Strange & Outlandish Observations

-While watching the Nuggets play last night, I noticed that Kenyon Martin completely turned his back and ran away from rebounding the ball on an attempted free throw...twice...and one of the shooters was Chris Anderson, which is not a guaranteed make.

-Pacers do not win games where they are in the lead. In their 8 losses, Indiana was winning 78% of the time. Statistically, they are the 7th ranked team in the NBA, but are the only team in the top 16 with a losing record. This stat has to do with point differential, and fg% differential to name a couple. One of those cases where statistics do not tell the entire story. For the Pacers, its their inability to close out games in the 4th quarter. 

-Anthony Marrow is on pace to have the highest True Shooting Percentage for a guard in NBA history. The formula is pts/(2 x (fga+0.44 x fta)) Its a way to include free throw percentage into a shooters body of work. For every 7 three pointers he attempts, Anthony hits 4 of them on average. Keep shooting big guy.

-In NBA regular season games, Greg Oden averages 7 more rebounds per game after major season-ending surgery when compared to surgery-free play. 

-Lakers rank 1st in the league on the defensive end and 3rd on offense. Has their ever been a team this efficient on both ends of the court? I'm off to do so research, keeping in mind that we are only 13 games into this regular season. 

Update: The only 2 teams that had the Laker efficiency of this year were the 00-01 Lakers team that won the finals and of course, our good friends the 95-96 Chicago Bulls team that went 72-10. They, of course, were 1st in both categories. What does this all mean? My belief is that Trevor Ariza has been more of a savior this season and not so much Bynum. Don't get me wrong, Bynum helps with a few boards and blocks on the defensive end, but Ariza being able to lock down team's best wings frees up Kobe to be more of a roaming centerfield on defense and allows him to concentrate more energy on offense. If the Lakers manage to stay healthy, this could be another disastrous year for the league as the devil children will prove to be nearly unstoppable.  

-Watch me pull off a big time jinx. Jose Calderon has yet to miss a free throw this season!

-One team that has a lot of room for improvement is the Celtics. They are second in the league in turnover percentage. That means that for the few amount of possessions Boston has per game, (they prefer a slow pace) they are turning the ball over at an alarmingly high rate. Expect for Doc to remedy the situation quickly and look out for an even better Celtic squad.

-I'm not sure where you are Alex, but good luck with whatever you are doing and thanks for keeping us all updated. Surely your lost camping trip was nothing like the Manchester Beach experience. 3 men, no utensils, no bowls for the cereal, no flashlights for the peanut butter sandwich making, and an open tent door during the fire urination session. OH, I FORGOT, no room in the tent for the unlucky person sleeping in the middle!