Nuggets vs Spurs III: "As must-win as non-essential games can get"

Preview: I obviously expect a much better effort out of the Nuggets today. I was happy to see the stagger lessen in the previous game. Hopefully it ends tonight, and the bench unit can gain chemistry. Jeff/Barton/Bones can't be negatives today, or it'll be another long night.

The Good Guys

Their Adversaries

*Red boxes above indicate one notable number to catch my eye for each team

(Open images in a new tab for a closer look. Charts courtesy of ESPN.COM. All links contained within this piece will open in a new tab or window.)

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.

In-game analysis will be provided for all games except for the second of B2B and/or weekend games. Data will be tracked for all 82 games, regardless of whether analysis is provided or not.

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Data:

TPM™ Game 26 SAS

Nikola "Big Honey" Jokic: +42

Aaron "Aar" Gordon: +21

"Brontosaurus" Monte Morris: +27

Will "Thrill" Barton: N/A

"Bones" Hyland: +12

Facundo "El Mago" Campazzo: +18

"Mr Undependable" JaMychal Green: +0

"Uncle" Jeff Green: -3

Austin "Tributary" Rivers: +0

Zeke "The Piano Man" Nnaji: -1

"Mr Dependable" Davon Reed: +7

Vlatko "Mr Olympia" Cancar: -2

Bol Bol "Baggins": N/A

"Wet" Markus Howard: +12

Petr "French Toast" Cornelie: +0

Jamal "The Blue Arrow" Murray: N/A

"Showtime" Michael Porter Jr: N/A

PJ "Bol" Dozier: N/A

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Total TPM™

Nikola Jokic: 21 games +753

Aaron Gordon: 26 games +363

Monte Morris: 26 games +320

Will Barton: 23 games +207

Bones Hyland: 17 games +131

Facundo Campazzo: 24 games +157

JaMychal Green: 24 games +0

Jeff Green: 26 games +30

Austin Rivers: 18 games +12

Zeke Nnaji: 14 games +42

Davon Reed: 5 games +31

Vlatko Cancar: 6 games +19

Bol Bol: 10 games -3

Markus Howard: 13 games +34

Petr Cornelie: 8 games -2

Jamal Murray: 0 games +0

Michael Porter Jr: 9 games +56

PJ Dozier: 18 games +76

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Avg. TPM™ Per Game

Nikola Jokic: +35.86

Aaron Gordon: +13.96

Monte Morris: +12.31

Will Barton: +9.00

Bones Hyland: +7.71

Facundo Campazzo: +6.54

JaMychal Green: +0.00

Jeff Green: +1.15

Austin Rivers: +0.72

Zeke Nnaji: +3.00

Davon Reed: +6.20

Vlatko Cancar: +3.17

Bol Bol: -0.30

Markus Howard: +2.62

Petr Cornelie: -0.25

Jamal Murray: +0.50

Michael Porter Jr: +6.22

PJ Dozier: +4.20

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TPM™ Per-Minute Splits (Through game 21)

*Credit DomP on the Spreadsheet.

Analysis:

Qtr1- The Nuggets go with their 8TH starting five, consisting of Morris, Reed, AG, Uncle Jeff & MVP. The Spurs counter with Murray, White, McDermott, Johnson & Poertl. No in-game anal today due to weekend game.

Denver is paced in TPM by __ as they __ after one.

Nikola Jokic: +0 Aaron Gordon: +0 Monte Morris: +0 Will Barton: +0 Bones Hyland: +0 Facundo Campazzo: +0 JaMychal Green: +0 Jeff Green: +0 Zeke Nnaji: +0 Davon Reed +0 Vlatko Cancar: +0 Bol Bol: +0 Markus Howard: +0 Petr Cornelie: +0.00

Qtr2- The

Denver is paced in TPM by __ as they __ at the half.

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Qtr3- The __

Denver is paced in TPM by __ as they __after three.

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Qtr4- The

Denver is paced in TPM by __ as they __

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Final Thoughts:

• Denver wins 127-112, and in so doing, improves to .500 on the year.
  

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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 44-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 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 appreciate your the support.

I can be found at @prmorphine on Twitter.

Also, my DIY music production and videos can be heard/seen here if you don't value your ear-balls & eye-drums.

And as always, get the jab, wear the mask, act like a good person privately and especially in public; even if you are not, and most importantly, fuck the Lakers.

#DoNotBeABranchCovidian
#DoNotBeAnAmmosexual
#FuckTheLakersOneMoreTimeJustForGoodMeasure
#TLDRHashtagsAndSiglines