The NBA: The Best Players and Teams of December 2012

As we start the first month of the new year, let’s look at which teams and players performed well enough to merit top honors. This is the second in a series of “Best of the Month” citations based on the Efficiency Recap ratings on HoopsStats.com. Team citations will be based on Efficiency Recap Difference (Team Efficiency – Opponents’ Efficiency), while Player citations will be based on Player Efficiency and his team’s Efficiency ranking. You can check out the Stats Glossary here.

Team Citations:

Best Backcourt: Los Angeles Clippers – 45.1ppg, 9.0rpg, 16.8apg, 5.8spg, +21.0 DEFF

With Chris Paul, Jamal Crawford, Eric Bledsoe, and Willie Green all playing as well as they have, the Clippers continued to have the best backcourt in the NBA. Paul’s numbers have been consistently high, while Crawford’s are still plenty impressive despite the dip in his FG%.

Best Frontcourt: Oklahoma City Thunder – 59.3ppg, 31.5rpg, 6.8apg, 3.8spg, 6.2bpg, 51.4 FG%, +15.6 DEFF

With Kevin Durant becoming a borderline triple-double threat, Serge Ibaka norming a near-double-double, and guys like Nick Collison and Kendrick Perkins producing solid support, the Thunder possessed the best frontline this past December.

Best Bench: Los Angeles Clippers – 45.2ppg, 19.8rpg, 11.0apg, 5.1spg, 4.2bpg, +21.3 DEFF

The LA Clippers have Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes, and Lamar Odom coming off the bench. And they still have Chauncey Billups waiting in the wings, too. Coach Vinny Del Negro has incredible depth, and he has used it to the hilt.

Best Starters: Miami Heat - 75.5ppg, 25.5rpg, 16.6apg, 5.6spg, 2.9bpg, 52.4 FG%, +24.4 DEFF

There’s really no big surprise here, since LBJ and Wade upped their stats compared to December, softening the dip in the production of Chris Bosh and the continued inconsistency of Mario Chalmers.

Best East Team: Miami Heat – 101.4ppg, 38.3rpg, 21.8apg, 8.5spg, 4.7bpg, +11.5 DEFF

Miami wrested the top spot in the East from the New York teams by, well, being their usual dominant selves. I mean, hardly anyone from the East can beat Miami with LBJ norming a near-triple-double, right?

Best West Team: Los Angeles Clippers – 104.9ppg, 43.3rpg, 25.4apg, 11.0spg, 6.2bpg, +33.9 DEFF

Undefeated in 16 December games. San Antonio was second in DEFF with a 27.3 rating, which was a staggering 6 points below the Clips’. In plain language, that just means nobody could touch the Clippers last month. NOBODY.

Blake Griffin and the Clippers flew over the entire league
this past December.
(image by Mark J. Terrill/AP)

The NBA: Position Battle: The Best Centers Right Now

Let’s get one clear and surprising thing straight – none of the best centers of the past week in the NBA were All-Stars last season.

No Dwight Howard. No Andrew Bynum. No Marc Gasol (he almost made it, though). No Roy Hibbert (of course!).

Based on their EFF ratings for their last 5 games, here are the Top Five slotmen in the NBA (stats taken from HoopsStats.com):

5) Anderson Varejao (CLE) - 13.4ppg, 15.4rpg, 3.4apg, 1.6spg, 22.6 EFF

Arguably the most surprising player this season, and leading candidate for Most Improved Player in my book, Varejao continues to fill up the stat-sheet. Someday, the Brazilian’s great play will translate into more wins for the Cavs, but for now they’ll have to be content with a 5-game losing spell

4) Tyson Chandler (NYK) - 15.0ppg, 13.8rpg, 1.4bpg, 25.6 EFF

He SHOULD HAVE BEEN an All-Star last season had someone been smart enough to NOT include Roy Hibbert. Still, Chandler continues to be a strong double-double machine. It also helps that he has rediscovered his shot-blocking skills. In contrast to Varejao and the Cavs, though, Chandler and the Knicks are reaping the benefits as they went 4-1 in the past 5 games.

3) Joakim Noah (CHI) - 14.8ppg, 13.8rpg, 4.6apg, 1.4spg, 2.4bpg, 26.0 EFF

The Bulls seem to have righted the ship, going 4-1 in their last 5 games and taking the top spot in the Central Division from the Bucks. Noah has been a big part of that run, doing everything except, well, nothing. He IS doing everything! Just imagine if D-Rose were back and healthy!

2) Al Horford (ATL) - 18.0ppg, 12.4rpg, 3.8apg, 1.2spg, 1.4bpg, 26.4 EFF

The Hawks remain the second-best team in their Division, but that’s only because the best team is big bad Miami. Horford, though, has blossomed into the best big man in the division, despite the great play of Chris Bosh. The Dominican Republic national is registering All-Star level numbers again, and Atlanta has won 4 of 5 because of it.

1) Al Jefferson (UTA) - 20.3ppg, 11.0rpg, 1.0bpg, 27.0 EFF

The Jazz are riding high on a 3-game winning streak (including a big win over the Lakers at Staples), and Big Al is leading the charge. Jefferson’s big numbers make him the best center of the past week, and though the Jazz are way behind the Thunder in the Northwest, they are well-entrenched in the 6^th spot in the conference.

Al Jefferson revealed himself to be the best center of
the past week as Utah won its third straight game.
(image by Rick Bowmer/AP)

Honorable Mention: Marc Gasol (MEM), Andray BLatche (BRK), and Dwight Howard (LAL)

Moving forward, I’m wondering if we’ll ever get to see the names of Howard and Gasol (Pau) and Bynum on the Top 5 again this season. Given how two of those guys are on the same team sharing one ball (with Kobe at that), and how Bynum is, well, turning out to be a dud, it looks like the best big men in the league won’t carry big superstar statuses with them. Here’s to the relative no-namers taking names.

The NBA: Five Reasons for New York’s Great Start

With a 77.8% victory rate, and after handing the Miami Heat their first home defeat of the season, the New York Knicks are the undisputed top team outside of the Western Conference. Not bad for a team that went 36-30 last season and was bounced by generally the same Heat team in the first round of the Playoffs.

So how are they doing it? How are they surviving, nay thriving, without Amar’e Stoudemire? How are they holding it together despite letting go of Linsanity?

Here’s my take on five important factors driving the Knicks’ surprisingly strong start:

1) Shooting: The Knicks are tops in the league in threes made, top 3 in three-point percentage, top 7 in field goals made, and top 9 in field goal percentage. All of those numbers are improvements from NYK’s shooting in ’11-’12, and the results are undeniable. These Knicks are more potent this season, and when they are allowed to get hot, they’re practically unbeatable – coach Mike Woodson’s wards are 8-1 when they score at least 104 points.

2) Backcourt: With the aging (or aged?) Jason Kidd teaming up with the erratic JR Smith and the boom-bust Raymond Felton, it would be fair to say that the Knicks SHOULD NOT have one of the league’s top backcourts. There are, after all, many other teams with bigger stars at both guard spots – Miami has Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen, the Celtics have Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce, and Brooklyn has Deron Williams and Joe Johsnon. What the New York backcourt lacks in star power, however, they make up for in sheer production. Kidd, Smith, and Felton combine for about 38 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds, and 5 steals while shooting 43% from beyond the arc. Those stats help make this combo the third-best backcourt in the league, just behind the Clippers and the Thunder.

Raymond Felton has been playing really well
as the Knicks' starting point guard.
(image by Greg Shamus/Getty Images)

3) Balance: It’s not just New York’s backcourt that’s been clicking. The Amar’e-less frontline has been surprisingly effective, too. Carmelo Anthony has moonlighted as an undersized 4, while Tyson Chandler has been the immovable anchor. Steve Novak and the resurgent Rasheed Wallace have also been reasonably solid reserves up front for the Knicks. The balance does not stop with their roster, though, as the Knicks have been playing great two-way ball as well. They have the fourth-best offense in the league and the eighth-best defense. The days of D’Antoni’s run-and-gun, offense-is-the-best-defense philosophy are definitely long gone now.

4) Melo: Of course, one cannot talk about the Knicks’ success without mentioning the all-around effort being given by Carmelo Anthony on a game-by-game basis. Melo has upped his scoring, rebounding, and field goal shooting from last season, but the biggest improvement by far has been his three-point accuracy. The former Syracuse Orangeman has never shot close to 40% from beyond the arc in his career, but this season he’s hitting nearly 44% of his trey attempts. If he keeps this up, he might even be in the conversations for both the Most Valuable and Most Improved Player awards.

5) Chandler: Despite Melo’s staggering production, the biggest factor for the Knicks’ rise in the season’s first month has been the perennially undervalued Tyson Chandler. Here’s the thing with the prep-to-pro big man – he doesn’t put up eye-popping stats that other slotmen like Dwight Howard and the Gasol brothers are wont to do, but he’s one of the most efficient out there. Chandler’s aggregate numbers might seem pedestrian when set alongside those of Dwight, Gasol (Marc not Pau), or even the extremely shocking Anderson Varejao (his blocks have, in fact gone down dramatically), but his nearly 13 points (a career-high), more than 9 rebounds, and, get this, 71.2% FG shooting are enough to make NYK superbly sublime in the paint. He’s the classic example of someone who doesn’t do many things, but the few things he does, he does extremely well.

The Knicks celebrate after they beat the Heat in Florida.
(image by Alan Diaz/AP)

The NBA Playoffs: Day 5

Tony Parker and Tim Duncan spent a lot of time on
the bench to chat due to the Spurs' blowout win.
(Photo By Mike Stone/REUTERS)

#blowout #mismatch 
If you did not know yet, the Spurs are really good. They annihilated the Jazz early and had a 20-point lead midway of the 2nd quarter. The lead hemorrhaged to almost 40 points in the 2nd half. None of the Spurs' starters played more than 29 minutes and the team shot a blistering 57% from the field. Meanwhile, the Jazz had so much trouble scoring as they shot a measly 34% and was lead in scoring by two players with 10 points each. The Jazz played with no heart, no intensity and no defense. They seem to give the vibe that they are simply happy to make the playoffs. Now, if the Big 3 don't travel to Salt Lake City, then the Jazz have a chance.

#AsExpected #NoMagic
Glen Davis tried his hardest to help the Magic win Game 3 vs the Pacers. The result was a blow out win for the Pacers. Big Baby needed help from his teammates but no one came to his aid. Turkoglu, Richardson, Nelson and Anderson combined for 27 points. Danny Granger had 26 all by himself. The Magic gave back the home court advantage to the Pacers and it appears that the Magic just don't have enough weapons to stay competitive with the Pacers. After their Game 1 loss, the Pacers have won the next 2 games by 15 and 23 points. These were expected especially with Dwight Howard being injured. My X-factor, Ryan Anderson has had a miserable shooting performance and without his offense, the Magic just cannot compete with the Pacers.

#NoComeback #SeriesTied
Finally, a close and intense playoff game for tonight! This time around there was no comeback for the Clippers. The Grizzlies were able to close out the game with a win and the series is tied, 1-1. The Grizzlies led most of the game and the Clippers only got as close as 4 points in the fourth quarter. Chris Paul tried to will his team to victory but their lack of shooting (Butler DNP and Williams got injured) ultimately doomed them. The Grizzlies pounded the boards (16 offensive rebs) and attacked the hoop consistently in the last period. The Grizzlies had a 39 to 18 advantage in free throw attempts. The game was very physical and chippy with Chris Paul being overly aggressive with a bunch of Grizzlies (Mayo, Conley, Allen). Still, the Clippers should be happy to split the first two games considering that they have been badly outplayed in both of the games.


#DPOY 
The New York Knicks will go down against the Miami Heat in the playoffs but one player will have something to smile about. Tyson Chandler was named the Defensive Player of the Year. He beat Serge Ibaka (my pick), LeBron James and Dwight Howard (Enzo's pick). Chandler managed to transform the Knicks into a decent defensive team and the team he left (Mavericks) were not as good defensively without him. Ibaka had more blocks than Chandler and Dwight had more rebounds than Chandler. LeBron guarded more positions and shutdown more players but the voters gave more importance to the Knicks becoming a better team defensively. Chandler is a deserving winner. He just is not our preferred winner. 


#RandomStuff #stats #updates

• The Pacers scored 20 more points in the paint vs the Magic. A direct effect of Howard not playing
• The Spurs won by 31 points, the 2nd highest in this year's playoffs (1st - Heat by 33)
• Bobby Simmons started for the Clippers after not playing in Game 1
• Grizzlies had 12 turnovers while Clippers had 20
• Amare Stoudemire will not play in Game 3 vs the Heat and is doubtful for Game 4
• Josh Smith is listed day-to-day with a knee injury

#Follow me on twitter: @rollzter