NFL: SUPER BOWL XLVII /// NBA: THUNDER VS. NUGGETS.

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.  .  .   SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.

NFL    ----   THE miles separating Baltimore, Maryland, and San Francisco, California, are roughly our nation’s greatest distance between two major cities, so much so that you could argue that Super Bowl XLVII will be an Atlantic versus Pacific coast contest, in addition to pitting teams that championed the American and National Conferences of the NFL.

Being held a little more than midway between the oceans at New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 3, 2013, Super Bowl XLVII will top off a 2012/2013 NFL season that was as unpredictable as so much else in America, thus unpredictable within Baltimore and San Francisco and in all of the cities and towns between the two.

An author wrote some years back, “If you want to understand America, then you better learn all that you can about baseball.” That needs an addition---“We’d be very well off to also learn about American football,” of which all Super Bowls are emblematic. The event will capture the biggest American audience of the year, and more than that of the year before.

Several authors of books on the meaning of sports have suggested that through observance of professional football, especially a Super Bowl competition, we Americans re-live the claiming and reclaiming of territory against many difficult “and unpredictable” odds, similar to our 200+ years of growth from east to west, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Baltimore to San Francisco, also similar to our claiming and reclaiming desired objectives through our daily tasks.

And, argue analysts, “Football reflects our attempts to defend that which we have laid claim to.” This is under a set of rules, laws, they say, so we accept the fallbacks, the penalties for error. Read American history, it’s all there.

And, more than one author writing about sports will tell us that we Americans know how to charge ahead within the forests of unpredictability. Within emblematic American football, who’d have thought a year ago that last year’s Super Bowl winner, the New York Giants, wouldn’t reach the 2012/13 playoffs, or that the Dallas Cowboys would be looking almost horizontally at below-the-margin teams such as the Cleveland Browns, the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars? Given all the hoopla from the American political right and the stubbornness shown in Washington vs. White House claims, no American majority thought that Barack Obama would win a second term with the edge that he achieved over Republican candidate, Mitt Romney.

Or, that the New York Jets would obtain so little value from quarterback, Tim Tebow, or that the San Diego Chargers would fail “to charge” and decide to free up head coach, Norv Turner?

Or, that QB Peyton Manning would, after neck operations, lead the Denver Broncos into a top-seeded playoff slot?

Or, that NFL rookies Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson would lead their respective teams into the post-season?

            And, not many NFL observers were picking the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers as the AFC and NFC winners heading to New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII.

            The east/west face-off will include competing QB’s of different methods and styles, for instance, the Ravens Joe Flacco, master of the deep pass and of timing his passes in unison with a receiver’s speed and positioning. Flacco’s a QB with a fast eye for first down options, who has passed for almost twice the number of gained post-season yards than those achieved by 49er QB, Colin Kaepernick, who has an edge ahead of QB Flacco when it comes to fast escape and evasion during an enemy’s pass rush, executing the short and wide throw, commanding the wide angle rush as well as toe-and-heel/down- the-middle.

But in 2012/13, Kaepernick hasn’t faced Ravens linebacker, Ray Lewis, tackler supreme, leading a defense that could suppress Kaepernick’s best drive-ahead qualities. That said, the Ravens offense will be facing one of the NFL’s top defense tackles, Justin Smith, and two of the NFL’s best linebackers, Patrick Willis and Aldon Smith.

Of course, more on Super Bowl XLVII and the Ravens and 49ers on this page---Friday, January 25, and in future columns up until and after February 3.

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NBA:    THE 32-9 Oklahoma City Thunder’s 118-121 OT loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, January 20, explained two things, (1) Why, in spite of the loss, the Thunder is eight games ahead of the Nuggets as the Western Conference’s Northwest Division leading franchise, and (2) Why the Nuggets are closing in on the Thunder and could be a lot less than the eight games behind the Thunder that they are now.

Without question, the Thunder’s forward, Kevin Durant, and guard, Russell Westbrook, have emerged as point per game stars and the nexus of Thunder playmaking, Durant averaging around 29 ppg, and Westbrook, 22.7 ppg, this while the next highest ppg averages within the Thunder lay between 14 and 12 ppg, dropping to a low of 7 ppg among all other Thunder players.

But were Durant and Westbrook holders of ppg averages roughly the same as that of most NBA forwards and guards, they’d be putting up half the points they now do per challenge, indicating that the Thunder would, if still in first place of the Western Conference’s Northwest Division, be no more than a game or two ahead of the Nuggets.

An aside here is this: of the Thunder’s starters and bench, only four players have obtained double-digit ppg, while though the Denver’s top average ppg holders, forward Danilo Gallinari, and guard, Ty Lawson, have attained much less than Durant and Westbrook (16 and 14 ppg, respectively), six Nuggets players have achieved double-digit ppg and the next highest are nine ppg belonging to guard, Andre Miller, and eight ppg for center, Kosta Koufos, and eight ppg for guard/forward, Jordan Hamilton. The Nuggets team ppg average is therefore only a few points behind that of the Thunder---around 102 versus 105.

Moreover, the Nuggets 2012/13 stats reflect an overall performance that exceeds that of all opposing teams, including the Thunder, although comparing the Nuggets key stats with that of the Thunder puts the Thunder ahead, largely due to shooting categories fattened up by Durant and Westbrook; yet the Nuggets 102 team ppg  average is greater than the 100 ppg re. all opponents, Thunder included. That’s from a total of 4,313 points prior to Sunday’s Nuggets/Thunder match, vs. 4,217 total points put up by all Nuggets opponents since the start of the 2012/13 season.

Too, the Nuggets are ahead of all opponents for the year in number of field goals netted, 1,659 over 1,583, in bucketed free throws, 737 against 698, in most offense rebounds, 583 over 535, and in defense rebounds, 1,383 vs. 1,242; also, in number of assists, 985 vs. 973. Furthermore, by halftime during Sunday’s contest, the Nuggets led the Thunder, 26-25; third Q, 81 over 79. Within the first Q, which ended as a tie, 25-25, Kevin Durant was held to only two points by the Nuggets defense.

And, while the 32-9 Thunder record is now second within the NBA’s Western Conference behind the 33-11 San Antonio Spurs, tied nearly with 32-10 Los Angeles Clippers, the Nuggets have moved three games up from Western Conference Northwest Division third place team, the 22-19 Utah Jazz, and holds at sixth place among the Western Conference’s 15 franchises.

The Thunder accrued additional losses in January, and encouraging for the Nuggets is that between now and a next meeting vs. the Thunder on March 1st, the Nuggets will play 16 games that, except vs. the Portland Trail Blazers, won’t be against fellow division teams, and excluding the Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets will be against franchises with lower win/loss records than the Nuggets have put up during the current season, six vs. teams now at the bottom of their divisions---the Kings, Hornets, Cavaliers, Raptors, the Wizards and the Bobcats, a small entry of doubt here being the recent 112-108 loss by the Nuggets to the NBA’s now worst team, the 9-30 Wizards.

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