119 games played, 38.3mpg
22.6ppg, 4.8rpg, 4.4apg
43.4%FG, 32.3%3pt, 79.2%FT
___________________________________________
Post-Shaq - Regular Season (04/05 - Present):
542 games played, 38.5mpg
28.9ppg, 5.6rpg, 5.1apg
45.5%FG, 34.3%3pt, 84%FT
Post-Shaq - Playoffs:
79 games played, 41.2mpg
29.8ppg, 5.7rpg, 5.4apg
46.7%FG, 35%3pt, 84.4%FT
___________________________________________
So there it is. Compare how Kobe did with Shaq to Kobe after Shaq to Kobe’s career numbers. It’s apparent that he was able to flourish without Shaq, especially in the playoffs (he got worse in the Shaq-era in the playoffs, but he’s better after Shaq).
Shaq-Era championships: 3
Post-Shaq championships: 2
All he needs to do now is win the ring for us this year to fix that little problem up.
(Source: basketball-reference.com)
Cheryl Miller at her finest
(Source: youtube.com)
Jordan > Bowie
(Source: youtube.com)
I’m sure you guys have seen the stat of this year’s Miami Heat: In the last 10 seconds of the 4th or overtime, with the Heat tied or down 1-3pts (one FG), the Heat are shooting 1-18 this season…
We’ve seen some numbers and blah blah come out showing how Kobe isn’t that clutch, or whatever with clutch being defined in various ways (last 5 minutes, last 2 minutes, each team up or down 5… etc).
I like the 10 second clutch stat (FGM-FGA in the last 10 seconds of the 4th or OT, with the player’s team tied or down 1-3) as a different look on things than we’ve had in the past because:
A. That means it’s basically last second shot time
B. It’s when your team is tied or down one shot.. which is much different and feels different than you getting a FGA with your team up 3. In this definition, if you miss, you lose or go into OT for sure basically.
I took it upon myself to go through ESPN play-by-plays of Lebron and Kobe (for obvious reasons) to see what the stats show under this definition of clutch. Since I started doing this at 4am, I only got a few seasons done, but I’ll post anyways and hope to continue my research tomorrow.
So here you have it, Lebron and Kobe’s “Last 10sec” Clutch stats for 08-09 (Lebron’s first MVP) til present.
Lebron James
08-09: 1-4 (25%)
09-10: 1-8 (12.5%)
10-11: 1-8 (12.5%)
Total (through last 3 seasons): 3-20 (15%)
Kobe Bryant
08-09: 2-6 (33.3%)
09-10: 7-11 (63.6%)
10-11: 1-3 (33.3%)
Total (through last 3 seasons): 10-20 (50%)
Funny enough, they have the same exact amount of attempts. Not the same amount of makes though.
Miami Heat Clutch Reel, must watch!
(Source: youtube.com)
Just a simple post about something I noticed this year.
Kevin Love so far is averaging 21ppg, 15.5rpg and 1.3 3pters per game.
He’s actually only the 5th player ever to average 20/10/1 three in a season (he will keep this up of course).
-Charles Barkley (94-95)
-Antoine Walker (97-98)
- Shawn Marion (05-06)
- Antawn Jamison (07-08)
- Kevin Love (10-11)
Kevin Love is shooting far better than any of the previous players (42.8% from 3, Jamison is 2nd with 33.9%), and is rebounding far better as well (15.5 rebounds per game, Marion is next with 11.8).
Just something to think about. Not many guys have this mix of incredible long-range shooting and absurd rebounding.
(Source: basketball-reference.com)