The Beard is en fuego!

Here's hopin' that James Beard can't cook up the correct concoction for a change, tonight in Houston.

Keepin' the seat warm for Barton.

Nuggets vs Rockets II: Few teams can solve Harden lately and that's bad news for a Denver team who hasn't done so in years.

People sometimes ask me why I put so little merit in defensive metrics. The following quote is taken from cbssports.com's just released NBA power rankings (in which the Nuggets are finally and deservedly ranked #1 in the NBA.) Let this one marinate a bit:

Daniel Theis is currently leading the NBA in defensive rating, tied with the Mavericks' Maxi Kleber.- Reid Forgrave CBS Sports

Don't get me wrong, both of these guys are excellent defensive players and the eye test (well my set anyway) confirms it but any metric that doesn't list Kawhi or PG13 ahead of these two obviously suffers from noise variance, sample dilution and or outright delusion. I'm sorry but you simply can not quantify defense with predictive algorithm the way you can offense, especially when so much of the formula is predicated on the style/pace of offense/transition played to begin with. With that out of the way...

When last these two teams squared off in game 14 of this season the Nuggets (lap) enjoyed double figure TPM contributions from just three players led by Monte Morris: +17. Only Juancho Hernangomez: -2 was in the red for that match-up as Denver suffered their eighth straight loss at the hands of the seemingly unsolvable Houston Rockets, in embarrassing fashion once again by a final score of 99-109.

On that night, Houston deployed a strategy of switching Harden onto Jokic defensively, the reverse of what occurs every time down the court on the other end and seemingly unprepared for this reality, Jokic continually passed up uncontested 8 foot push shots over Harden in favor of attempting to back him down further.

I don't expect Houston to attempt this again as the shock value won't be in tact but if they do, contrary to what many experts clamored for (avoiding this obvious mismatch in the post as it took Denver out of their natural offense) Denver must exploit it and Jokic has to have the mindset of shooting immediately upon receiving the entry pass. This will force Houston to play a standard defense or better yet, double team this passing savant at which point Denver's superior offensive flow orchestrated by The Joker, stands a chance of outscoring the Rockets, because they have no prayer of containing them defensively.

As for this game, depending on how you look at things this is a match-up featuring the two hottest teams in the league. Denver has the NBA's longest current winning streak at five straight and are winners of nine of their last 11 games which is second in the league, only to this Rocket's squad. Furthermore, they have won 16 of their last 20 while missing three starters plus Isaiah Thomas and Michael Porter Jr for most and in some cases all of them.

Meanwhile Houston who finally lost to a tough Portland team on the road in their previous game, are winners of thier previous six contests and were victorious in 11 of their last 13, tops in the league. Nobody on the planet is playing better (within the confines of the rules set forth by the NBA, it must be said) than James Harden over that same span.

Yes Darrel Morey, he's in the conversation for greatest all time run of offensive output. No he is not even close to being in the conversation for best all time offensive players. Give an intelligent and far more athletic player with unparalleled drive to win championships such as Air Jordan today's officiating standards and there is even less question as to who the greatest player the NBA has ever seen was. I would never fault a team GM for supporting his player. I'd expect nothing less from an engineering mindset of elite proportions such as Mr Morey than to allude to non-contextualized data to support such a claim, which is why I'm happy to provide an analogous and obvious context.

Here are some numbers you can use:

Houston gives up 109.0 PPG by their opponents on average, to Denver's 105.2.

The Rockets average 110.3 ppg offensively to the Nuggets 110.6.

This results in a net rating for Houston of +1.3 and +5.4 for Denver.

Houston is 13-5 at home while Denver is 10-8 on the road.

In terms of conference record the Rockets are 14-12 to the Nuggets 16-6 mark.

Denver is also the only team in the league that is undefeated (5-0) within their division which means next to nothing aside from using it as a barometer in the strength of competition level.

Denver of course leads the Western Conference standings while Houston currently resides in fifth place, just 4.5 games out.

When it comes to the other meaningful statistical box-score production the comparison is as follows:

(team with advantage in bold)

HOU: RPG 42.2 APG 21.1 SPG 7.70 BPG 5.30 FG% 44.8 FT% .763 3% .350

DEN: RPG 47.1 APG 27.2 SPG 8.35 BPG 4.78 FG% 46.3 FT% .747 3% .353

As you'd expect from a team featuring Harden/Capella, Houston is better at shooting free throws and blocking shots.

The numbers on whole favor Denver but as anyone who reads my piece knows, I don't believe any statistic or even a complex, predictive conglomeration of statistics are nearly as accurate in indicating actual results as are the unquantifiable variables of "Mo & flow™" momentum and the ability to find the zone. To that end, as mentioned above there is no player hotter than Harden and no team on a bigger roll than Houston so those factors mitigate the numerical advantage with change to spare.

For Denver, individual consistency is simply not a thing for this squad so it's more difficult to predict how a player will contribute based upon trends; particularly so as the starters begin filtering back from injury and roles are altered/defined in the coming games. Jokic has been consistently good but in different ways seemingly every night.

There are of course many other variables at play including match-ups; styles make fights. For example, Houston is ill-equipped to defend Jokic (or anyone really) which is why they wisely elected to put Harden on Jokic and caught lightning in a bottle last time out. Similarly, Jokic is still learning how to defend in the P&R in the league. He's made huge strides but still struggles against CP3/Harden as they have the unique ability to force the exact player of their choosing into the exact mismatch of their choosing on nearly every possession.

Prediction: Denver 117 (lap) - Rockets 121. Denver inches closer to solving the puzzle that is Houston and do so by concentrating the majority of their effort (vs this team and this team alone) on offense as they are still ill-equipped to handle Houston's elite ball handlers/decision makers CP3/Harden and dunk/lob specialists Capella/Nene in the P&R. In coming years, Jokic and Murray will only get better in this regard defensively with knowledge and experience but until then the key is offensive output.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

If you are viewing the pre-game version of the TPM piece; and you enjoy Gonzo-basketball reporting, I invite you to please join me after the game where the same link will lead you to the post game version. In it, all of the disjointed/unsightly blanks below will be filled, complete with data/analysis and more snark than "Snarknado VI: Snakenado", which I'm told is about a pessimistic, albino, black mamba who emerges from micro-bursts to torment the people of Los Angeles with shady tweets.

There be monsters; shameless, personal plug alert! (by permission of Denver Stiffs): If you are in the market for clothing, featuring the four major Denver sports franchises as well as CU, please open this link in a new tab to see if there is anything you are interested in. You don't have to order from the link of course if you are in the Denver Metro area, as I'm more than happy to meet up with you (please refrain from bringing rotten tomatoes), drastically lowering the cost, as Poshmark takes a healthy cut as well as shipping & handling. Thanks in advance!

Unique, hard to find, one of a kind and custom gear of your favorite team

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

And now what none of you come here for; how about some basketball nerdery?!?!

(After these messages... Er Nicknames)

Houston Rockets Roster

NO	Name	POS	Age	HT	WT	College	Salary
7	Carmelo "Nothing Mellow About This Collapse" Anthony	PF	34	6' 8"	240 lbs	Syracuse	$1,512,601
15	Clint "Ah" Capela	C	24	6' 10"	240 lbs	Switzerlandia	$15,293,104
1	Michael "Roy" Carter-Williams	PG	27	6' 6"	190 lbs	Syracuse	$1,512,601
0	Marquese Chriss "Olm"	PF	21	6' 10"	240 lbs	Washington	$3,206,160
6	"Guitarrin" Gary Clark	PF	23	6' 8"	225 lbs	Cincinnati	G-Money
12	Vincent "Who?" Edwards	SF	22	6' 8"	225 lbs	Purdue	G-Money
8	James "Subway To Venus" Ennis III	SF	28	6' 7"	210 lbs	Long Beach State	$1,621,415
10	Eric "Splash" Gordon	SG	29	6' 4"	215 lbs	Indiana	$13,500,375
14	Gerald "Make A Wish" Green	SG	32	6' 7"	205 lbs	Parts Unknown	$1,512,601
13	James "Beard Award" Harden	PG	29	6' 5"	220 lbs	Arizona State	$35,650,150
55	Isaiah "Hell If I Know" Hartenstein	PF	20	7' 0"	249 lbs	Germany...probably	$838,464
42	Nene	C	36	6' 11"	250 lbs	Brasilia	$3,651,480
2	Brandon "Jordan" Knight	PG	26	6' 3"	195 lbs	Kentucky	$14,631,250
3	Chris "I Wish He Wore #30 'Cause I'm A Dyslexic Star Wars Fan" Paul	PG	33	6' 0"	175 lbs	Wake Forest	$35,654,150
9	Zhou "Joe" Qi	PF	22	7' 1"	210 lbs	Chinia	$1,378,242
17	PJ "Bad Mother" Tucker	SF	33	6' 6"	245 lbs	Texas	$7,969,537

Denver Nuggets Roster

NO	Name	POS	Age	HT	WT	College	Salary
5	Will "The People's Champion" Barton	SG	27	6' 6"	190 lbs	Memphis	$11,830,358
25	"Mutant" Malik Beasley	SG	22	6' 5"	195 lbs	Florida State	$1,773,840
3	Torrey "FUCKING" Craig	SF	27	6' 7"	215 lbs	USC Upstate	$2,000,000
2	Brandon "Hopefully Contributes To Many The" Goodwin	PG	23	6' 2"	180 lbs	Florida Gulf Coast	$630,032
14	"Just" Gary Harris	SG	24	6' 4"	210 lbs	Michigan State	$16,517,857
41	Juancho "The Mouthful" Hernangomez	PF	23	6' 9"	230 lbs	Espana	$2,166,360
15	Nikola "Big Honey" Jokic (AKA The Joker)	C	23	7' 0"	250 lbs	Gotham	$24,605,181
20	Tyler "Not just Anunobody" Lydon	PF	22	6' 10"	225 lbs	Syracuse	$1,874,640
7	Trey "The Swiss Army Spork" Lyles	PF	23	6' 10"	234 lbs	Kentucky	$3,364,249
4	Paul "The Anchorman" Millsap	PF	33	6' 8"	246 lbs	Louisiana Tech	$29,230,769
11	Monte "Ratio" Morris	PG	23	6' 3"	175 lbs	Iowa State	$1,349,383
27	Jamal "The Blue Arrow" Murray	PG	21	6' 4"	207 lbs	Kentucky	$3,499,800
24	Mason "Plumdog Millionaire" Plumlee	PF	28	6' 11"	235 lbs	Duke	$12,917,808
1	Michael "The Sleeper Cell" Porter Jr.	PF	20	6' 10"	210 lbs	Missouri	$2,894,160
0	Isaiah "Ice" Thomas	PG	29	5' 9"	185 lbs	Washington	$1,512,601
8	Jarred "The Amalgamated Version Of A Dude I Once Bought Weed From On Haight Ashbury" Vanderbilt	PF	19	6' 9"	214 lbs	Kentucky	$838,464
45	Thomas "Irvine" Welsh	C	22	7' 0"	255 lbs	UCLA	G-Money

Update: MPJ and I.T. are sleeping on Ice, awaiting intel as to when their services will be required. Rookie Jared Vanderbilt will have to wait to make his rookie debut until long after R.O.Y. candidate Thomas Welsh, as he recovers from an actual injury. Barton had successful surgery on his abductor/hip and is week to week (whatever that means.) As for Houston, CP3 is out with a hamstring injury, as is Gordon with a knee injury. Melo is out with Karma. Finally, Denver has an injury advantage vs an opponent for the first time (100% serious) all season.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Data:

TPM™ Game 38 HOU

Jamal Murray: +12

Isaiah Thomas: Injured

Monte Morris: +11

Brandon Goodwin: +0

Gary Harris: +16

Malik Beasley: +10

Torrey Craig: -12

Will Barton: Injured

Juancho Hernangomez: -3

Michael Porter Jr.: Injured

Jared Vanderbilt: Injured

Paul Millsap: +4

Trey Lyles: -5

Tyler Lydon: N/A

Nikola Jokic: +11

Mason Plumlee: +4

Thomas Welsh: N/A

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Total TPM™

Jamal Murray: 38 games +676

Isaiah Thomas: 0 games +0

Monte Morris: 38 games +450

Brandon Goodwin: 6 games +17

Nick Young: 3 games -2

Gary Harris: 25 games +384

Malik Beasley: 38 games +224

Torrey Craig: 33 games +8

DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell: 6 games +5

Will Barton: 2 games +33

Juancho Hernangomez: 37 games +21

Michael Porter Jr.: 0 games +0

Jared Vanderbilt: 0 games +0

Paul Millsap: 30 games +295

Trey Lyles: 37 games +204

Tyler Lydon: 12 games +8

Nikola Jokic: 38 games +794

Mason Plumlee: 38 games +266

Thomas Welsh: 8 games +17

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Avg. TPM™ Per Game

Jamal Murray: +17.79

Isaiah Thomas: N/A

Monte Morris: +11.84

Brandon Goodwin: +2.83

Nick Young: -0.67

Gary Harris: +15.36

Malik Beasley: +5.89

Torrey Craig: +0.24

DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell: +0.83

Will Barton: +16.50

Juancho Hernangomez: +0.58

Michael Porter Jr.: N/A

Jared Vanderbilt: N/A

Paul Millsap: +9.83

Trey Lyles: 5.51

Tyler Lydon: +0.67

Nikola Jokic: +20.89

Mason Plumlee: +7.00

Thomas Welsh: +2.13

__________________________________________________________________________________________

TPM™ Per-Minute Splits Through Game 37:

*Credit DomP on the Spreadsheet. It's as if my (nerdy) baby (TPM™) learned to speak

Qtr1- The Nuggets return to their 3rd iteration of the injury-replacement starting five, consisting of Murray, Harris, Craig, Millsap & Jokic. The Rockets counter with Harden, Rivers, House, Tucker & Capella. Denver is trapping Harden in the early going. He earns his initial phantom call at 10:14 and it's two points for each squad. Jokic has already missed three bunnies and seems to be a little stiff. We all know the truth; he's a big Stiff. Jokic is REALLY struggling tonight with some horrendous early passes and they trail by one on the strength of an 8-0 scoring run by HOU at 7:08. Second phantom call earned by Harden at the time of the first break at 6:50. Holy shit! Harden has two personal fouls at the 6:25 mark!

Mark my words, he'll never approach personal foul trouble in this game in any meaningful way. BTW, who the hell is this Mark character any ol' way? Denver is shining on the offensive glass as always and lead by one at 3:20. Plumlee/Morris/Beasley are in for the good guys at this time. Juancho is soon to follow. Lyles replaces Millsap at 1:43 and apparently they are going with a 10 man rotation, down three at the moment. Jokic is first to reach double figures in scoring for the Nuggets. Monte sticks a three and it's all knotted up with 37 seconds remaining. The high scoring game I predicted seems to be on point thus-far. Morris hits a J with seconds remaining and the Nuggets lead. Denver is paced in TPM by Harris +7 as they lead 35-33 after one.

Qtr2- I just have a feeling I'm going to be saying something about Juancho here. For once I'm correct as he misses a three prior to surrendering one defensively. Morris is already in double figures in just four minutes of court time as it's once again tied at with 10:23 to play. Monte has the last 12 points for the Nuggets and he's the game's leading scorer at the moment. Nene inadvertently pokes Plumlee in the eye and Mason is in a lot of pain, causing him to sit. Beasley is having a very nice offensive game and Denver leads by four after his layup at 8:39. Jokic is on 3D watch already with 11-6-3. Denver needs to attack relentlessly as no individual players for the Rockets are in trouble yet but several stand at two fouls. Tucker is floundering about which results in two for big Honey. Lyles' defensive struggles are keeping Houston in the game at the moment, almost single-handedly. Jokic misses yet another layup, this time on one of his trademark "shoot to draw a foul with no intention of scoring" attempts. You do not have the respect of the officials that Harden does young man; quite the opposite in fact due to your demonstrative lobbying. Please attempt to score. Seemingly reading along, in a single play, Harden pushes Juancho away while dribbling, looses sight of the ball, Gary acquires it then Harden elbows Harris to the floor, resulting in a three point play for Capella?!?! Unbelievable! Denver is struggling mightily in defensive rotations but the officials are doing them zero favors. It is predictably Denver who is now accumulating fouls and failing to get the benefit of the whistle. Houston is 19-22 from the line while Denver is just 5-5!

Capella is killing the Nuggets from zero feet out and at the line and Houston leads by four on the strength of an 11-2 run. Houston is called for their first foul since Indy was a Pup and all five players on the court for the Rockets are quite visibly, hopping mad. Phantom call number three is earned by Harden, which is actually far lower than a typical night for him. Houston is in the bonus and this is Rockets basketball. Threes, Dunks, free throws. Jokic has the ball stolen by Harden who initiates contact with Jokic, who is called for the foul of course and this results in two more free-throws for The Beard. Houston leads by seven at 2:45. Murray is hacked going up for a dunk and there is of course no call. Green knocks Craig to the floor on a play that Steve Atwater would be proud of, forcing the refs to begrudgingly award the Nuggets with two free throws. Harden shoves Murray to the floor, steps back for a four point play and the crowd goes nanners. Another three by Harden, honestly the first legal scoring he's done in the second quarter and that is NOT hyperbole and Houston is pulling away, now leading by 13 at 1:16. All of this smoke and mirrors aside, Harden is obviously in the zone as a shooter at the moment, I just hate the way he was allowed to get there. Vividly illustrating this point, he pushes off on Craig to create space for another step-back three and it's a 13 point lead, prior to Harris answering with a boring ass legal three of his own, becoming the third Nuggets player to reach double figures. I lost track of Harden's PCE™ (phantom calls earned) rating. All apologies. The Nuggets have shot 11 free throws to Houston's 27 which is preposterous considering the amount of three point shots they take compared to Denver's attacking style! Denver is paced in TPM by Harris +11 as they trail the Rockets (officials in pockets) 60-70 at the half.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Qtr3- That was BY FAR the most I've complained about officiating all season but that second quarter was egregious. I'll do my job, you do yours (not Harden's) ok refs? Millsap's turn to be poked in the eye and the Rockets lead by 12 at 9:49. Jokic has a 2D with 15-10-4. Zero players for either team, impossibly, have three or more fouls. Just about everyone has two. Harden hacks 'Sap... no call. The officials clearly weren't reprimanded at halftime. Harden has had just two fouls since early in the first period! Jokic has yet to shoot from the charity stripe despite operating almost exclusively on the block. He finally earns a free throw at the 6:57 mark. The lead is ten for the Rockets. Another phantom call results in three more free throws for Harden. I'm sorry Houston fans but you can't see the forest for the trees if you defend this as anything but ugly basketball. their style is beautiful; their execution is an eye-sore.

The lead remains ten with 5:03 remaining. Murray makes four in double figures for Denver. Two straight threes by Houston and it's a 13 point game with 2:43 to go. Beasley makes five in double figures for Denver. Houston's bench unit appears to be vastly better in terms of defense, when compared to their starters. Denver cuts it to nine on a three point play by Monte. Another sickening three point shot is attempted/rewarded with a foul call for Harden after Nene checks Beasley into Harden! THAT IS AN OFFENSIVE FOUL NBA!!!!! Just because Harden shoots on contact does not make said contact a defensive issue! Plumlee of all people cuts it to seven with of all things two from of all places, the line. Denver is paced in TPM by Morris/Beasley/Murray +10, Jokic +11 & Harris +16 as they trail 89-96 after three.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Qtr4- The Nuggets cut it to six on a beautiful, spinning drive by Plumlee. This may sound strange but I honestly think that the unnecessarily loud PA announcer in Houston plays a large roll in swaying the official's judgement on foul calls as they are nearly always a result of momentum. For reasons only he may understand, Juancho was just goaded into a series of three point exchanges with Green and the lead is predictably back up to 11 as a result. He needs to sit asap and he needs to be replaced by a starter as Harden rested for under one minute in the third. This is how you win games Malone, by playing your best players when they are needed. Murray may need to find the zone for Denver to overcome their myriad obstacles. He improbably draws Harden's fourth foul and scores two from the charity stripe. Harden has five field goals and 26 points on the night! Jokic and Harris still sit at the halfway mark which makes almost no sense. Yes they play tomorrow in Miami but 13 points is not an insurmountable lead against a team that refuses to defend. Meanwhile, Harden has still only rested for mere seconds in the half.

The free throw discrepancy currently resides at 18-31 in favor of Houston. Please stop yelling when nothing is occurring on the court Houston PA announcer. Jokic checks in at 5:54 but Harris appears to have re-injured his hammy and remains on the bench. Denver is starting to pick up the Houston guards full court. Two straight threes for the Rockets and the lead is 17. Jokic checks out at this point (4:10) as Malone is apparently waving the white flag. He's replaced by seldom used Brandon Goodwin. I'm sorry, these are all offensive fouls Harden is getting open on, NOT defensive fouls. Harden remains in. Houston is feeding him in a grotesque show of unsportsmanlike conduct, in an attempt to get him to 40. He is STILL in at 1:20 with a 20 point lead, and STILL shooting! Capella and indeed the rest of Houston's starters remain in as a matter of fact. Pringles pulled this shit last year too, clearly still bitter at how he was treated in his Nuggets tenure. Beasley makes six in double figures for the Nuggets. Houston's starters play the entire fourth quarter of a blowout. Denver is paced in TPM by Beasley +10, Morris/Jokic +11, Murray +12 & Harris +16 as they once again fail to solve Houston, with a final score of 125-113
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Final Thoughts: The Beard is already very good. It's a shame that he feels the need to game the league and that he's rewarded for it by poor officiating.

Houston would be a very fun team to watch if they simply focused on threes and dunks as they profess to be their mantra but in reality, it's all about calculated loop-holes.

The game would have likely been won at the three point line by Houston tonight but it would have been close had the game been fairly officiated.

The spirit of the rule in the foul for sliding under a players feet defensively, was initiated to protect the shooter. It could easily be called the Dahnte Jones/Bruce Bowen rule. Harden is willing to risk these injuries to draw fouls and never getting injured so how important was this rule change in it's inception? The answer is it was still very important but when the officials eschew the spirit of the rule and instead call it any time Harden feels contact, foul or not and jerks his head back or complains or kicks his legs out to initiate contact, it is being taken advantage of in a hard-to-watch manner.

Harden = 7-18 from the floor and 32 points. You've created a monster NBA!

Why is it legal to push off of players to create space from which to shoot?

Imagine the Miami PA guy slowly and loudly screaming Dwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayne Waaaaaaaaaaaaade but even during commercial breaks/halftime show/kiss-cam etc and multiply his annoying resonance by eleventy brazillian and you have the Houston PA guy.

That was as complainy as I've been all season. Harden is just a very frustrating player to watch, even objectively. I know this because there have been games in which I've been forced to root for Houston due to their oponant (which basically means vs the Lakers.) My biggest pet peeve is ulterior motives so perhaps that explains it.

Unless Harris misses time, Denver needs to trim the rotation by one (Lyles) to nine as Craig and Juancho are more valuable until Barton returns, at which point Juancho seems like the guy who will lose his time. It's too difficult for players to gain traction in a ten man rotation. Strangely, in limited minutes Lyles seems to be least detrimental of the three but all of them have been negatives in small stints.

The lead was seven after three, yet as Harden remained in to increase upon it, Jokic sat on the bench until midway through the period. That's a pretty significant mistake on Malone's part.

Final score = Denver 21 free throw attempts (largely make-up calls of no consequence), Houston 34.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

We Suck Again!

For context pertaining to the statistical aspects of this piece, please open this link: TPM™

A brief statement with regard to this piece on whole:

As a means to avoid repeating myself I will include this descriptive diatribe in all TPM posts going forward.

Sure I like statistics; ever since I was a child collecting sports cards and later a pre-teen who ran pre-internet fantasy sports leagues on ink/paper/spreadsheet for the four major US pro-leagues, I've been fascinated by box-score stats but I'm by no means an expert.

I created TPM (which has been around longer than RPM incidentally and unlike them, I fully disclose my non-proprietary system and I contextualize the action rather than being a boring, mysterious, predictive metric) because it does add immediate and accessible context to what we see and what the numbers indicate, which I like.

While the data is meticulously tracked and demonstrably sound, I'm a creative type, not an engineer. Algorithm is the bane of my existence in fact. I'd far rather approach life with the intrigue of expected surprise than attempt to get to the bottom of why things are the way they are. There are many engineers in my family so I totally understand that joy can be derived from finding solutions to problems, I just can't relate. It's not fun for me. THIS is for the most part, not fun for me.

Now I'm a 41 year old man who was born the year after the team I love joined the NBA. I happen to have a lifetime of experience with this sport in several different capacities, including playing (highly underrated within the writing community) so I understand basketball theory in a way most (by no means all) pundits do not.

I was in this case interested in a data-driven approach, which if I'm honest has sapped nearly all fun out of taking in games for me. I get very few days/nights off during the season. One piece requires several hours of research and data entry and all tracking/analysis is done in real time and published mere moments after each game's completion, 82 times (more this season) per year.

As such, the analysis portion is about 90% (I've run the numbers) creative writing with sarcasm generally indicated through italics, non-sequitur humor and hyperbole, in an attempt to steal back some of the joy this endeavor has snatched away.

Hopefully there is a little something here for everyone but if you came just for data or are averse to colorful language, this is not the place for you. I have no way of knowing how many people even read this so I'll not be affected even remotely if you choose not to indulge. For those of you who do, I greatly thank you for the support.

Denver Nuggets Nuggets vs Rockets coverage The Dream Shake