Yao Ming Scores 11 Points as China Routs Serbia, 96-72
Yao Ming had 11 points and four rebounds in 12 minutes of action as China defeated Serbia 96-72 in the opening game of the four team Stankovic Cup tournament in Hangzhou, China. Ex-Dallas Maverick Wang Zhizhi led China with 18 points, while New Jersey Net Yi Jianlian scored 14 points. The annual event, first played in 2005, is always hosted by China and is named in honor of Borislav Stankovic, who for many years was in charge of FIBA, the International Basketball Federation. Russia and Angola are the other two participating teams this year.
Yao has been out of action for nearly five months because of a stress fracture in his foot; he had 12 points and six rebounds in his last game, a 110-97 win by the Houston Rockets over the Chicago Bulls on February 24, 2008.
Labels: Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian
MVP/RoY Rankings, Part II
I am participating in a season-long bi-weekly poll in which various bloggers offer their takes on the Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year races.
The results of the first poll were published on December 3. The results of the second poll were just posted at
Clips Nation.The top four players who I chose for MVP finished in the top four on the overall ballot, albeit in a different order. Seven of my 10 selections ranked in the consensus top ten; I left off Carlos Boozer, Manu Ginobili and Caron Butler in favor of Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming and Dirk Nowitzki. Four of my top five rookies were consensus picks; I chose Glen Davis instead of Jamario Moon.
Here is my complete ballot exactly as I submitted it (MVP and RoY votes are scored on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and 5-4-3-2-1 basis respectively, so James is my top MVP pick and Durant is my top RoY pick):
MVP
10-LeBron James: The cliche states that a player cannot lose his job due to injury. If anything, LeBron enhanced his top ranking due to injury because the Cavs looked terrible without him. It is worth remembering, though, that Hughes and Varejao were also out during that time.
9-Kobe Bryant: LeBron, KG and Howard have gotten most of the early MVP headlines but Kobe is having a major impact at both ends of the court.
8-Dwight Howard: Orlando has hit a bit of a funk recently but his production has actually increased.
7-Kevin Garnett: He is the best player on the best team but his numbers have dropped off dramatically (16.0 ppg and 7.2 rpg in December after putting up 20.1 ppg and 11.8 rpg in November). Part of this can be attributed to a decline in his minutes and it is important to note that the Celtics are 6-0 in December.
6-Tim Duncan: Like James, absence made the heart grow fonder.
5-Steve Nash: His shooting percentage plummeted but his assists went up as Phoenix hit the road.
4-Chris Paul: Was putting up career-high numbers in the first month of the season and then he increased them dramatically in December.
3-Tracy McGrady: Houston may be struggling a bit now but history has shown that when he is not in the lineup the team is terrible.
2-Yao Ming: Continues to put up solid scoring, rebounding and shooting numbers and has also taken on a more vocal leadership role.
1-Dirk Nowitzki: I gave the reigning MVP the benefit of the doubt early because his team was winning but now the Mavs are sliding and his numbers are down, so I'm dropping him to 10th place.
ROY
5-Kevin Durant: So many rookies seem to be hitting the proverbial wall now that he may actually earn RoY by default even though I am less impressed by his game than most people.Yes, he's had two games of more than 30 points since the last rankings, but he's also had games in which he shot 4-12, 4-17 and 3-11--and it's not like he's making up for that with his floor game (1.9 apg this season, 1.4 apg in December).
4-Al Horford: Shooting dropped off in December but his rebounding remains consistent.
3-Juan Carlos Navarro: His numbers are all over the map--two points one night, 27 on another.
2-Yi Jianlian: Has been solid most of the season and his numbers have improved recently.
1-Glen Davis: Did not do much in the first month of the season but is now a solid contributor off of the bench for the Celtics.
Dropped from the list since last time: Sean Williams (playing time, production have plummeted), Luis Scola (ditto)
Added to the list since last time: Yi Jianlian, Glen Davis
Labels: Al Horford, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Yi Jianlian
Durant Has the Hype, but Horford is Doing Work in the Paint
With Greg Oden sidelined for the season, Kevin Durant has received by far the most coverage of any NBA rookie. He has scored the most points--and missed the most shots. Here are the rookie leaders in several statistical categories:
Scoring
-------
1) Kevin Durant, SEA 19.0 (.374 FG%)
2) Jianlian Yi, MIL 9.9 (.432 FG%)
3) Jeff Green, SEA 9.8 (.453 FG%)
4) Daequan Cook, MIA 9.0 (.465 FG%)
5) Sean Williams, NJN 8.9 (.628 FG%)
Rebounding
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1) Al Horford, ATL 10.1
2) Jamario Moon, TOR 6.5
3) Jianlian Yi, MIL 6.1
4) Jeff Green, SEA 5.4
5) Sean Williams, NJN 4.6
Assists
-------
1) Mike Conley, MEM 4.2
2) Acie Law, ATL 3.0
3) Kevin Durant, SEA 1.8
4) Juan Carlos Navarro, MEM 1.6
5) Al Horford, ATL 1.3
Minutes
-------
1) Kevin Durant, SEA 33.8
2) Al Horford, ATL 32.5
3) Jamario Moon, TOR 27.4
4) Jianlian Yi, MIL 25.5
5) Jeff Green, SEA 22.2
NBA Efficiency Rating
---------------------
1) Al Horford, ATL 15.3
2) Jamario Moon, TOR 12.1
3) Kevin Durant, SEA 11.8
4) Jianlian Yi, MIL 11.5
5) Sean Williams, NJN 11.3
Durant continues to receive the most hype but by any objective measure he is not the best rookie. Don't be deceived by his scoring average; Durant is the only rookie who has a green light to shoot at any time from any spot on the floor--and his field goal percentage and his team's record (2-10) show that neither he nor his Seattle Supersonics are profiting from Coach P.J. Carlesimo's decision to turn Durant into "Agent 35, Licensed to Shoot."
Horford ranks in the top 20 in the league in both rebounding and blocked shots. He is averaging 8.7 ppg while shooting .481 from the field. It may be impossible to win the Rookie of the Year award while averaging less than 10 ppg but there is no doubt that he is a more effective player than Durant at both ends of the court.
Yi's shooting percentage is not great but it is better than Durant's; Yi also grabs more rebounds and blocks more shots than Durant.
Sean Williams ranks sixth in the NBA in blocked shots (2.5 bpg) and is shooting well over .600 while nearly averaging 10 ppg. That kind of production in the paint at both ends of the court is more valuable than the one-dimensional game that Durant has right now.
The NBA Efficiency Rating is hardly the definitive word on player evaluation but it is a semi-useful "quick and dirty" tool to make general comparisons. Kevin Garnett has the best NBA Efficiency Rating (31.8). Horford's rating is slightly worse than Udonis Haslem's rating. Moon's rating is virtually identical with Mehmet Okur's rating. Durant, Yi and Sean Williams are keeping company with veterans like J.R. Smith, Jordan Farmar and Kenyon Martin. The bottom line is that none of this year's rookies--including Durant--are even close to playing at an All-Star level.
As a sidenote, it is interesting to look at what has happened so far with the three Ohio State players who were drafted in the first round. With Oden out and Mike Conley struggling before he too was sidelined by injury, Miami's Daequan Cook is putting up the best numbers among Buckeye rookies. This is no doubt a major surprise to his hometown newspaper, the
Dayton Daily News, which for some inexplicable reason published a story at the start of the season that suggested that Cook would be sent to the NBA Development League, a bizarre assertion that looked even more foolish
after his performance in his very first game. Cook will no doubt have his ups and downs like most rookies, but he has already displayed enough athleticism, shooting ability and confidence to become a rotation player for the Heat.
Note: All statistics are from NBA.com
Labels: Al Horford, Daequan Cook, Kevin Durant, Sean Williams, Yi Jianlian
The Score, the Key Stat, the Bottom Line: Action Packed Friday
Friday night's action featured several close contests and perhaps the most watched regular season game in NBA history. Here are some things that caught my attention.
The Score:
Houston 104, Milwaukee 88The Key Stat: Perhaps 250 million people in China tuned in to check out the Yao-Yi matchup; Yao Ming finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots, while Yi Jianlian had 19 points and nine rebounds.
The Bottom Line: Tracy McGrady had an excellent game (21 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) for the 5-1 Rockets, who have already have posted wins over each of last year's Western Conference finalists, the San Antonio Spurs and the Utah Jazz. If Yao and McGrady stay healthy then Houston is a legitimate championship contender.
The Score:
Cleveland 93, Sacramento 91The Key Stat: LeBron James scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half, including Cleveland's final seven points in the last 1:49.
The Bottom Line: Cleveland's winning formula is simple: defend and rebound every night and rely on James to be the best player on the court most nights. The first two parts of the equation are easy to overlook but they are the reason that this team will be in almost every game at the end, which gives James the opportunity to take over down the stretch. Cleveland held Sacramento to .400 field goal shooting and outrebounded the Kings 49-41. Even though Cleveland also did not shoot well (.380), the Cavaliers kept the game close, enabling James to seize control with one burst. Just as impressive as his late scoring, though, is that James played excellent defense to thwart Kevin Martin's attempt to nail a tying jumper as time ran out.
The Score:
Utah 103, Seattle 101The Key Stat: Kevin Durant finished with 21 points but he shot just 7-21 from the field and had four of his shots blocked. He shot 1-8 from three point range and only had one assist. Durant attempted 103 shots in the first five games of his career, the fifth highest total since the 1976-77 NBA-ABA merger and the ninth highest total of all-time.
The Bottom Line: Durant had a chance to tie the game in the waning seconds but he went up with a soft, double-clutch shot that Andrei Kirilenko swatted away to preserve the win. I have no problem with people praising Durant's brief college career or mentioning that he has a lot of talent but what I don't understand is the rush to crown him as a "sensation" and as a shoo-in to be Rookie of the Year. Why can't we simply let his performance dictate the accolades that he gets instead of writing the storyline before the games are played? Maybe Durant is the best rookie but that is certainly not a slam dunk--which is what he should have tried on the last play, ensuring that he either scored or drew a foul.
The Score:
Denver 118, Washington 92The Key Stat: Denver shot .511 from the field and held Washington to .383 shooting. Gilbert Arenas finished with 18 points, four assists, four steals and four turnovers, shooting 5-13 from the field (including 2-8 from three point range). He had the worst plus/minus score (-16) among Washington's starters.
The Bottom Line: Denver missed three alley-oops in one quarter, committed so many miscues that Coach George Karl quipped that he would mix the game film in with Abbott and Costello outtakes--and the Nuggets still won by 26 points. The Wizards are 0-5, the worst start for the franchise since 1966, when the team was known as the Baltimore Bullets. Washington Coach Eddie Jordan offered this take on the carnage: "We just weren't disciplined. We didn't stay organized. We didn't rebound. We didn't share the ball. We didn't execute. It's one of the most disappointing games I've been involved in." Other than rebounding, every shortcoming that Jordan listed is largely the responsibility of the point guard--the one and only Agent Zero. I realize that Arenas is not completely healthy at the moment but there is a lot of truth to the old school credo that you can play hurt but you can't play injured. If Arenas is just hurting a little, then he needs to stop talking about it and find a way to play better; if he is truly injured to the extent that this is really the best that he can play right now, then maybe he should shut things down until he is healthier. I don't know how badly Arenas is hurt; all I know is that his performance right now is hurting his team.
The Score:
L.A. Lakers 107, Minnesota 93The Key Stat: Lamar Odom had 18 points, 10 rebounds and a game-high +22 plus/minus score in his 2007-08 debut.
The Bottom Line: Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 30 points on 9-19 shooting. He also had seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Lakers' big men Andrew Bynum (10 points, 10 rebounds), Chris Mihm (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Ronny Turiaf (11 points, two rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots) had productive games, a crucial element that was missing for the Lakers for most of last season. Derek Fisher (11 points, nine assists) continues to provide steady point guard play. Al Jefferson (24 points, 15 rebounds) was the lone bright spot for the winless Timberwolves.
Labels: Carmelo Anthony, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers, LeBron James, Utah Jazz, Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian
