The Good Guys
Their adversaries
Seriously? This guy again?
Also, where's your originality?
Nuggets vs Rockets I: "Fuck James Harden"
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.
Also, my DIY music production and videos can be heard/seen here if you don't value your ear-balls & eye-drums.
Got it? Or as the immortal Syd Barrett might say, "Have you got it yet?"
I've also recently made a compilation of all of Pink Floyd's essential studio works, including solo projects of all five members, all in chronological order from '65-2017 which you can check out here.
And now what none of you come here for; how about some basketball nerdery?!?!
(After these messages... Er Nicknames)
Denver Nuggets Roster
| Name | POS | Age | HT | WT | College | Salary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
SF
|
29
|
6' 5"
|
181 lbs
|
Memphis
|
$13,723,214
|
|
 |
C
|
21
|
7' 2"
|
209 lbs
|
Oregon
|
$2,058,240
|
|
 |
PG
|
29
|
5' 11"
|
165 lbs
|
--
|
$3,200,000
|
|
 |
SF
|
23
|
6' 8"
|
236 lbs
|
--
|
$1,517,981
|
|
 |
PG
|
24
|
6' 6"
|
205 lbs
|
South Carolina
|
$1,762,796
|
|
 |
PF
|
30
|
6' 8"
|
227 lbs
|
Alabama
|
$7,199,760
|
|
 |
PG
|
19
|
6' 6"
|
176 lbs
|
--
|
$2,193,040
|
|
 |
SG
|
26
|
6' 4"
|
205 lbs
|
Michigan State
|
$19,610,714
|
|
 |
C
|
22
|
7' 0"
|
249 lbs
|
--
|
$1,620,564
|
|
 |
PG
|
21
|
5' 11"
|
180 lbs
|
Marquette
|
--
|
|
 |
C
|
25
|
7' 0"
|
284 lbs
|
--
|
$29,542,010
|
|
 |
PF
|
35
|
6' 7"
|
257 lbs
|
Louisiana Tech
|
$1,000,000
|
|
 |
PG
|
25
|
6' 2"
|
183 lbs
|
Iowa State
|
$1,588,231
|
|
 |
PG
|
23
|
6' 4"
|
215 lbs
|
Kentucky
|
$27,285,000
|
|
 |
PF
|
19
|
6' 11"
|
240 lbs
|
Arizona
|
$2,284,800
|
|
 |
PF
|
22
|
6' 10"
|
218 lbs
|
Missouri
|
$3,550,800
|
|
 |
SF
|
27
|
6' 8"
|
212 lbs
|
Georgetown
|
--
|
Coach: Michael "Post" Malone
Houston Rockets Roster
| Name | POS | Age | HT | WT | College | Salary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
SG
|
25
|
6' 5"
|
219 lbs
|
SMU
|
$1,620,564
|
|
 |
SF
|
25
|
6' 9"
|
218 lbs
|
--
|
$2,028,594
|
|
 |
PG
|
23
|
5' 9"
|
180 lbs
|
Campbell
|
$1,517,981
|
|
 |
C
|
30
|
6' 10"
|
270 lbs
|
Kentucky
|
$1,620,564
|
|
 |
SG
|
32
|
6' 3"
|
215 lbs
|
Indiana
|
$16,869,276
|
|
 |
SG
|
31
|
6' 5"
|
220 lbs
|
Arizona State
|
$41,254,920
|
|
 |
SF
|
27
|
6' 6"
|
215 lbs
|
Texas A&M
|
$3,717,000
|
|
 |
SG
|
22
|
6' 5"
|
200 lbs
|
Arkansas
|
--
|
|
 |
SF
|
19
|
6' 7"
|
215 lbs
|
--
|
$898,310
|
|
 |
G
|
27
|
6' 3"
|
195 lbs
|
Kansas
|
$2,283,034
|
|
 |
SG
|
27
|
6' 5"
|
219 lbs
|
Cal Poly
|
$1,824,003
|
|
 |
SF
|
25
|
6' 4"
|
230 lbs
|
Ohio State
|
$1,445,697
|
|
 |
SG
|
23
|
6' 5"
|
185 lbs
|
Truman State
|
--
|
|
 |
PF
|
35
|
6' 5"
|
245 lbs
|
Texas
|
$7,969,537
|
|
 |
PG
|
30
|
6' 4"
|
210 lbs
|
Kentucky
|
$41,254,920
|
|
 |
PF
|
25
|
6' 10"
|
223 lbs
|
UNLV
|
$13,015,873
|
Coach: Stephen Silas
Update: JaMychal Green and Greg Whittington will miss another one with a left calf strain and left knee sprain respectively. For the Rockets, fuck this team.
Re-up: Yes I'm aware that trades/acquisitions may have been made and the above roster and or coach for the opposing team may be inaccurate. Hopefully you are aware that the fan-post format isn't equipped to make adjustments to the above template so it often results in entire pieces being destroyed and or hours of work being lost. Simply put, it's not worth the additional effort/risk to change once the Nuggets have faced an opponent once. No disrespect intended. Tune in next season and I assure you the first time Denver plays your team, the roster will be up to date.
Re-re-up: Data only today and every third game or so this season, to allow me to view more clearly the flow of the game, as an aid to my writing.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Data:
TPM™ Game 3 HOU (Starters in bold)
Nikola Jokic: +52
Jamal Murray: +21
Michael Porter Jr: +2
Will Barton: +7
Gary Harris: +5
Paul Millsap: +12
Monte Morris: +15
Isaiah Hartenstein: +2
JaMychal Green: N/A
PJ Dozier : +1
Bol Bol: -5
Facundo Campazzo: +4
Vlatko Cancar: +0
Greg Whittington: N/A
Markus Howard: N/A
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Total TPM™
Nikola Jokic: 3 games +140
Jamal Murray: 3 games +29
Michael Porter Jr: 3 games +25
Will Barton: 3 games +28
Gary Harris: 3 games +11
Paul Millsap: 3 games +24
Monte Morris: 3 games +19
Isaiah Hartenstein: 3 games +1
JaMychal Green: N/A
PJ Dozier: 3 games +3
Bol Bol: 2 games -8
Facundo Campazzo: 3 games +5
Zeke Nnaji: 1 games -5
RJ Hampton: 1 games +0
Vlatko Cancar: 1 games +0
Greg Whittington: N/A
Markus Howard: 1 games +0
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Avg. TPM™ Per Game
Nikola Jokic: +46.67
Jamal Murray: +9.67
Michael Porter Jr: +8.33
Will Barton: +9.33
Gary Harris: +3.67
Paul Millsap: +8.00
Monte Morris: +6.33
Isaiah Hartenstein: +0.33
JaMychal Green: N/A
PJ Dozier: +1.00
Bol Bol: -4.00
Facundo Campazzo: +1.67
Zeke Nnaji: -5.00
RJ Hampton: +0.00
Vlatko Cancar: +0.00
Greg Whittington: N/A
Markus Howard: +0.00
__________________________________________________________________________________________
TPM™ Per-Minute Splits Through Game 2: (temporarily last season's chart to allow time for new data)
*Credit DomP on the Spreadsheet. It's as if my (nerdy) baby (TPM™) learned to speak
Analysis:
Qtr1- The Nuggets go with their opening night starting five, consisting of Murray, Harris, MPJ, Millsap & Jokic. The Rockets counter with Harden, Brown, House, Tucker & Wood.
Denver is paced in TPM by __ as they __ after one.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Qtr2- The
Denver is paced in TPM by __ as they __ at the half.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Qtr3- The __
Denver is paced in TPM by __ as they __after three.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Qtr4- The
Denver is paced in TPM by __ as they __
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Final Thoughts:
- Nuggets win 124-111
_________________________________________________________________________________________
The Nuggets Win!
_________________________________________________________________________________________
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 43 year old man who was born during the season in which 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 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.
