In-Season Tournament
- Take a look at these upstart team’s defensive numbers. The Orlando Magic points allowed 108.9, fourth in the league. The Houston Rockets points allowed 105.6, first in the league. The Minnesota Timberwolves points allowed 105.9, second in the league. What does this tell me? If coaches have decent defenders and the coach is able to get their buy in the team can compete successfully. These teams rarely take a night off and play hard.
- I know the upstart list didn’t include Indiana. The Pacers points allowed 124.8ppg, is twenty-ninth in the league. I understand the Pacers just lost in the finals of the In Season Tournament but let’s examine how they got there. The Pacers key win was their victory on the road over Philadelphia. This is a good win but two days prior they lost to Philadelphia. In the knockout round they beat Boston with the game played in Indiana. Earlier in the season Boston beat Indiana by 51 points at home. The semifinals against Milwaukee; at this point in the season you always wonder which Milwaukee team will show up. They just can’t defend and Indiana can score, a recipe for a tough game for Milwaukee. In the final they were beaten by the Lakers.
- This is not meant to take anything away from Indiana’s achievement. Tyrese Halliburton is a star and the rest of the cast is pretty good. Rick Carlisle is one of the best coaches in the league. All I’m saying is their run is a limited sample of how good they are but the true test is the long season and the playoffs. Unless the Pacers find defense they will have a tough time in the playoffs although I have to admit they are fun to watch.
In-Season Tournament: LeBron James
- Staying with the In-Season Tournament for a minute. Has there ever been a tournament made for soon to be 39 year old LeBron James? LeBron is still great and always amazes you, but like Indiana, these games in the final eight were one game series. For one game nobody is better than LeBron, even at his age. Not only does he play great he also can figure out how to attack his opponent’s weaknesses.
Defense and Ejections
- Now let’s look at the three most disappointing teams and their defensive rating. Utah Jazz have allowed 120.3, twenty-fifth in the league. The Detroit Pistons have allowed 118.8, twenty-third in the league. The outlier here is the Memphis Grizzlies who have allowed 112.5, eleventh in the league.The problem is that without Ja Morant the Grizzlies can’t score as evidenced by their being twenty-ninth in the league in points scored per game. It should improve when Ja returns though they have five and a half games to make up to get to the tenth seed.
- The referees have been ejecting players at a high pace this year at times when it may not have been warranted, see Brown, Jaylen. Could this be the league deciding they were tired of players whining after every call.
Everything Else
- Those thinking the Heat are not that good should examine them more closely. Besides their usual injuries they have played five more road games than home games. When Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro get healthy look out.
- Draymond Green, the only thing left to say is when are the Warriors going to tire of his act.
