I can’t decide whether I prefer this or Tony’s evisceration of Antawn Jamison the other night. But I’ll take em both. In related news, Tony Allen is now a major contributor in the NBA playoffs.
Be sure to stock up on potable water and canned goods. (video via @jose3030)
I have a feeling you’ll see more Game 6 Cavs/Celtics coverage around here in the minutes, hours, days, weeks and years to come, but let’s start with the best highlight of the contest. And a highlight that very fittingly sums up Antawn Jamison’s Game 6. (And most of his series, really.)
2 for 10 shooting? Plus terrible defense? Thanks for coming out.
Also, that 3/16 shooting from three this series for a stretch four probably wasn’t ideal. (video via @jose3030)
I was G-chatting with Matt and Ben earlier today, and they were all “Whatevs, brah — I see how it is. You think you can cover these playoffs without us? YOU NEED US. Who set this thing up? Us. That’s who. Who do your readers trust? Us. That’s who.”
And then they did this:
Lion Face – The Takeover
There’s not really any way to express how good Rajon was with the written word. Through two games, this is Rajon’s series. For the second straight game, he did pretty much whatever he wanted on the court and was by far the best player on the floor for loooong stretches. A floor he often shared with LeBron James mind you. About his Game 1 first half, I wrote that he played about as well as any human could. Tonight? He might have been even better. The 19 assists don’t even tell the whole story. He was Boston’s heart and soul and if he plays like this in Boston as well, the Celtics could be well on their way to the Eastern Conference Finals. In summation, Rajon Rondo not only sounds like the name that should belong to some sort of ancient sun god — he might be one.
Lemon Face – Cleveland’s Half-Time Speech
I have no idea what happened in the Cavs locker room during half time. But it didn’t work. 12 points in the third. Twelve. Uno. Dos. Unacceptable. Particularly when you, perhaps relatedly, give up 31 on the other side. I mean, Cleveland’s offense was hitting on zero cylinders all game long (91.5 offensive efficiency, 42.9% eFG%, 4/21 from three and 26/38 from the line for the game), but the third was particularly gross. And a lot of it came against Boston’s reserves given the team’s foul trouble. You can’t win a playoff game scoring 38 points in the second half. Not even at home. Not even after you watch the NBA MVP trophy being handed out to your captain before the game. This is not 1998 and Jeff Van Gundy is not hugging Alonzo Mourning’s leg.
Lion Face – Throwback Sheed
At this point, mocking Sheed’s tenure as a Celtic isn’t even funny anymore. There are no jokes that haven’t been made already, and everyone in the universe knows how that his inability to contribute can be blamed on his doughy exterior, half-hearted (at best) effort and unwillingness to do anything consistently beside hoist errant three-pointers. Tonight, none of that mattered. Sheed, in just 18 minutes, was a true difference-maker and showed us all the qualities that once made him one of the most feared, versatile power forwards to ever lace ‘em up. He hit 7 of the 8 shots he took and 3 of his 4 trey attempts. 17 points on 8 shots without even going to the line. CTC.
Lemon Face – Mo’ Williams, Mo’ Problems
You know what you did. You did it last season against Orlando, and you did it again tonight. If you don’t learn how to play a meaningful playoff game without having to wear a diaper for fear you might soil yourself on any given evening, your team will not continue to advance. Real talk.
Lion Face – PEEERRRRK
You knew it was going to be a good night for the big fella when you saw him hit a mid-range jumper early in the first quarter. KG kicked it over. Perk looked at the rim. No one challenged. And he was like “I’ll take anybody’s money if they just giving it away” before re-gathering and letting it fly. Twine music. Throw in some solid interior defense even before that shot when Cleveland unsuccessfully tried to run some offense through Shaq to start the game, and Kendrick had a lot to do with setting the tone for how this game would unfold.
Lemon Face – Kevin Garnett’s shooting
8/21. Not cool, dude. Not cool. /headbuttsmirror
Lion Face – Kevin Garnett’s Other Stuff
Nice work. /headbuttsmirror
Lion Cub Face – Antawn Doing His Job
You were dull, not all that stand-out-ish and generally Antawn-ian. But you did your job. You hit some shots (6/11 from the field and 2/5 from three), spaced the floor, played enough defense and rebounded well enough. Nothing to get too excited about, but this should be all that Cleveland really needs from you. Still, you’re going to have to have at least one 25+ point game in this series. It would be wise to try to make that happen in Game 3. Please advise.
Lemon Face – Anthony Parker Not Doing His Job
What would ya say … you do here? Quit trying to penetrate. You’re not good at it. Spot up, keep the ball moving and perhaps drive-and-kick a little. No one is going to let you get to the rim. This is the Boston Celtics defense — not the California Penal League. More importantly, play defense. They need you to control Rondo and other perimeter players and generally control penetration. Do what you are good at. Not the other stuff.
Lion Face – Al Roker’s Press Conference
Way to call out your team for putting up a game like that at home against a conference rival. Mike Brown was fiery, unapologetic, demanding and down-right pissed off in his post-game talk. “Aint a goddamn thing that’s going to be given to us in this series,” he said unhappily. A lot different than his giddy reaction after Game 1.
Lemon Face – LeBron
You were 1/7 on shots from outside of the paint. You only took 1 shot in the second quarter. And it’s not like you were creating a lot of great looks for teammates instead — not by your standards anyway (only 4 assists for the game). You turned the ball over 5 times. You missed 5 free throws. You had a few steals and that one insane — yet somehow now expected every game — chasedown block on Tony Allen, but your defense was not particularly good. You took some plays off, didn’t fight through screens all the time and missed some assignments. Sure, you finished with 24, 7 and 5 on not-terrible shooting — but that’s not enough. You don’t have Manu Ginobli or Pau Gasol. You have to play better for your team to win in these next — you hope — three series. If not, there won’t be three series at all.
Asked to give a final message to Wizards fans, Jamison said, “I love them more than they love me.”
via Twitter / Michael Lee: Asked to give a final mess ….
Got a funny feeling Joe Johnson’s going to have the same sentiment in five months.
It is kind of a big but – it thinks the Bobcats would be worse with LeBron James than Gerald Wallace this season. And as big of a Crash fan as I am, that is preposterous. Now, it is not the tool’s fault: It just does not know any better. It was designed to say that if a new player comes in, the rest of the team will continue to perform at the same efficiency they have previously. But when you add a player like LeBron James, things are a little different – for one, he uses about 15 more possessions per 100 team possessions than Gerald. All of a sudden the rest of the Bobcats are responsible for splitting just 65 possessions, instead of 80 – hmm, wonder if that may make their jobs a little bit easier?
No surprises: It does. A great example is Raymond Felton’s performance from last year to this year. Last season, his usage ([fga+0.4*fta+turnovers]/100 team possessions) was 24.7 and his efficiency on those possessions (points per 100 possessions used) was just 82.0. This year, with the addition of Stephen Jackson, Ray’s usage is down to 20.7 and his efficiency up to 95.0. Looking across the league, this relationship holds true – as usage goes up, efficiency goes down. This is not to say that high usage players are the lowest efficiency players – that is not the case. No, what I mean is that as an individual player is called on to shoulder an increased burden, his efficiency drops. The chart below shows the usage versus efficiency on a per game basis for every player who played at least 8 minutes in a given game.
via Queen City Hoops – You mean Gerald isn’t better than LeBron?.
Brett’s updated the Player Swap Tool and I suggest you go take a gander.
Click on that for a look at Jamison for Z and the impact on the Cavs. Now, the win differential is null, but take a look at the possessions used. If you’re looking at the Cavs, you want someone who can absorb more possessions to take the burden off James and prevent the dreaded “everyone stand around and watch James dribble” offense. From Brett’s tool, it certainly looks like it.
Brett’s tool is also groundbreaking in that it’s the first tool to start moving to a conceptual analysis of the impact of players on teams, not just from a “let’s subtract this guy’s stats and add that guy’s” but from a look at the impact on elements that are dynamic, that is, they interact with the other team. You’re never going to be able to get everything covered in terms of chemistry, and defense will take a while to get a more accurate look at, but we’re headed in that direction. Take a look at what Brett’s doing. Pretty awesome stuff.
Troy Murphy was literally one made FT away from being Above Average in all 5 categories. Instead he is Above Average in 4 out of 5
via Looking at “VORP†With Colorful Charts, Vol. 2: Shooting Percentages.
On Twitter, one of the WFNY crew pondered about if the Cavs would get Jamison or settle for Troy Murphy, their other supposed target, pre-Amar’e availability (or re-availability, whatever). I responded that the Troy Murphy idea was more up Ferry’s alley. A value deal, versus the homerun. I said Ferry was a Value Brand shopper. Dude probably drinks Dr. Thunder.
But then I started wondering after taking a look at Jared’s fantastic chart breakdown of the Pacers’ performance compared to average, how good is Murphy in terms of a trade asset?
The verdict? Pretty damn good.
Troy Murphy is 30 years old, Jamison is 33. Murphy makes $11 million this year and a little under $12 million next year, which is an expiring contract year (SUPER TRADE VALUE BONUS x3!). Jamison makes $11 million this year, $13 million next year, and $15 million the year after, when he’ll be 36.
Jamison is averaging 22.5 points per 40, 8.8 RB per 40, 1.1 steal and .2 blocks per 40. Murphy is averaging 18.0 points per 40, 12.4 rebounds per 40, 2.5 assists, 1.1 steals, and .8 blocks per 40. Jamison has a PER of 19.55, Murphy a PER of 18.19.
Wowzers. That’s much closer than I thought it would be.
You could argue that Jamison is a star, while Murphy is not, that Jamison is a difference maker, which I’ve been arguing for weeks, while Murphy is not. Check the standings. Indiana’s a half game better than Washington, with Arenas only having been out a month, and having Haywood, Butler, and Mike Miller versus Granger, Dunleavy, and Hansbrough.
It’s pretty apparent that the difference between these two guys may not be as wide as we thought, if we’re looking at actual production. I still believe that Jamison is the right play, a guy capable of going off in a pick and roll set versus LeBron. But if the Cavs can’t weasel him free of Washington, it’ll be a lot easier to hand rebuilding Indiana Z’s Get Out of Cap Jail Free Card and get Murphy. Murphy’s younger, cheaper, and if he doesn’t work out, you’ve got an expiring contract for next year.
Jamison may be the sexiest pick, heck, the right pick, but when trades are so difficult to accomplish, Murphy may be the easy way out. And what’s more Dr. Thunder than that?