20 Second Timeout

Stat Nuggets

I was originally going to call this "T-Mac Nuggets" (a take off on Chicken McNuggets) but I found a couple non-T-Mac nuggets that are also interesting.

*** This year the Houston Rockets are 40-18 (.690) when Tracy McGrady starts and 2-7 (.222) when he doesn't. Keep in mind that Yao Ming missed 32 games. Prorated over an 82 game season, the Rockets would theoretically be 57-25 with T-Mac and 18-64 without him. Based on the "Steve Nash must be MVP because the Suns would be garbage without him theory," doesn't this at least mean that T-Mac must be mentioned in the MVP discussion? Teams that win 55+ games are generally considered title contenders. Teams that win 18 games send a representative to Secaucus for the Draft Lottery.

*** If that sample size of games is too small for you, let's add in the figures from the previous two seasons: the Rockets are 116-67 (.634) with T-Mac and 11-37 (.229) without him since T-Mac joined the squad for the 2004-05 season. That is equivalent to 52-30 with him and 19-63 without him. While with the Rockets T-Mac has been paired with just one All-Star--Yao Ming--who has frequently been hurt (the Rockets are 1-10 when both T-Mac and Yao have been sidelined). Steve Nash is paired with two All-Stars (though Amare Stoudemire did miss basically an entire season) plus a Sixth Man of the Year candidate (Leandro Barbosa).

*** T-Mac is the third youngest player in NBA history to reach both 14,000 points and 4000 rebounds during his career (27 years, 219 days). Wilt Chamberlain reached those milestones at 27 years, 105 days and Bob McAdoo reached them at 27 years, 152 days. Oscar Robertson (27 years, 325 days) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (27 years, 343 days) rank fourth and fifth in this category.

*** T-Mac had six straight 30-point games this season (12/29/06-1/8/07), tied for the second best such streak in Rockets history; Moses Malone had a 13 game streak (1/26/82-2/23/82) and also had a six game streak (2/26/82-3/7/82).

*** Allen Iverson had 44 points and 15 assists in Denver's 131-107 rout of the Phoenix Suns. Only three other players in the past 20 years have put up 40-plus points and 15-plus assists in the same game (Kevin Johnson had 42/17 in 1994, Tim Hardaway had 41/18 in 1993 and Isiah Thomas had 40/17 in 1988).

*** That Iverson effort was his 78th career 40 point game. His teams are 54-24 in those contests. Kobe Bryant's 50 point game versus Minnesota was the 78th 40 point game of his career. His teams are also 54-24. What are the odds that Bryant and Iverson would not only have exactly the same number of 40 point games but that their teams would also have exactly the same record in those games?

posted by David Friedman @ 4:30 AM

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