Tag Archives: Blake Griffin

Best dynamic duo performances of the season

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Long story short, these two are really good.

We’re coming to the deadline for the BounceX3 t-shirt contest. The gist is you try and guess the best individual performance left in the season. If you guess the best performance you win an awesome t-shirt. If you’ve guessed and missed I’ve given you a second chance. It was this second chance that lead to today’s post.

Matt A. took a second shot and guessed Chris Paul against his former Hornets. Chris Paul did in fact trash his old team putting up a Points over Par (PoP) of +15.0 (sadly not enough to get Matt A. past my virtually impossible standards for guessing twice.) What was even more impressive is that Blake Griffin put up a PoP of +10.8. This lead me in search of games this season where two players on the same team have put up a PoP of +10 or better. Of the roughly 1000 games that have been played I was able to come up with 20. Let’s run down them.

Ibaka and Durant combine for +28.7 against the Denver Nuggets on 2/19

  • Serge Ibaka +14.5 PoP 14 PTS (79.9 TS%) 15 TRB (8 ORB) 11 BLK 0 AST 1 STL 1 TOV
  • Kevin Durant +14.2 PoP 51 PTS (78.7 TS%) 8 TRB (2 ORB) 0 BLK 3 AST 4 STL 5 TOV

Yes, this happened and it wasn’t pretty. Moving on.

CP3 and Mo Williams combine for +27.5 at San Antonio on 3/9

  • Chris Paul +16.5 PoP 36 PTS (75.1 TS%) 4 TRB (1 ORB) 0 BLK 11 AST 4 STL 1 TOV
  • Mo Williams +11.0 PoP 33 PTS (83 TS%) 2 TRB (0 ORB) 0 BLK 2 AST 1 STL 0 TOV

Paul makes his first appearance on the list but with a different dance partner. Paul and Williams outplayed one of the better backcourts in the league in San Antonio no less.

Mbah a Moute and Dunleavy combine for +26.0 at Golden State on 3/16

  • Luc Richard Mbah a Moute +13.3 PoP 22 PTS (65.6 TS%) 17 TRB (9 ORB) 1 BLK 2 AST 3 STL 1 TOV
  • Mike Dunleavy +12.7 PoP 24 PTS (112.8 TS%) 3 TRB (0 ORB) 0 BLK 4 AST 0 STL 0 TOV

Mbah a Moute almost gets a double double without needing defensive rebounds and Dunleavy turns up his shooting to 11. Sure the opponent is the Warriors, but still impressive.

Paul and Griffin light up New Orleans for +25.8 on 4/22

  • Chris Paul +15.0 PoP 33 PTS (62.6 TS%) 4 TRB (0 ORB) 0 BLK 13 AST 8 STL 2 TOV
  • Blake Griffin +10.8 PoP 21 PTS (75.2 TS%) 15 TRB (6 ORB) 0 BLK 2 AST 1 STL 1 TOV

Paul and Griffin are good. This is kind of adding salt to the wound for Chris Paul. I mean hasn’t New Orleans suffered enough at his hand this year?

Night and Monroe embarrass Cleveland for +25.6 on 4/17

  • Brandon Knight +14.3 PoP 28 PTS (108.7 TS%) 2 TRB (0 ORB) 0 BLK 7 AST 0 STL 2 TOV
  • Greg Monroe +11.3 PoP 12 PTS (68.5 TS%) 13 TRB (1 ORB) 2 BLK 3 AST 4 STL 1 TOV

Monroe is good and this game isn’t a huge surprise. The Cavs without Varejao though make even Brandon Knight look good.

Lowry and Dalembert take down Sacramento on 1/13 with +25.4

  • Samuel Dalembert +14.8 PoP 21 PTS (82.3 TS%) 16 TRB (7 ORB) 4 BLK 0 AST 1 STL 1 TOV
  • Kyle Lowry +10.6 PoP 25 PTS (67.5 TS%) 7 TRB (2 ORB) 0 BLK 9 AST 2 STL 2 TOV

Another “revenge” game against a former team here. Dalembert and Lowry are two favorites around here, so nice to have a game with both of them playing great.

Thompson and Evans get +25.0 in practice against Charlotte on 4/22

  • Jason Thompson +12.9 PoP 14 PTS (68.6 TS%) 11 TRB (2 ORB) 1 BLK 7 AST 5 STL 1 TOV
  • Tyreke Evans +12.1 PoP 22 PTS (92.6 TS%) 3 TRB (0 ORB) 0 BLK 3 AST 2 STL 0 TOV

I mean we knew Charlotte just stopped trying but wow. Maybe there’s hope for Kings fans that Evans may be back though, even if the team may not be.

Miller and Lawson take down defending champs on 12/26

  • Ty Lawson +12.6 PoP 27 PTS (80.5 TS%) 4 TRB (1 ORB) 0 BLK 4 AST 3 STL 2 TOV
  • Andre Miller +12.3 PoP 18 PTS (92.2 TS%) 5 TRB (2 ORB) 1 BLK 5 AST 3 STL 3 TOV

Great Nugget point guards from past and present combined to take down Dallas. Oddly though, not much passing was involved.

Battier and Bron elevate their game to +24.6 in Utah on 3/2

  • Shane Battier +13.4 PoP 18 PTS (128.6 TS%) 4 TRB (2 ORB) 4 BLK 3 AST 0 STL 1 TOV
  • LeBron James +11.2 PoP 35 PTS (69.1 TS%) 10 TRB (1 ORB) 3 BLK 6 AST 0 STL 0 TOV

I couldn’t help but laugh at this. First, the top player isn’t Bron. Second, the other part of the dynamic duo isn’t Wade or Bosh, it’s Battier! Doing this in Utah is actually pretty impressive.

Thompson and Thornton combine for +24.1 against Boston on 3/16

  • Jason Thompson +13.3 PoP 21 PTS (85.2 TS%) 15 TRB (4 ORB) 0 BLK 4 AST 1 STL 1 TOV
  • Marcus Thornton +10.8 PoP 36 PTS (67.6 TS%) 4 TRB (1 ORB) 0 BLK 4 AST 5 STL 1 TOV

Alright, I get Charlotte. How did Boston let this happen? Seriously, Sacramento is on this list twice!

Durant and Westbrook combine for +23.8 against Chicago on 4/1

  • Kevin Durant +12.3 PoP 26 PTS (77 TS%) 10 TRB (0 ORB) 1 BLK 4 AST 1 STL 1 TOV
  • Russell Westbrook +11.5 PoP 27 PTS (65.4 TS%) 3 TRB (0 ORB) 0 BLK 5 AST 4 STL 0 TOV

No Rose in this game just to clarify. The duo of Durant and Westbrook did have a pretty impressive statement game none the less. Speaking of statement games.

Parker and Leonard outplay OKC on 2/4 for +23.1

  • Kawhi Leonard +12.0 PoP 15 PTS (95.2 TS%) 6 TRB (1 ORB) 1 BLK 5 AST 1 STL 0 TOV
  • Tony Parker +11.1 PoP 42 PTS (61.3 TS%) 3 TRB (0 ORB) 1 BLK 9 AST 2 STL 0 TOV

The Spurs have one of the strongest backcourts in the West with Parker, Ginobili and Leonard are all playing well. Case in point, they played great against OKC.

Harden and Westbrook combine for +23.1 against Phoenix on 3/7

  • James Harden +13.1 PoP 30 PTS (89.1 TS%) 4 TRB (0 ORB) 2 BLK 1 AST 2 STL 1 TOV
  • Russell Westbrook +10.0 PoP 31 PTS (63.2 TS%) 3 TRB (1 ORB) 0 BLK 10 AST 4 STL 3 TOV

OKC is seriously scary. They have many great players and as we can see almost any combo of them can go off on your team on a given night.

Jones and Battier destroy Pistons for +22.9 on 4/8

  • James Jones +12.0 PoP 18 PTS (112.5 TS%) 1 TRB (0 ORB) 0 BLK 0 AST 4 STL 1 TOV
  • Shane Battier +10.9 PoP 4 PTS (66.7 TS%) 5 TRB (3 ORB) 0 BLK 5 AST 3 STL 0 TOV

Of course Miami was going to make this list multiple times. Of course, neither time would Wade or Bosh be included. Battier and Jones made the Pistons look foolish…well more foolish than usual.

Haywood and Jefforson take down Cavs for +22.2. on 3/5

  • Gordon Hayward +11.7 PoP 23 PTS (87.1 TS%) 4 TRB (1 ORB) 0 BLK 5 AST 1 STL 0 TOV
  • Al Jefferson + 10.5 PoP 25 PTS (64 TS%) 13 TRB (3 ORB) 3 BLK 7 AST 1 STL 0 TOV

I’m not too surprised by the opponent (Cleveland is the team players seem to enjoy breaking out against.) I would have expected this to be Millsap and Jefferson.

Kaman and Smith combine for +22.2 against T-Wolves on 4/7

  • Chris Kaman +12.0 PoP 21 PTS (92.8 TS%) 10 TRB (2 ORB) 4 BLK 4 AST 1 STL 2 TOV
  • Jason Smith +10.2 PoP 26 PTS (77 TS%) 10 TRB (5 ORB) 0 BLK 0 AST 3 STL 0 TOV

I really don’t know how to react to this one. I’m pretty sure this game never happened and it’s just in the records to mess with my head.

Paul and Griffin combine for +21.9 against Nets on 3/7

  • Chris Paul +11.5 PoP 22 PTS (83.3 TS%) 6 TRB (0 ORB) 0 BLK 10 AST 5 STL 5 TOV
  • Blake Griffin +10.4 PoP 28 PTS (62.3 TS%) 17 TRB (6 ORB) 1 BLK 2 AST 2 STL 2 TOV

The only duo on this list twice can beat up bad teams. Clippers fans should be happy these two are back for at least one more season together.

Ilyasova and Jennings combine for +21.8 against Nets on 4/21

  • Ersan Ilyasova +11.6 PoP 17 PTS (57.6 TS%) 17 TRB (6 ORB) 2 BLK 3 AST 3 STL 1 TOV
  • Brandon Jennings +10.2 PoP 30 PTS (65.7 TS%) 6 TRB (3 ORB) 0 BLK 6 AST 4 STL 4 TOV

I’m a bit surprised to see two different sets of Bucks on this list. Although, given the opponents and time of year I guess I’m not that surprised.

Calderon and Bargnani combine for +21.1 against Cleveland on 1/4

  • Jose Calderon +10.7 PoP 13 PTS (81.3 TS%) 6 TRB (0 ORB) 0 BLK 11 AST 0 STL 1 TOV
  • Andrea Bargnani +10.4 PoP 31 PTS (81.2 TS%) 7 TRB (0 ORB) 1 BLK 3 AST 0 STL 2 TOV

The best and worst Raptor team up to have a combined great game. In his great game we notice Bargnani still can’t really be bothered to rebound that much.

Granger and Collison combine for +21 against Minnesota on 2/1

  • Danny Granger +10.7 PoP 36 PTS (70.3 TS%) 7 TRB (3 ORB) 0 BLK 2 AST 0 STL 2 TOV
  • Darren Collison +10.3 PoP 20 PTS (70.4 TS%) 6 TRB (0 ORB) 0 BLK 8 AST 2 STL 2 TOV

I have no real opinion on this game. Nice of Granger to live up to his contract for a game I guess.

Will be interesting to see if any of these duos can pull a similar feat in the playoffs. I’ll be waiting.

-Dre

What’s up with the Clippers?

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It all started on February 18th. The Clippers lost to the Spurs in overtime and then lost their next game to the Warriors. This was the first time the dynamite combination of Paul and Griffin had lost two in a row since losing to the Spurs and Bulls at the very start of the season. After a 19-9 start and a spot at the top of the Pacific division, the Clippers went 8-12 over their next twenty games. The Lakers retook their spot at the top of the division and we were left to ask what happened to the Clippers? Was it chemistry, coaching, nerves? The answer is much more simple.

Los Angeles Clippers from February 18th 2012 to March 25th 2012 ordered by minutes per game
PLAYER POS G MPG WP48 WP POP/48 POP/G
Chris Paul 1 20 37.2 0.305 4.73 6.4 5.0
Blake Griffin 4.4 20 35.6 0.144 2.14 1.4 1.0
Nick Young 2.6 5 29.9 -0.026 -0.08 -3.9 -2.4
Caron Butler 3 19 29.3 -0.083 -0.97 -5.7 -3.5
Mo Williams 1.6 19 28.9 0.012 0.14 -2.7 -1.6
Randy Foye 2.2 19 27.4 0.02 0.22 -2.4 -1.4
DeAndre Jordan 5 20 24.5 0.246 2.5 4.6 2.3
Kenyon Martin 4.5 19 19.6 -0.062 -0.48 -5.0 -2.0
Bobby Simmons 3.3 14 18.9 -0.001 -0.01 -3.1 -1.2
Reggie Evans 4 20 15.1 0.184 1.16 2.6 0.8
Eric Bledsoe 1.9 19 8.8 0.063 0.22 -1.1 -0.2
Ryan Gomes 3 7 3.7 -0.218 -0.12 -9.9 -0.8
Travis Leslie 2.8 2 3.3 0.202 0.03 3.2 0.2
Trey Thompkins 4 7 1.7 -0.141 -0.04 -7.5 -0.3
Brian Cook 4 4 0.7 0.648 0.04 17.1 0.3
TOTAL 20  243  0.093  9.48  -0.9  -0.9 

We can easily rule out any chemistry myths about Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. While we’d hope a young Griffin would improve a bit in his sophomore season, the fact is both Paul and Griffin are playing at the same levels they were last year. Using Points over Par we can see how valuable this is. Starting Paul and Griffin gives the Clippers a six point edge each game. Additionally, DeAndre Jordan and Reggie Evans have been playing great as well. Age is definitely an excuse for not playing Evans more. However, why the Clippers aren’t giving more minutes to a 23 year old center putting up terrific numbers is beyond me.

That brings us to the rest of the Clippers. Much like the Suns, the Clippers are four good players and nothing else. Paul and Griffin are a dynamic duo. Guess what? Their contribution is completely undone by Butler and Young each game. Jordan is a fantastic young big. His contribution is wiped clean by K-Mart’s time on the court. And after all of that the Clippers still play Mo Williams, Randy Foye and Bobby Simmons, who all hurt the Clippers even more than Reggie Evans’ limited time could hope to undo.

The question is if any of these players should be a surprise. Here’s a quick rundown of unproductive players that the Clippers are trusting with major minutes as they looked last season:

PLAYER TEAM POS MP WP48 WP
Kenyon Martin Denver 4.0 1233 0.114 2.93
Randy Foye LA Clippers 1.9 1551 0.018 0.60
Caron Butler Dallas 3.0 867 0.019 0.34
Bobby Simmons San Antonio 3.0 16 -0.325 -0.11
Nick Young Washington 2.6 2034 -0.010 -0.44
Mo Williams Cleveland-LA Clippers 1.0 1788 -0.022 -0.81

Other than Kenyon Martin the rest of the players were not good. Kenyon Martin is also old and as we’ve pointed out: players over 30 age like milk. The Clippers have definitely done well to give major minutes to Griffin and Paul. Making DeAndre Jordan share minutes with Kenyon Martin doesn’t make a lot of sense. Giving the rest of the minutes to unproductive players is a recipe for disaster.

If we look at the Clippers in terms of Arturo’s Half Baked Theory they’ve already done most of the hard week. Here’s a recap:

  1. Get a superstar to have a shot at contending (check)
  2. Get a strong top three to have a shot in the playoffs (check)
  3. Get a strong top six to be a playoff force (working on it)
  4. Get depth to survive the regular season (working on it)

The hardest part of being a contender in the NBA is getting great players. The Clippers have taken care of that. The next step is just getting average players to round out the team. The Clippers have failed miserably here. Of course, replacing players with average players is a far simpler task than getting great players. While the trade deadline has passed and the Clippers made some questionable moves, the Clippers can easily rectify things in the off season. For now my advice is to increase DeAndre Jordan’s minutes, glue Nick Young to the bench and get Chris Paul the ball and minutes come playoff time. As Arturo has stated “With Chris Paul, you always have a shot.” and I agree. That is of course, you try to play Nick Young and Caron Butler lots of minutes.

-Dre

The Wages of Wins 3 on 3 Fantasy Draft Round 2

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On the Miami Heat Podcast Mosi Platt and Alfredo Artuaga brought up a great idea. If the NBA players put on a 3 on 3 tournament in a great venue such as Las Vegas who wouldn’t want to watch? Mosi even did a rundown of how the best three person combos on each team looked. With no NBA to watch the Wages of Wins Network decided it would be a lot of fun to draft three person teams (and one alternate) using a snake draft. We’ll be posting the results the next couple of days. Here are our contestants

  • Greg Steele, our Houston Rockets experts, has the 1st, 12th, 13th and 24th picks
  • James Brocato of Shut Up and Jam (a Seattle Supersonics/Oklahoma City Thunder blog) has the 2nd, 11th, 14th and 23rd picks
  • Patrick Minton of The NBA Geek (a Timberwolves blog) has the 3rd, 10th, 15th and 22nd picks
  • Arturo Galletti, co-editor of the Wages of Wins and head writer at Arturo’s Silly Little Stats has the 4th,9th, 16th and 21st picks
  • Ben Gulker of Pistons by the Numbers has the 5th, 8th, 17th and 20th picks
  • Devin Dignam of NBeh? (a Toronto Raptors blog) has the 6th, 7th, 18th and 19th picks.
Each contestant kindly added a few words explaining their pick. In case you missed it Round 1 can be found here. With that let’s go down round 2.

Round 2

1) With the 7th pick Devin selects Steve Nash

Now I have a dilemma. Who is going to be my guard? As much as I like Dwayne Wade, I have to go with Steve Nash. Nash is the best passer, best shooter from all over the court, and also has a high IQ. On defense I might have a little bit of a problem, but there’s not much difference between Nash’s defense and Paul’s defense (and Nash is better than Paul at shooting). I pass on Wade because he can’t shoot from long range.

2) With the 8th pick Ben Selects Blake Griffin

I’m going with who I think is the best big man available in a 3-on-3 setting. While he’s not quite as productive defensively as some of the other obvious choices, interior and help defense won’t be quite as important in a game of 3-on-3, and he’s definitely the most explosive offensively. Paired with Chris Paul in the pick and roll, I don’t think anyone will be able to stop Blake Griffin.

3) With the 9th pick Arturo selects Dwyane Wade


Seriously? I thought I was going to have to struggle here. It becomes really academic for me then. With the ninth pick I take the best guard on the board. Dwyane Wade come on down. Two picks, two best players at their position.

4) With the 10th pick Patrick selects Dirk Nowitzki:

Wow.  I’ve been holding my breath here.  I take Dirk Nowitzki with my pick.  I get rebounding and a fantastic 3 shooter.  Furthermore, in this format players will try to guard the 3 heavily but both my players are very tall and very quick shooters that are very tough to guard and probably nearly impossible for the point guards to deny the 3.  Pretty thrilled with this pick.

5) With the 11th pick James selects Ray Allen

I have struggled a lot with this pick, but I’m going with Ray Allen. With LeBron there to penetrate and handle the ball, and with 3-pointers being worth much more than usual, the importance of a great shooter is exacerbated a great deal. Allen is arguably the best 3 shooter in the world. Additionally, he takes care of the ball and doesn’t force shots. At least, not as much as other unnamed 2-guards. Allen is also an underrated athlete, and can actually penetrate and defend fairly well. Plus he has a great basketball IQ. But he’s on my team for one primary reason: to drill 3s.
err..to drill 2s…

6) With the 12th pick Greg selects Manu Ginobili

In my experience with 3-on-3 ball, team chemistry and complimentary skill sets are about as important as skill level (in 5-on-5 skill more often trumps). Ginobili is primarily an offensive pick, since he is probably the best at attacking the basket of any guard remaining. Though there might be better players available (shouldn’t someone be taking Kobe by now?), Ginobili is a good fit.

We’ll wrap up tomorrow with the final two picks for each contestant. Feel free to let us know your thoughts on our picks!

-Dre