NBA: Teams Above The Rest; Denver
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. . . SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.
NBA: AS of today, with 31 wins and eight losses the Oklahoma City Thunder leads the NBA’s Western Conference’s Northwest Division, the Western Conference and the entire NBA. The Western Conference’s Los Angeles Clippers (Pacific Division) hold at second place within the NBA, having 31 wins over nine losses, and the West’s San Antonio Spurs (Southwest Div.) hang at third within the full league, 30 over 11.
The Eastern Conference’s Miami Heat (Southeast Div.) sits at fourth place within the NBA, with 25 wins and 12 losses, and the East’s New York Knicks (Atlantic Div.) are holding at fifth place, with 25/13, while the West’s Memphis Grizzlies (2d place, SW Div.) hang at sixth, having 24 wins over its 13 losses, and the East’s Indiana Pacers (Central Div.) are seventh, at 23/15.
Except for the second-place Grizzlies, the above-cited franchises are division leading teams. When the NBA 2011/12 season ended in June, three of the above seven teams held the same first place positions within their divisions as they hold now---the Thunder, the Spurs and the Heat. The remaining four teams finished second within their respective divisions, while today all seven teams represent the only NBA franchises with records above .600.
BUT---13 NBA teams are below .500, each with more losses than wins after playing between 36 and 41 games per. This means that the NBA is just over the hump and viable, having 17 franchises above .500 (more wins than losses) as half the current NBA season is about to be over.
Of note is that of the 10 of 17 teams with records less than the top seven listed above, eight are still below .600 while being above .500, bringing the total average of the NBA’s 30 franchises to between .570 and .590 when added to the equation are the records of the top seven franchises. This total average is quite close to the current win/loss record of the West’s Northwest Division second place team, the now 24/17, .585 Denver Nuggets, eight games behind the Thunder and three ahead of third place/Northwest Division, Utah Jazz (21/19, .513).
As a franchise that’s now at fifth place inside the West, and ninth within the full league, the Nuggets can be said to be representative of the full NBA when it comes to an average portrait of league skills and accomplishments, reflecting the best and also the marginal of both East and West, emblematic of the entire league’s competencies, the good and the bad.
On the brighter side, and though of a different Conference, the Nuggets win/loss record approximates that of three division leading teams of today, the 25/13 Knicks, the 25/12 Heat and the 24/16 Pacers, and exceeds the win/loss records of five second place franchises (both Conferences). Also on the bright end, the Nuggets have higher total averages than all of its opponents to date with regard to major categories of basketball competence, e.g., more points per game, plus successful field goal completions and of free throws, of successful offense and defense rebounds, of assists and of total number of ppg gained since the current season began.
Too, since the season started, the Nuggets have completed three four game winning streaks and a three game winning streak, and of its 17 losses 12 were with 100 or more points against each opposing team, one of those losses a high of 116 points.
The Nuggets negatives aren’t severe; they include a low three-point FG completion total compared with all opponents---around 242 netted vs. the apprx. 330 averaged by opponents, and fewer blocks and fewer steals than achieved by opponents, though these spreads aren’t very wide.
And, in some of its worst losses that have been weeks apart, the Nuggets gave up so many points that feared is performance inconsistency of a sort that could keep the Denver Philadelphia
Also, each month since the season began, the lowest number of netted field goals accrued by the Nuggets in a single game has wavered between 28 and 31, while the highest number has been 47 per month through December, now 44 for January. Not that these numbers are bad. Rather, the high/low difference per month signals a status quo, a differential that hasn’t changed much. In effect, there hasn’t been solid high improvement in FG points as the season has moved forward, FG’s being the biggest contributor to a win, more precisely not when it comes to raising the high and the low FG ppg to higher numbers. Across October and November, the Nuggets ppg average was 98, in December it was 102, for January as of today, 94. These are sound numbers, but they haven’t reflected high and consistent growth, they haven’t said here’s a team that could be up from its NBA mid-range status, sooner than later close in number of wins to the Thunder and the Spurs.
Yet the numbers advise that the Nuggets will remain playoff-bound, just not at the head of the class without upticks in number of netted two- and three-pointers, blocks and steals (per game).
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NFL: This weekend will complete the 2012/13 NFL playoff story. Two of four NFL franchises will achieve respective Conference victories and advance to the Super Bowl (February 3, New Orleans
Each of the four teams have enough strengths and vulnerabilities to keep the best among football analysts unsure as to which will win. The Ravens have a Ray Lewis-led defense, within which Lewis has executed more than 25 playoff tackles, and Ravens quarterback, Joe Flacco, has thrown long to his favored receivers in ways that not even the Denver Broncos number two NFL defense managed to get in the way enough times, e.g., that 70 yard arc-ing missile that up-ended the Broncos in playoff overtime. Add, the Flacco-wide receiver, Anquan Boldin, for more than the successful deep pass.
But the Patriots defense is perhaps the best of nearly impenetrable “mobile” defenses in the NFL, and Patriots QB Tom Brady’s pass completion rate is higher than Flacco’s. Also, the stats between the two teams do not show a differential so much more than 50 percent that it becomes obvious which of the two teams can win, e.g, the Ravens net yard passing gains being 593 across two games and the Patriots 335 for one game, and Ravens net rushing yards gained being 325, the Patriots having 122, the Ravens total first downs for its two events being 39, the Patriots re. one game, 24.
For the 49ers to beat the Falcons, required will be a repeat of 49er QB Colin Kaepernick’s amazing performance of last week vs. the Green Bay Packers (a 45-31 win that included 440 yards gained and four touchdowns, 181 of those yards from rushes), plus defense plays similar to that which kept Packers QB, Aaron Rogers, from sufficient pass completions, though the Falcons have shown to have one of the more effective pass protection units in the NFL throughout the regular season and during its one playoff game.
Like the Ravens and the Patriots, the post-season differentials among the two National Conference teams re. net passing and rushing yards gained, and first downs achieved, aren’t wide enough to indicate a likely winner, though some analysts and fans could be giving the Falcons an edge in that the Atlanta team defeated two of the four teams that the 49ers lost to by wide margins during the regular and post seasons, the New York Giants (last year’s Super Bowl winner) and the Seattle Seahawks, twice.
Not taking the easy way out here, no picks this time---it’s anyone’s guess. As that Ravens OT victory vs. the Broncos demonstrated, “NFL expectations can turn over in a matter of seconds, changing predicted outcomes.”
END/ml
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