I’m surprised that I haven’t seen any articles about this.  For the first time since basketball was invented,  it’s clear that the best player in the world is not American.  In fact, I’d say the two top players in the world (Nikola Jokic and Giannis A.) are both non-Americans.  There have been a handful of non-Americans entering top 10 (or perhaps even top 5 status) over the years, but never occupying the podium positions until recently. Now, with Durant, LeBron, and other top Americans fading, it’s clear the  podium is occupied by non-Americans.  We just need some American to become the best futbol player to make things right again.

This Bucks team had better win 56 reg. season...

Doc Rivers needs to hold séance with

Larry Costello...

...Don Nelson should have this arranged...

"Giannis logged 43 minutes on Wednesday and finished with a stat line of 59 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, and three blocks. Along with his lone made three, no player in history has ever notched this box score in a single game."--Kevin McCormick

I've also read he has the most 40+ point 70+ FG% games IN NBA HISTORY...hard to believe it's not Chamberlain Jabbar O'Neal Baylor West Mikan or...

Yeah, that is a tough one to believe, and I'd like to see the stats. I don't have the time or patience to compile that level of specifics, but Chamberlain averaged 40+ points per game in three consecutive years with an average shooting percentage of 70%+.

Wilt has 271 40+ games, and Giannis has 37. So, no way. 

Not gonna to the research, but the key may be "Along with his lone made 3.....".  I think we can safely say Wilt didn't ever have one of those.  Nor Mikan or Baylor.  And how many threes did Jabbar and O'Neal have for their careers? (not many, I'd guess) (That's easily findable, but not gonna go look.)

I don't *think* I've posted this before somewhere, but sorry if it's somehow a duplicate. Great writing:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/06/03/the-detroit-pistons-were-my-fathers-second-family

I keep an eye on the Houston Rockets because of Alperen Şengün. Very promising young core there.

Frequently run into this kind podcasts and documentaries like this.

They keep all kinds of stats in NBA. See this for example. Is there any other sports with such a rich set of stats?

I would say baseball has even more, believe it or not.  There are just a ridiculous number (pun intended) of metrics that can be, and are, being measured. Not to mention, a goodly chunk (FAR from all) of those are known back over 130 years.  "Money Ball" only got 'the ball' rolling. 

Hard to believe for me. I do not know much about baseball though.

[As heard from TNMountainman......]

The degree of esoterica in baseball stats is astonishing - and has multiplied over the last few years.  Imagine a basketball stat that shows what Player A's shooting percentage is, from between 4 and 6 meters, along the baseline, whilst being guarded by Player B, specifically, in Philadelphia, on a Wednesday, after having just played in Los Angeles on Monday, with a 6-pt. lead by Player A's team, in the third quarter.  And how has that percentage changed over the last 3 months?  And that's not really much of an exaggeration. 

Even the minutia of pitchers' pitches, against *any* particular batter, including location, velocity, spin rate, choice of pitches (including even grip) depending on a myriad of game situations(!), weather, who's the next person to bat, how this batter performed against this pitcher in the last at bat, last game, and over their careers.  And that's just one example.  Not even exhaustively.

The key difference, imo, is that basketball is much more fluid, and getting such specific data is harder, with more confounding factors.  With baseball, there is a bit more 'rigidity' in terms of what's being measured - which counterintuitively(?) leads to more possible things to measure accurately.

All that said, I'm also a huge believer in the "eye test", for both sports.  Would be interested in hearing others' opinions....

In either game, I'm not certain how the information gets put to use:

Basketball: Player A gets a pass on baseline, initially covered by Player X. DeepStats tell A that against X, he is better off driving the baseline, and his teammate sets a screen to make that happen. But, opponent Y steps in to pick up the defense after the screen, and A has a 10% better chance of hitting a 6-8 foot jumper against Y than driving. So, he pulls up for the jumper. (Seriously? In the time available, that level of analysis will not happen.)

Baseball: Batter steps in against the pitcher who has three effective pitches and one other he throws occasionally. The batter knows that the pitcher throws a fastball 42% of the time on the first pitch, a slider 32% of the time, and curve 21% of the time. The batter knows the spin rate of each pitch, including 2-seam vs 4-seam fastball. But does it matter? This batter is worried only about launch angle and exit velo, and his decisions are simply swing or don't swing based on the impressions he gets during the first 0.05 seconds after the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. 

Very few players have the bandwidth to process information quickly enough to take advantage of the most rudimentary facts. The baseball sign-stealing scandals of late (Boston and Houston) did not involve a data dump before each pitch. Thump the garbage can once for a fastball, twice for a curve. 

A video with stats showing how good Jokic is.

I foresee a competitive Marquette taking on a strong Gonzaga team, an Elite Eight two versus three seed.

In a (not) huge development, the Bucks won the Emirates Cup — the (not) coveted mid-season tournament. The winners were awarded a huge trophy, championship hats, and draped with medals. Not unlike all the participants in a youth soccer game. 

Pass the ball, get a mismatch, throw up a 3-pointer.

Yawn.

The carrot and the stick analogy, or something?

Indeed. Each “winner” got $500,000. Chump change for the big names, but a fat payday for those riding the pines. 

Doug Gottlieb, Green Bay lose to D-II team after 'Nobody U' comment...Gottlieb's salary needs to be looked at by DOGE persons.

"Pass the ball, get a mismatch, throw up a 3-pointer."

You should watch Houston Rockets then. They are currently 14-2 (W-L) and have already clinced a playoff spot. Some fans even started to believe that they will get the ring this year.

NBA pllayoffs are about 2 weeks away. We will start sorting it all out quite soon. 

As for Gottlieb, he has a modest salary (by coaching standards) and a 5-year contract. He made his comment in December, so he seems to have survived. His record, however, is 4-28 and needs improvement. 

Hop, what do you mean by the "14-2"?  Is that for the last 16 games or so?  Looks like they've certainly moved on from Harden-ball.

The 'other' Houston team may even win a title this very night.........

"Hop, what do you mean by the "14-2"?  Is that for the last 16 games or so? "

Yes right next to it, I typed (W-L) that is short for (Wins-Losses).

The way we state it in the U.S. is 52-27.  And yes, of course I knew the W/L terminology.  So...............I'm still unsure of the "14-2" you state.  I can **guess** it's for the last 16 games - or since some point in time, but it's handy and much more informative if the time context is given.  IMO, of course.

And (again IMO)................one of the many things wrong with the NBA is the FAR too-long season.  I think starting about now, or pretty soon - right after March Madness ends - would be appropriate to begin the playoffs.  But to play hoops until sometime in June is ridiculous.  As is how early they start in the Fall.

Including last night, the Rockets are 15-2 over their last 17 games. 

Also the Clippers are 14-3 over last 17. And the next match is Clippers vs Rockets. Two hot teams against each other. The one to watch.

Both teams are hot, for sure. However, with just a few games left to play, Houston has clinched their division, cannot catch the Thunder for the top spot in the West, and will be busy getting things lined up for the playoffs. 

The Clippers are part of a 6-team log jam, all within 2 games of each other and fighting to avoid the dreaded play-in. So, the Clips will be far more motivated than the Rockets. But, you never know -- it might be a good game. 

Remaining matchups with both teams competing for a playoff spot: 

Thursday: Minnesota/Memphis

Friday: Memphis/Denver

Sunday: Clippers/Warriors

Not the best marquis teams, but huge games. 

I save a lot of time by checking ESPN online around the last two minutes to see if there is still a game going on.  If there is, I know there will still be about 20 minutes of game left (including commercials).

I would like a rule that there be no timeouts allowed the last two minutes.  Also, the refs can't check their calls or what time is on the clock, either.  Make for a much more exciting finish.

Unusual uniform and shoewear for that player on the left.

It's hard to get enough perspective to see if Mulkey is actually interfering with the play, but there's no disputing that the ball is in play and she is on the court. During that game, she was on the court a lot, sometimes inside the 3-point arc. Why she wasn't given a T for such behavior is unknown. 

The Rockets sat their starters against the Clippers a couple of nights ago, and the Rockets were (predictably) trucked.

The Western Division is still a mess. Huge games left to play!

Milwaukee Bucks kaput.

NBA conference championships are set: Pacers/Knicks in the east, Timberwolves/Thunder in the west. It is a tough call who will advance to the finals. All four teams faced diminished opponents in the previous round, though the Nuggets were close to full strength. 

Gimme the Thunder and the Pacers. 

I saw Allen Iverson play HS b-ball...yeah, he dunked three times in the game I saw (Newport News, back in '93, I think).

Why isn't the NBA All-Star game USA versus The World? In the old days it would be boring, but today? Competitive for sure.

Eurobasket is being played currently. The final match will be on this Sunday.

This is the incredible story of Alperen Şengün who has brought his team to the semifinals. Türkiye is currently at 7/7 wins mostly thanks to him. We expect more from him but his next match will be Türkiye vs Greece (Giannis Antetokounmpo's team). If he succeeds there is a possibility that the final will be against Luca Doncic's team. So NBA stars are currently in action.

Sengun is certainly known to those of us who follow the NBA. He's a solid center for the Rockets. 

Türkiye will have their hands full with the team from Greece. The Antetokounmpo kids (there are three?) will keep them busy. 

(Facing Luka in the finals will be a long shot: Slovenia is far too dependent upon him and will need a better team effort to get past Germany.)

"The Antetokounmpo kids (there are three?)"

Family

• Giannis comes from a tight-knit family.

• He has four brothers, several of whom are also professional basketball players:

  • Thanasis Antetokounmpo (teammate on the Bucks)

  • Kostas Antetokounmpo (former NBA champion with the Lakers)

  • Alex Antetokounmpo (played in the G-League)

By the way, the team Turkey has one American player in the roster: Shane Larkin (born in Cincinnati, OH)

The fourth brother is Francis, who also played basketball at one time. Francis is the oldest. 

Ginobli will not only go between his legs, he'll go between *your* legs.  Slick/sick stuff (with a Euro-step every once in a while):

Luca Doncic has over 200 points in his four games of the season. Here’s the list of other players have done this:

5 games, actually.  But still.

True 

I have high expectations for Rockets this year. They quickly recovered from 0-2. Let's see how they play against "Wemby".

Şengün is my man. I'm closely following Rocket because of him.

Look at this: Şengün vs. Antatekoummpo

He clearly traveled as he got ready to put up his shot.  Not denying his talent, but that was outside the (even liberal NBA) rules.  *Minimum* of 3 steps, and there could even have been a tiny fourth - or at least a moved pivot foot.  The lack of clearly defined and enforced rules is one of the main reasons that the NBA has fallen out of favor with this observer - and many others.  And I used to *love* the NBA.

"The lack of clearly defined and enforced rules is one of the main reasons that the NBA has fallen out of favor with this observer - and many others."

What are the referees there for? So the fact they become more tolerant affects your viewing pleasure? That's not something I would keep an eye on.