Nuggets vs Memphis III: "Joker vs Bane"

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.)

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Data:

TPM™ Game 81 MEM

Nikola "Big Honey" Jokic: +50

Aaron "Aar" Gordon: +24

"Brontosaurus" Monte Morris: +14

Will "Thrill" Barton: +4

"Uncle" Jeff Green: -17

"Bones" Hyland: +17

Bryn "The Djinn" Forbes: +0

Austin "Tributary" Rivers: +5

DeMarcus "Boogie" Cousins: -2

"Mr Undependable" JaMychal Green: +3

Facundo "El Mago" Campazzo: N/A

"Mr Dependable" Davon Reed: +0

"Wet" Markus Howard: -2

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Total TPM™

Nikola Jokic: 74 games +2780

Aaron Gordon: 74 games +967

Monte Morris: 73 games +943

Will Barton: 70 games +409

Jeff Green: 73 games +216

Bones Hyland: 66 games +573

Bryn Forbes: 33 game +148

Austin Rivers: 66 games +80

DeMarcus Cousins: 30 games +244

JaMychal Green: 66 games +99

Zeke Nnaji: 39 games +141

Facundo Campazzo: 64 games +461

Davon Reed: 44 games +95

Markus Howard: 31 games +69

Jamal Murray: 0 games +0

Michael Porter Jr: 9 games +56

Vlatko Cancar: 14 games +56

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Avg. TPM™ Per Game

Nikola Jokic: +37.57

Aaron Gordon: +13.07

Monte Morris: +12.92

Will Barton: +5.84

Jeff Green: +2.96

Bones Hyland: +8.68

Bryn Forbes: +4.48

Austin Rivers: +1.21

DeMarcus Cousins: +8.13

JaMychal Green: +1.50

Zeke Nnaji: +3.62

Facundo Campazzo: +7.20

Davon Reed: +2.16

Markus Howard: +2.23

Jamal Murray: +0.00

Michael Porter Jr: +6.22

Vlatko Cancar: +4.00

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TPM™ Per-Minute Splits Through game 68

*Credit DomP on the Spreadsheet.

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Final Thoughts:

• Denver wins by a final score of 122-109, and in so doing improves to 48-33 on the season.
• Jokic is the first player in NBA history with 2000 points, 1000 rebounds and 500 assist in one season.
• Denver FINALLY clinches a playoff berth in the 2nd to last game, and will rest their starters heading into the post season, vs LAL.
  

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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 45-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 data entry and all tracking/analysis is done in real time and published mere moments after each game's completion, 82 times per year.

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
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