By Kyle Soppe

Per request of Drew Shaner, and the rest of my Pennsylvania based following, here is a closer look at the Heat’s 99-79 victory in Philly.

LeBron James recorded at least 15 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds for the 25th consecutive game. He seems to be a good bet to break Oscar Robertson’s all time streak of 29 games. His playmaking ability has been on display of late, as he has registered as many assists as field goals made twice in his last three contests.

Miami pulled away late, as they scored 32 forth quarter points, matching how many the 76ers scored in the second half.

The Heat managed to score 25+ points in three quarters, but failed to reach 100 points.

The Heat nearly shot a better percentage from the field (52%) than from the line (55%). Their accuracy from the field, which was aided by shooting 75% in the forth, was the best in the NBA last night, while the free throw percentage was the worst. In comparison, the 6ers shot 39.5% from the field, as they made 8 less shots despite attempting 4 more.

Eight Heat players shot at least 45% from the field.

Both teams saw many players have next to no impact as far as scoring the ball. The Heat got a total of 6 shots from 3 players who combined for 63 minutes. Philly had 4 players combine for nearly 50 minutes, and attempt a total of 5 shots.

Their struggles at the line didn’t include Wade and Bosh. The duo made 8 of 10 freebies, while the rest of the Heat managed to connect on only 3 of 10. Nobody outside of the “Big Three” made a free throw.

Joel Anthony, who averages 2.6 points per game for his career, single handily outscored 40% of the 76ers starting lineup. This wasn’t a typical game, as the Heat’s center was the lone starter to not record an offensive rebound. Despite Anthony outproducing the 6ers front court, they Heat were outscored by 6 points when he was in the game.

Elton Brand was held scoreless for the fifth time in his 823 game career. To help gain perspective, here is a list of things that happen a similar percentage (0.6%) of the time.

Kobe Bryant plays, but does not start, in a game since 1998 (0.52%)

Michael Jordan scores 60+ points in a game (0.48%)

Kevin Love fouls out of a game (0.67%)

Dwight Howard’s career three point shooting percentage (3.8%). The odds of him making a three pointer are 6x higher than Brand not scoring.

Requests for tonight’s action? We’ve got the Raptors/Heat for Sunday courtesy of Cam White.

By Kyle Soppe

So much for protecting home court, as the Atlanta Hawks were run out of their own building by the Memphis Grizzles 96-77. How does that happen you ask?

Reserve Ivan Johnson was the leading scorer for the Hawks with 11 points. Ignoring the fact that Johnson is viewed as more of an enforcer as anything else, his team leading 11 points is pitiful. This is the lowest point total by a teams leading scorer in the NBA this season (and yes, that includes when the Magic only produced 56 points).

Johnson’s 11 points would have tied him for fifth most points on the Grizzles roster.

With their leading scorer coming off their bench, the Hawks saw their starters get outscored by 22 by Memphis’ starting five. The odd part here, is that that includes Marreese Speights of Memphis, who only contributed two points. Therefore, the Hawks starting five was outscored by the four Grizzle staters by 20 points.

Atlanta did shoot the long ball better than Memphis, as they made more and shot a better percentage. Their lack of aggressiveness was reflected in their free throw attempts. The athletic Hawks who struggle from the perimeter at times attempted six more shots from distance than they did from the charity stripe.

Speaking of freebies, the Grizzles got there more often, but couldn’t convert. They made 63% of the free throws, the lowest percentage for a winning team (that doesn’t include Dwight Howard) this season.

Atlanta registered only 31 points in the first and third quarter combined. Memphis scored 32 points in the second quarter alone. Taking it a step further, in the Golden State/Utah and LAC/Denver there were six quarters in which a team scored at least 31 points.

The Grizzles had 0 players tally double digits and shoot less than 50%, while the Hawks had two. Take into account that the Grizzles had five players score 10+ while the Hawks only had three, and that explains the lopsided nature of this game.

Home teams get the benefit of the doubt on foul calls, right? Not really. Memphis had only 10 fouls in 48 minutes, by far the lowest number in the NBA last night.

The lone all star in this game (Marc Gasol) made his presence known, as the Grizz were +40 for the 35 minutes he was on the court. Conversely, the Hawks outscored Memphis by 11 for the 13 minutes Gasol was on the bench.

Tonight’s game per request is the 76ers against the Heat. Feel free to suggest games/teams that you want to see a breakdown of and I’d be happy to do so.

By Kyle Soppe

Per request of Scott Batzold, today’s breakdown will be of the OKC Thunder and the Dallas Mavericks. The NBA’s best team (best record) went to Texas with the hopes of slowing down the defending champs, and did just that in a hard fought 95-86 game that was much closer than the final score indicates.

It didn’t take the Mavs long to establish balance, as all five starters recorded points in the first five minutes. The Mavs would go onto score 34% of their points for the night in that first stanza.

The balance continued, but the Thunder’s all world combination of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook was simply to much. The duo poured in 56 points, outscoring the entire Dallas starting lineup by 13 points.

Speaking of Westbrook, he turned in a very unusal PG stat line. He took 24 shots and handed out .66 assists for every turnover. This is the first time this season in which the Thunder have won a game in which their PG attempts at least 24 shots. The high turnover total is beginning to be cause for concern, as this was the third consecutive game he has turned the ball over at least six times. Undoubtedly fueling the fire of those like PickinSplinters own Drew Shaner who state “The Thunder can’t win a title with Jet 0 at point.”

The typically bulls-eye Durant missed four free throws, the third time he has done so this year. OKC is undefeated in those contests.

Sixth man of the year candidate James Harden tallied 53% of the Thunder’s assists.

OKC committed more fouls than the Mavs, but won the game. Only 27% of Wednesday’s winners had more fouls than their opponents.

Other than reserves Jason Terry and Brandon Wright (combined to make 11 of 15 shots), the most accurate Mav from the field was Shawn Marion (6/15 from the field).

No player on either team shot better than 50% from deep, as the teams combined to go 9/39.

The MVP of the 2011 finals continues his sluggish season. Dirk went another game without connecting on a three pointer, and has now missed 14 consecutive triples and is shooting under 18% for the season. For the sixth time this season (a number that seemed high to me) Dirk made more FT’s than FG’s. The Mavs are 2-4 in games where he does that. He grabbed eight rebounds and scored eight points, marking the third time this season his rebound total has matched or surpass his scoring total. That equates to once ever 7.6 games and is something he didn’t do all of last season, which includes a run through the playoffs and 90+ games.

Nine players scored at least as many points as Dirk.

Most importantly, Harden defeated Carter in the battle of the beards (I’ve got them ranked first and forth respectively my latest NBA beard rankings) . Harden is averaging 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 6.5 assists this season against the Mavs, as his Thunder have won two of the three games.

By request, we will have the 76ers/Heat game on Friday. But what game do you want to see me jump into this time tomorrow?

By Kyle Soppe

The New York Knicks hosted the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night, and dismantled the struggling visitors by a finally tally of 113-86. This blowout happened for many reasons, most of which wouldn’t be obvious at first glance.

Carmelo Anthony, returning from injury, and Iman Shumpert, a rookie who needs to “know his role” according to Charles Barkley, average upwards of 45-50 shots per game when both are active. However, this night saw them distribute the ball much more than normal, as the duo combined for 12 assists. The entire Pistons roster recorded 13 helpers on the night.

Staying on Shumpert, he attempted only eight shots in 35 minutes of action, or roughly one shot every 4.25 minutes of action. That is the lowest ratio of shots per minute of the season for the aggressive rookie. Despite not starting early in the season, Shumpert has attempted at least nine field goals in 13 games this season, most of which he didn’t log 35 minutes.

Bill Walker, coming off a big performance against the Heat, played only 15 minutes. The more concerning figure here, is that despite his team winning 27 points, they were played even by the Pistons when Walker was on the court.

Landry Fields made more (4) but attempted three fewer three pointers than all of Detroit. The Knicks efficiency, or Pistons lack there of, was evident in the final totals from the field. New York attempted fewer shots, but managed to make 10 more.

Most teams that are blown out struggle with passing, as they fail to create good looks for teammates or are continually giving their opponent lay ups. This game was no different, as the Pistons had seven players with at least as many turnovers as assists. The Knicks only had two, the aforementioned Walker and Tyson Chandler, who is counted on as a passer.

Detroit at least had balance scoring, the only issue is that they all produced relatively little. They had eight players score between 6-15 points, while New York had four players score at least 15 points.

One bright note for the Pistons was Greg Monroe. The teams star grabbed 18.5% of the games total rebounds.

Comment on this and suggest a future game/team to cover in the box score breakdown. Happy to evaluate any box score on a given day.

By Kyle Soppe

The Minnesota Timberwolves traveled to Houston on Monday, and left with a 120-108 victory over the Rockets. The high scoring affair was highlighted by a third quarter in which the visitors dropped in 42 points. The point total for Minnesota single handily beat out the combined points in 75% of the quarters in the 76ers/Magic game and Spurs/Grizzles game.

On a similar note, the 76ers/Magic game saw 143 total points be scored, while the T-wolves poured in 120 points. Interestingly enough, both Philly and Orlando attempted more field goals than Minnesota.

Shooting 58.1% from the field and 90.3% from the free throw line, the T-wolves led the NBA in both categories on Monday night.

Minnesota’s top three scorers (Michael Beasley, Kevin Love, and Ricky “Testigo” Rubio) combined to make 23 of their 24 free throws. The Rockets top trio only converted on eight of 14 attempts.

Kevin Martin (90% free throw shooter) missed multiple free throws for the first time in 18 games. He has made multiple three pointers in five straight games (averaging four threes per game over that stretch). He led the Rockets in scoring on Monday, the seventh time in eight games he has done that.

For the 16th time in 21 games, Love attempted at least four three pointers. Not your typical 14 rebounds a night kind of forward.

Beasley scored a season high 34 points on 10/14 shooting from the field and a perfect 12/12 from the line. He came off of the bench.

Rubio and Luke Ridnour, totaled 16 assists, all other T-wolves recorded a total of two dimes.

The T-wolves won by double digits despite having more turnovers than Houston and less assists.

Another great night for Rubio, as he totaled 61.1% of his teams assists, and a team game high 18% of his teams rebounds. The Wolves were 22 points better than the Rockets for the 37+ minutes Rubio was on the court. The double digit assist performance was the fifth time in the last nine days (averaging 13 assists over that span). He matched a career high with 18 points for the second time in three games. His eight rebounds also matched a carer high,

By Kyle Soppe

They say everything is bigger in Texas. so it only makes sense that four quarters wasn’t enough for these two top teams. The Mavericks defended home court, beating the aging Spurs 101-100 in overtime on Sunday night.

The Spurs that were beaten weren’t your every day Spurs. Ten players saw at least 20 minutes of action, while no one logged 30 minutes. On the other hand, the Mavs saw four players total at least 30 minutes. The top three Spurs in terms of minutes played (Garry Neal, Matt Bonner, and Danny Green) all came off of the bench. But who could blame Greg Popovich, his Spurs were outscored by 10 points when Tony Parker was on the court while they were +17 when second year man James Anderson was in the game.

Building on the bench production theme, Neal and Jason Terry led their respective teams in shot attempts and points, despite watching the opening tip from a comfortable courtside seat. Dallas’ best player (Dirk Nowitski) and San Antonio’s consensus top two (Parker and Tim Duncan) combined to score 31 points, while Terry poured in 34 by himself.

The Spurs made more three pointers (12) than field goals attempted by Parker (11) or Duncan (10).

San Antonio struggled from the line in this contest, as their best free throw shooter on the day was only 66%.

Turning things over to the victorious Mavs. They shot 20% from deep, the lowest percentage by a winning team in last nights eight games.

For the sixth straight game, Dirk recorded more rebounds (13) than free throw attempts (0). It was the first time in 26 games in which Nowitski had attempted 0 free throws.

Statistically speaking, Vince Carter played his best game of 2012, yet the Mavs were outscored when he was on the court. In fact, in terms of team production, he wasn’t even the best ex Tar Heel in this game. The Spurs were eight points better than Dallas when Danny Green was on the floor.

Lesser known Rodrigue Beaubois of Dallas, who averages a shade over two assists per game, was the teams top playmaker on Sunday. His seven dimes accounted for 47% of the teams total assists. Those seven helpers also gave him 64% of the starters assists.

The Mavs once led this game by 18 points, and were fortunate not to lose it on a Danny Green buzzer beater that was overturned in regulation. Since half time, the Mavs were outscored by 10 points, yet managed to win the battle of Texas

The Washington Wizards are up to four wins this season, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to dive into their 102-99 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday night.

The Wizards made more field goals than the Bobcats, despite attempting fewer.

Washington outscored Charlotte in only one quarter. They also were responsible for the lone quarter under 20 points.

The Bobcats were +19 on the glass, but found a way to lose. JaVale McGee pulled down 26% of his teams rebounds.

The Wizards had five players who attempted free throws, and did not miss. The Bobcats had 0 such players. Every Wizard that attempted a three pointed connected on at least one.

There were 11 players who scored at least 10 points, and three who tallied at least 10 helpers. The three players with 10+ dimes (John Wall, Boris Diaw, and Kemba Walker) accounted for 53% of the total assists in this game. Add in Jordan Crawford’s seven assists, and those four were responsible two out of every three assists.

Rookie Kemba Walker paced the Bobcats with his first career triple double. Primarily a scoring option during UCONN’s 2011 title run, Walker led his team in just about everything besides points on Saturday. His 11 assists, which was the top number in the NBA last night, 10 rebounds, 18 field goal attempts,  and two three pointers were all team highs. But it was reserve big man Byron Mullens who led the team in scoring, outscoring Walker 23 to 20.

The Knicks tested the basketball theory that “you live by the three, you die by the three” on a 99-89 loss in South Beach. New York’s game plan was obvious, as they connected on four three pointers in the first quarter, doubling the number of shots inside the arc they made. The reliance on the long ball worked early as the Knicks, despite 0 points from their big two (Carmelo was inactive), were even with the Heat.

If you told Coach Spolstra that Dwayne Wade and LeBron James would go 8/11 for 18 points, and Amar’e Stoudemire was held without a field goal in the games first 12 minutes, I’m sure he would have thought his team would have had a sizeable advantage.

The theme continued in the second quarter, and the Knicks were “living” by the jump shot. At the half, they had made only four two point field goals, but were only down 52-48. They made 10 three points, and attempted five more treys for the half than twos. Again, Wade and James continued to dominate, totaling 32 points and seven assists. The duo dunked eight times, doubling the shots inside the arc of the entire Knicks roster.

Needless to say, the Knicks eventually cooled down, but refused to stop jacking up shots from distance. When all was said and done, they attempted 43 triples and only 41 two point attempts.

Six Knick players made at least as many threes as the entire Miami roster. Only Tyson Chandler, who isn’t really allowed to shoot outside of the paint, did not attempt a three for New York. The Knicks unofficially set the largest point difference from behind the arc in a losing effort (they were +48).

The Knicks three highest scorers (Bill Walker, Landry Fields, and Toney Douglas) combined for only four made two pointers and 13 made threes.

Stoudemire attempted 30.2% of the teams two point field goals, and he hardly shot in the first half and was under his season average in shot attempts.

Miami’s “Big 3″ took 68.8% of the teams shots. While the Heat bench attempted 23.7% of the teams shots.Wade and James each made 11 two point buckets, while the entire Knicks roster converted 12 times from inside.

Before I get started on the late game, let me take a second to put the Magic’s collapse into statistical perspective. For those who weren’t watching, Orlando led by 27 points in the third quarter in a home game against a Celtics team that was missing 40% of their starting lineup. Needless to say they blew the lead, and lost 91-83. The depleted C’s ended the game on a 44-15 run. These two teams played in Monday’s Box Score Breakdown, where Orlando recorded a franchise low 56 total points. Sure, they blew a 27 point lead on Thursday, but it took them the final 31 minutes and 10 seconds of Monday’s game to score 27 points. I suppose this should be considered a step forward?

Onto the Grizzles/Clippers game, where Lob City prevailed by a final score of 98-91. This game featured 19 lead changes, even though the Clippers won the first quarter by 12 points.

The Clippers made five more shots from the field, despite attempting 12 less shots.

Building on this idea of efficiency, it took Gay and Quincy Pondexter 37 shots to total 38 points. Blake Griffin and Chris Paul matched them in total points, but only took 25 shots from the field.

This game featured two of the better rebounders in the league in Griffin and Gasol. The two big men were the leading rebounders in this game, but it was their passing that should be recognized. The duo combined for 14 assists, the exact same number as the games two starting point guards (Paul and Conley).

Reserve guards OJ Mayo and Pondexter contributed six offensive rebounds for Memphis, while starting big men Griffin and DeAndre Jordan recorded four.

In big thanks to Mayo and Pondexter, guards were responsible for half of the Grizzles offensive rebounds. Mayo, Pondexter, and Tony Allen were shorter than every Grizzle active player besides rookie Josh Selby, but managed to have a huge impact on the offensive glass.

The Clippers saw five of their players take 84.7% of their shots. Interestingly enough, the teams starting center wasn’t one of those five players. Jordan, who played over 35 minutes, contributed in other ways with nine rebounds and three blocks. The low shot total can’t make Mrs. Jordan very happy, who complained earlier in the season that her son wasn’t getting enough touches.

The Milwaukee Bucks won the second half by 15 points, propelling them to a 105-99 victory over the Houston Rockets. But, as always, there was much more to this game than meets the eye.

The Bucks went on a 12-0 run to start the game, and a 20-0 run that ran from the late moments of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth. Over a 6 minute 18 second span, the Bucks outscored the Rockets 32-0. For the other 41 minutes 42 seconds, Houston won this game by a score of 99-73.

The two teams relied primarily on three point shooting, with Milwaukee connecting on 14/29 and Houston making 8/31. The 60 combined attempts were the most of any game in the NBA yesterday, with the T-wolves and Mavs  a distant second at 43 attempts. Houston’s 31 attempts were more than were taken in three individual games. Their eight made treys were the most for any team who came out on the wrong end of the score.

Seven players in this game hoisted at least five three point attmepts.

Eight players attempted at least 10 field goals.

The run and gun contest saw 184 field goal attempts and 204 total points. The Nuggets and Kings combined for 215 points, but took 15 fewer shots.

Samuel Dalembart and Ersan Ilyasova gathered 32% of the games rebounds (18 and 19 respectively) but only managed 9.8% of the games total points. The rebounding machines only attempted 8.6% of the games shots, despite having the ball close to the rim very often.

The teams combined for only 32 fouls, fewer than any other game on Wednesday’s slate.

The Bucks are now 7-10 and tied for third place in the Central Division. The Rockets are now 10-8, but in fourth place in the Southwest.

Only two games on todays schedule, make sure to check back for one of those games box score breakdown