Beaneball

• The Sonics beat the Hawks, sending Atlanta to its second loss, by winning the overtime period 12-11. The Sonics did what they usually do, with Ray Allen scoring 33 (though he shot just 1-6 for threes), Rashard Lewis adding 23, and Chris Wilcox grabbing 15 rebounds. Joe Johnson scored 28, Josh Smith 24, and Josh Childress added 17 off the bench on 5-6 shooting. Additionally, Zaza Pachulia contributed 21 points from the center position, which is the first time I remember noticing him making a real contribution this year. So how'd the Hawks lose? Try eighteen missed threes by Johnson and Smith. Two or three more makes and this game doesn't get to overtime.
• Cleveland beat Boston, sending the Celtics to 1-5. LeBron scored 38 on the strength of 19-23 free-throw shooting while everyone else took the night off. Sasha Pavlovic had 14 off the bench, but he was the only other player in double digits. The team outside of James shot 37% and had one steal (LeBron had three). But the key, given the absence of Wally Szczerbiak, was keeping Paul Pierce down. Pauly Knifeholes shot just 6-21 and had only one assist. Sebastian Telfair came back from his shortness-of-breath scare of the night before, but shot only 5-16. Finally, Brian Scalabrine played as many minutes as Rajon Rondo. We love you, Doc Rivers.
• Orlando beat the T-Wolves by 11 in Minnesota, led by Jameer Nelson, Dwight Howard, and the bench, in the absence of Grant Hill, who was apparently put on the injured list, bringing Travis Diener back onto the roster. Nelson led the team with 23 points, but Howard was the star with 21 points and 22 rebounds. The bench looked great, though, with four players scoring in double digits, led by Darko's fifteen. Milicic did commit five fouls in just 24 minutes, though, which is the kind of thing that prevents you from the staying on the floor even if you're playing well on the offensive end. Kevin Garnett went to the free-throw line 13 times on the way to 28 points, grabbed eleven boards, and dished five assists, but his supporting cast just didn't shoot well enough. Ricky Davis and Mike James each shot 5-13 and combined for just two rebounds. Davis did have eight assists, though. This, by the way, is what Troy Hudson has fallen to: ten minutes, no shots, one rebound, one block.
• The Spurs did what they're supposed to do against the Knicks, beating them by eight. Tim Duncan was horrible from the free-throw line, shooting 4-12, but he scored 24 anyway and grabbed 16 rebounds besides. He also blocked three shots, which is three more than the entire Knicks team. I can't remember the last time I saw a team with zero blocks in a game. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 33 points and also added six assists while turning the ball over just twice. The Knicks committed a lot of fouls, which might be a good strategy against a team that's going to shoot 55% from the free-throw line and 51% from the field. Channing Frye, Eddy Curry, Jamal Crawford, and Malik Rose all had five fouls (Rose in just 19 minutes, Frye in fourteen), and David Lee fouled out (in 23 minutes). Curry tossed five turnovers in with his five fouls, making absolutely certain to do enough bad to cancel out his fifteen points. Q-Rich was the Knicks' top player with 21 points and eleven rebounds.
• The Bulls evened their record at 3-3, beating Indiana on the strength of a 30-14 final quarter. Chicago shot terribly (38%), "led" by Ben Gordon's 1-8 performance, assisted ably by Kirk Hinrich (7-19), Ben Wallace (4-11), and Andres Nocioni (3-10). Gordon, for good measure, committed five fouls in just 21 minutes. In spite of all of this, though, the Bulls won, largely due to rebounding: they won that battle by a 51-28 count, and grabbed 24 offensive boards (to just four for Indiana). Ben Wallace had ten offensive boards and eighteen overall, and Luol Deng added six boards on each end. Al Harrington and Danny Granger were again the Pacers' top two players, with nineteen and eighteen respectively (Granger shot 5-6 from behind the arc). When your top two score that few points, though, you're probably in trouble, as Indiana was here. Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson stumbled again, scoring just twelve and ten and committing eight turnovers between them.
• Utah won again, improving to 6-1, by beating Milwaukee. The Bucks scored 42 points in the final period but still managed to fall by two. Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams were big scorers again, with 32 and 27 points. Boozer added ten rebounds, including five offensive, and Williams had fifteen assists and five steals. Mehmet Okur shot just 1-9, but Matt Harpring and Paul Milsap each shot 6-9 in 27 minutes off the bench to pick up the slack. All of this was just enough to overcome a great game from Michael Redd, who scored 57 points, hitting 6-12 three-pointers and 15-17 from the free-throw line. Ruben Patterson backed Redd up with 8-9 shooting, but Mo Williams struggled again, shooting just 2-12. Charlie Villanueva, who had been playing very well over the first couple games, was hardly present, shooting 1-6 and grabbing four rebounds. Terrible news for people who like exciting defensive players: Andrei Kirilenko severely sprained his ankle in the game, which is why he played just ten minutes. AK-47 has been limited by injury each of the last three years, and it's getting to the point where you worry about the label "injury prone" wrecking his career.
• Phoenix finally won its second game, beating Memphis, which was similarly gunning for win #2. This game wins "Best Second Half" awards, where by "best," I mean "craziest." The Suns won the third quarter 35-15, giving them a 31-point lead going into the final quarter. Phoenix proceeded to win by just nine, though, as they were outscored 29-7 in the final quarter. The Phoenix Suns were held to seven points in a quarter. Seven. Yes, it was the reserves, but still, seven points is crazy. Amare Stoudemire had a "welcome back" game, scoring 25 points on 10-14 shooting and adding 15 rebounds despite playing just 25 minutes (probably due more to his five fouls than to the blowout). Leandro Barbosa and Steve Nash shot poorly (9-25 combined) but had 21 assists to just four turnovers. Jalen Rose's debut for the Suns was mixed: 3-9 shooting, but 3-6 from behind the arc. Chucky Atkins led the Grizz with 20 points off the bench, as no starter scored more than 12 (that was Hakim Warrick). Damon Stoudamire, of all people, led Memphis with three offensive rebounds.
• Golden State destroyed the Pistons, winning 111-79, which is a score you usually associate with a Detroit win over a team like the Warriors. Lindsey Hunter was the leading scorer for Detroit, which is bad on multiple counts: first, that it's Hunter; second, that it was just 14 points; third, that he shot 5-13. The Warriors shot well over 50%, including 12-21 from three-point range, with only Troy Murphy contributing a bad shooting game (3-9). Mike Dunleavy shot 4-8 and added six boards and eight assists off the bench, which is how he has to contribute, if he's going to.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 15:26 | |

• The Pacers beat Orlando by 10 despite shooting under 40%. Al Harrington was too much for the Magic, scoring 32. He got good help from young forward Danny Granger, who added 18. These performances were huge because the big names for Indiana, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson, combined to shoot 6-25. The bench for Indiana made just four shots, though White Hustle Guy ™ Jeff Foster grabbed eight boards (four offensive - I told you he was a White Hustle Guy ™), blocked three shots, and picked up two steals. I asked someone the other day where Trevor Ariza was hanging out these days. Turns out he's on the Magic bench. He didn't do much in this game, but I saw his name, so I thought I'd mention it, if for no other reason than to show that even if drafting is Zeke Thomas's strength, he's not necessarily that good at it. Dwight Howard had an odd game for the Magic: he scored 17, grabbed 14 boards, and blocked three shots, all of which are good, and about what you expect from Howard; problem is that he also turned the ball over eight times, which is unacceptable, particularly for a center. How did Howard have the ball often enough to turn it over that many times?
• Denver got its first win by taking down the 76ers. Nobody had a "jump out at you" game for the Nuggets, which turned out to be a good thing, as it pretty much looks like everyone did their jobs: Carmelo scored 31, Eduardo Najera grabbed five offensive boards, Marcus Camby had eleven rebounds, three steals, and a block, and Andre Miller had 18 points and nine assists. The bench didn't shoot well, hitting just eight of 25 shots. Allen Iverson's 6-20 shooting undermined good games from a variety of other guys: Chris Webber (8-16), Sam Dalembert (7-8), and Kyle Korver (9-16 for a team-leading 23 points). One problem for the Sixers is that they seem to be playing only three or four guys who are threats offensively. Andre Igoudala took just two shots in 29 minutes (though he did have seven assists and five turnovers, so the ball was in his hands); Kevin Ollie shot twice in 16 minutes; and Steven Hunter shot once in 19 minutes. I guess when you've got Mean Willie Green gunning 14 shots in 29 minutes, it gets hard for other guys to find shots.
• Washington won what looks like it was a wild game over Milwaukee. The final score was 116-111, but the third quarter scores were 34-17 and 40-26, with Milwaukee winning the third and Washington the fourth. Eleven players scored in double digits between the teams, led by (who else?) Gilbert Arenas, with 29. Michael Redd had 28 to lead the Bucks. The teams' shooting percentages were separated by just 0.3%, and though Milwaukee managed 12 additional shots, the differences came on foul shots and three-pointers: Washington shot thirteen more free throws (making twelve more), and Washington made five more threes, though the teams each shot the trey eighteen times. The individual difference in threes can be explained this way: Mo Williams missed all six of his attempts for Milwaukee, while Antawn Jamison hit 4-6 for the Wiz.
• Atlanta won again, going to 4-1 by beating Toronto. Joe Johnson had yet another big game, scoring 34, and was backed up by Josh Smith, who poured in 29. Johnson and Smith also contributed in other ways, combining for ten assists, fifteen boards, and just four turnovers. Swingman #3, Josh Childress, scored 16 off the bench for the Hawks. Chris Bosh had 19 points, 17 boards, and six assists for Toronto. Is Bosh reminding anyone of Kevin Garnett (very good inside/outside big man playing in a city out of the way of any major media market and without the surrounding parts to make the team a threat to do much at all)?
• Seattle sent Bobcats fans home unhappy, riding a 35-19 third quarter to a 14-point win. Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis combined for 47 points on 29 shots, and Nick Collison was tremendous off the bench, scoring ten points and grabbing fifteen boards in 27 minutes. All of this overshadowed Adam Morrison's first pro start. Morrison didn't help things by shooting just 3-12, though he did manage three steals. Emeka Okafor had the best game for Charlotte, scoring twenty and grabbing fifteen boards himself. A forward by the name of Walter Herrmann got into the game for Charlotte. I wanted to note this because I'm pretty sure his name means "Mr. Man" in German. Babelfish confirms this. I am hereby a fan of Walter Mr. Man.
• Utah improved to 5-1 and sent Boston to their fourth loss, winning 107-100. The Jazz shot 53% for the game, including 6-14 behind the arc, and there were a number of excellent individual performances: Carlos Boozer had 24 points (9-13) and 14 rebounds; Mehmet Okur had 23 points and hit 4-5 from behind the arc (he's the center!); Deron Williams had 26 points on 10-15 shooting and dished 14 assists; Andrei Kirilenko blocked five shots. I don't know who Kirilenko was guarding, but Wally Szczerbiak shot just 5-15 from the field. Paul Pierce got his 30, and three different players scored in double digits off the bench, led by Rajon Rondo's 13 in 25 minutes. Bassy Telfair played just seven minutes, despite starting, which smells like an injury. Indeed, the recap notes that he left the game with "shortness of breath" and was later diagnosed with "bronchospasm." WebMD says that a bronchospasm is a narrowing of the airways, and a search for the word turns up a bunch of results about asthma.
• Miami beat New Jersey by seven, though I'm sure the 113-106 final score wasn't so much to Pat Riley's liking. The five Miami starters played 77.5% of the team's minutes (compare that to 66.25% for the Nets), essentially playing a six-man rotation, with James Posey the sixth guy, playing 28 minutes. Dwyane Wade scored 34 points with ten assists and turned the ball over just once. In fact, only Alonzo Mourning, with three turnovers in just seven minutes, turned the ball over more than once for Miami, which is pretty remarkable. The surprise performance, though, came from Udonis Haslem, who generally plays the "banger" role (and occasionally the "thrower of mouthpieces" role). Haslem shot 10-14 in this one, though, and went to the line eleven times, resulting in 28 points. Jason Kidd just missed another triple double, finishing with 12 points, nine boards, and nine assists. Vince Carter led the Nets with 33 points, but also turned the ball over five times. Meanwhile, Marcus "Dude, It's a Dell" Williams missed all five of his three attempts off the bench, and also turned the ball over three times.
• Jeff Van Gundy welcomed his old team to Houston by beating them 103-94. Yao was the story, as he has been many times early this year, scoring 35, grabbing seventeen boards, and blocking seven shots. He did turn the ball over eight times (the Knicks only turned it over nine times overall), but you'll come close to forgiving that given the rest of his contributions. Remember, a lot of people worried about Yao's ability to rebound and block shots given his relative lack of mobility and athleticism. He still doesn't move from one side of the basket to the other as well as, say, Ben Wallace, but it looks like (I say this both from his numbers and from watching him a few times this year) he's a little more active, and has also learned how to use his unmatched length while also avoiding fouls for reaching in and going over the backs of his opponents. The Knicks' box scores this year are broken records: Channing Frye plays poorly in few minutes, despite starting; Jamal Crawford, Nate Robinson, and Stephon Marbury take most of the shots; and David Lee provides great White Guy Hustle ™ off the bench. The variation comes from how well the guards shoot and how well Eddy Curry and Q Richardson play, and that variation explains why the Knicks lost this game: Crawford and Robinson shot 7-20 and 3-9, respectively (though Marbuy missed just three of his eleven shots), and Curry shot 2-11 and grabbed only five rebounds in 22 minutes (it looks like foul trouble kept him down, as he finished with four). Richardson played pretty well, shooting 5-10 and adding five assists, but the Knicks needed to transfer six to eight shots from Crawford and Curry to Richardson to win this game.
• Portland beat the Hornets by one despite being down after the first quarter by 25 points. Zach Randolph did his usual business, scoring 31, mostly by getting to the line sixteen times, and grabbing twelve boards. Brandon Roy started for Portland but played just seven minutes due to a recurrence of a heel injury. Tyson Chandler was ejected for the Hornets, who got 21 points from Peja Stojakovic, but uncharacteristic shooting from Chris Paul (6-17) and David West (6-16), who grabbed thirteen boards, but ended up fouling out.
• Detroit killed the Lakers. I watched the game, and it wasn't pretty. Kobe was the high scorer for L.A. with just 19. Tayshaun Prince destroyed the Lakers. Prince gets to play at home (he grew up in L.A.) twice a year, and he made the most of this trip, scoring 31 points. Lamar Odom, who was having a decent all-around game (16 points, eight boards, seven dimes) was tossed after his second technical. I'm not entirely sure he deserved the second one, though Bill Walton was adamant about it. After a foul called against him (as I recall), he took off both of his wrist bands and tossed them. That sounds bad, but there are two caveats: first, he tossed them off the court, in the general vicinity of the Laker bench; second, he did this forlornly, not demonstratively, and I'd bet that 17,500 out of the 19,000 fans in attendance didn't even notice. I'm all for teeing guys up if they want to do what became endemic over the last few years: running around the court, arms outstretched, yelling every time a foul was called. But some of the things I've seen techs issued for this year go far beyond the necessary boundaries of a crackdown, and I think "taking off your armbands" fits into that category. Again, it's not like Lamar tossed them to the crowd or threw them on the court. It's similar to the tech Rudy Gay got on Wednesday the fifteenth. He got hit going to the basket, got the foul, and slammed the basketball down, not in relation to a call (which was, of course, for him) but because he got hit and it apparently hurt. Had he bounced the ball straight down, so that it bounced up into the air, I'd guess nothing would have come of this. Instead, though, the angle was a little different, and the ball bounced into the crowd underneath the basket. I, personally, don't think that's deserving of a technical foul.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Basketball at 13:17 | |

Baseball Reference now has splits, box scores, and game logs! The site is now clearly the best website on the entire internets. How many times have I wanted some split or other, but could only get it on ESPN, and that only for the last three to five years or so? Want to know how Barry Bonds hit "late and close" in 1993? Try .368/.438/.868. It's right there. Now, a caveat is that these aren't exact, apparently, because there are a few plays missing here and there from the play-by-play files. That said, as long as the split you're looking at is a meaningful sample of plate appearances anyway, a few missing PA's isn't going to kill your analysis. In other words, so long as you're not trying to decide how Bonds is going to hit in extra innings this year by looking at his numbers in overtime in 1993, you're in good shape. The reason I was on the site in the first place was to look at how Barry Bonds hit last year. The A's are apparently heavy in the race to sign him, particularly now that Frank Thomas is gone. Keith Law noted on ESPN that Bonds won't come nearly as cheap as Thomas did. That's true, but there are a number of other considerations. First, Thomas wasn't as cheap as the $500,000 or whatever was announced before the year anyway, since he presumably earned pretty much every incentive he could, pushing the contract to its max value (which, as I recall, was something in the range of $2-3 million). Now, granted, Bonds isn't going to come for even that little, but it's still good to keep in mind that Thomas wasn't making rookie money last year. Second, with Barry Zito out the door, that's nearly eight million dollars coming off the payroll. That kind of analysis is always a little superficial, but there is some effect. Third, the A's played four home playoff games last year, with the extra revenue that entails. That's got to make Lew Wolff happy and also hopefully have him salivating for more. The failure of Dan Johnson to emerge (85 OPS+) and Daric Barton's injury troubles (just 45 games played last year) mean that the A's need a DH, and none is going to be forthcoming from within the organization. Barry Bonds, even in the age of strict drug testing, even at 41, even coming off a year in which he played just 14 games, hit 270/454/545 last year. Amusingly enough, Thomas also hit .270 and slugged .545. The difference is that Thomas's OBP was "just" .381. In other words, yes, Bonds will cost more than Thomas did this year. On the other hand, it's not obvious that Bonds will cost more than Thomas is making with Toronto ($18 million over two years, with $9 million of it coming as a signing bonus; there's also a $10 million vesting option for 2009, based on plate appearances). Further, Bonds is less of a liability on the bases (he managed three steals last year), is probably less likely to have his injury recur in a major way, and could certainly still play the outfield if he had to (though the defensive drop off from any of the A's outfielders to Bonds would be enormous). What it really comes down to is whether Bonds is asking for $15 million or $10 million. If it's the former, I don't think the A's pay. If it's the latter, I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen.

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski in Oakland A's at 12:31 | |