"Game Score" is a statistic that tries to evaluate how effectively and efficiently a player plays. So, by plugging in certain statistical game inputs, https://captaincalculator.com/sports/basketball/game-score-calculator/ you come up with a "Game Score."
Generally, 60+ is almost impossibly great, 50+ is phenomenol, 40+ is great, 30+ is generally the best 1-2 scores of a given regular season night, 22.5 is a very good productive starter game, 15 is a good starter game, 10 is an OK game or a good game in limited minutes. Anything below 10 - you haven't contributed much.
So, I saw a tweet today where a guy said that Dwyan Wade's 2006 NBA Finals performance was the greatest Finals performance of all-time. Well, since 1984, our friends at www.basketball-reference.com have caluclated NBA Finals Games Scores, and, in fact, have included an "average Game Score" for the series for each player! So, comparing apples to apples (we're using the exact same stats, calculated the same way), lets' see who has the highest Game Score Average for a Finals series since 1984.
35th Place - Tony Parker 16.2 - 2007 Spurs
34th place -- Ray Allen 16.7 - 2008 Celts
33rd -- Chauncey Billups 17.3 - 2005 Pistons (team lost)
32nd -- Shaq 18.7 - 2004 Lakers (team lost, so he loses the tiebreaker to #31)
31st -- Kobe 18.7 -- 2010 Lakers (teammate Pau Gasol = 18.6)
30th - Shawn Kemp 18.9 -- 1996 Sonics (team lost, but his AGS > Jordan's 18.5)
These 6 are the Worst Efforts to lead the Finals. All under 20.
Next category 20-24.99999
29th -- Hakeem 21.0 -- 1994 Rockets
28th -- Clyde Drexler 21.3 -- 1990 Blazers (team lost)
27th -- Jordan 21.4 -- 1998 Bulls
26rh -- Kareem 21.7 - 1985 Lakers
25th -- Dumars 22.4 -- 1989 Pistons
24th -- LeBron 22.5 -- Miami 2014 (team lost, so he loses the tiebreaker to himself)
23rd -- LeBron 22.5 -- Miami 2013
22nd -- Duncan 22.6 -- Spurs 1999
21st -- Wade 22.7 -- Miami 2011 (team lost)
20th -- Kobe 22.8 -- Lakers 2009
19th -- Jordan 23.4 -- Chicago 1997
18th -- LeBron 23.6 -- Miami 2012
17th -- Bird 23.7 -- Boston 1984
16th -- Bird 23.9 -- Boston 1986
15th -- Duncan 24.1 -- Spurs 2003
14th -- Magic 24.4 -- Lakers 1988
13th -- Hakeem 24.5 -- Rockets 1995
12th -- LeBron 24.6 -- Cavs 2015 (team lost).
TOP 11 -- Average Game Score Over 25
11th -- Wade 25.4 -- 2006 Heat
10th -- Jordan 25.8 -- 1992 Bulls
9th -- LeBron 26.5 -- 2016 Cavs
8th -- Shaq 27.4 -- 2001 Lakers
7th -- LeBron 28.3 -- 2018 Cavs (team lost, so loses tiebreaker to Magic)
6th -- Magic 28.3 -- 1987 Lakers
5th -- Jordan 29.4 -- 1991 Bulls
4th Jordan 29.6 -- 1993 Bulls
3rd -- Shaq 30.1 -- 2002 Lakers
2nd -- Kevin Durant 30.3 -- 2017 Warriors
1st -- Shaq 30.6 -- 2000 Lakers
So, of the 35 Average Game Score leaders, 8 were on losing teams (Chauncey, Kemp, Shaq, Clyde, Wade, LeBron 3x).
The best non-winners I saw on this inquiry were:
Durant 30.3 beats LeBron 29.6 in 2017 -- LeBron's greatest ever Finals Average Game Score.
LeBron 28.3 beats Durant 26.9 in 2018 -- Durant's play got him MVP.
So, if we include LeBron's losing 29.6, here are the raw numbers for these top 8 guys:
Magic 1987 - 26-8-13, shot 54%
LeBron 2018 - 34-10-8, shot 53%
Jordan 1991 31-7-11 shot 56%
Jordan 1993 41-8-6 shot 51%
LeBron 2017 33-12-10, shot 56%
Shaq 2002 36-12-4, shot 59.5%
Durant 2017 35-8-5 shot 56%
Shaq 2000 -- 38-17-2, shot 61%
Of the top 35, Most Times Having Best Average Game Score
1 Season -- Parker, Allen, Billups, Kemp, Drexler, Dumars, Durant, Kareem
2 Seasons -- Duncan, Magic, Bird, Kobe, Wade, Hakeem
4 Seasons - Shaq
5 Seasons - Jordan
6 Seasons - LeBron
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Friday, February 08, 2019
Happy Moses Malone Day
OK, since it is Moses Malone Day in Philly, let's go through some Moses Malone love.
1) Most importantly,
Moses is my #18 player of all-time. Since I spend weeks on that analysis every 3 years, and I rank Moses so high, I think it is pretty egregious that Moses is only now getting his number retired in Philly.
2) Moses Malone was so physically dominant as a high school player that he was told to go home early from Five Star Camp. As recently as 2016, Hubie Brown stated that Moses was the greatest player ever at Five Star Camp.
Moses once stated of his own physical dominance that he and any 4 guys he could pick off the street in Petersburg, VA could win NBA games.
3) Moses Malone in 1979-83, finished 1-9-4-1-1 in MVP voting:
1979 -- Beat George Gervin 112-35
1980 - received a first-place vote (Magic did not)
1981 - finished behind Dr. J, Bird and Kareem
1982 - beat Bird 40-20 in first place votes
1983 - had 69 out of 75 first-place votes. (defeating Bird, Magic, Dr. J, Kareem)
So, over a 5 year stretch, Moses did better in MVP balloting than 4 of the top 20 players of all-time - Dr. J, Magic, Bird, Kareem).
3) Over this same stretch of time, Moses' Houston team went to the Finals from the West in 1981 (displacing Magic/Kareem - something that was not done again in the Western Conference until 1986)
Moses led the NBA in playoff Win Shares in 1981 and 1983. Again, this means he had more playoff WS than Bird in 1981 and more playoff WS than Magic or Kareem in 1983.
There is a solid argument that from 1979-1983, Moses Malone was the #1 player in all of basketball. Certainly he destroyed Kareem in head-to-head competition on a regular basis, taking him out in 1981 as a Rocket and then sweeping the Lakers in 1983. In 1983, Moses was so head and shoulders above his competition that he stated his classic "Fo-Fo-Fo" boast before the playoffs, and, but for a long Sidney Moncrief buzzer beater, would have gone 4-4-4. As it was, teams got exactly 1 game off the Sixers, and the Magic/Kareem Lakers were swept.
CAREER STATS
4) Moses
-- #2 in career FT made and attempted
-- #9 all-time in career points
-- #3 all-time in career rebounds
-- #14 in Win Shares
Only Russell and Wilt have more rebounds.
5) 4X first-team all-NBA, 4X second team all-NBA The league did not go to 3 teams of all-NBA until 1988-89.
Moses was a 13x all-star, so he was really good for 13 years, even though only 8 of them resulted in all-NBA honors.
6) Moses was the greatest offensive rebounder since offensive rebounds were counted as a statistic in the NBA in 1973-74.
NBA Seasons with over 330 Offensive Rebounds:
Moses 14, Rodman 7, no one else more than 5.
NBA Seasons with over 400 offensive rebounds
Moses 6, Rodman 3, Drummond & Larry Smith 2. No one else with over 1.
Seasons with over 500 offensive rebounds.
Moses 3, Rodman 1 (end of list)
Career Total Offensive Rebounds:
Moses 7382
Gilmore 4816
Now, imagine that there is some statistic that has been around for 45 years and you are number one by roughly 50% in excess of the 2nd place guy.
The active leader is Dwight Howard. If Dwight Howard gets 22 more offensive rebounds, he will have 50% of Moses Malone's career rebounds.
7) Moses Was the greatest Offensive Rebounder/Scorer Ever, By a Huge Margin.
Games With 40+ Points and 10 Offensive Rebounds - Moses 5, Shaq 3
30/10 - Moses 29, Barkley 10, Shaq 8, David 7, Hakeem 7
25/10 - Moses 40, Barkley 17, Shaq 13, Hakeem 12, David 10.
8) How great was Moses as a 30 points/20 Rebound Player?
For seasons after 1973:
Moses -- 36 Such Games
Kareem 27
McAdoo 22
Barkley 20
Shaq 18
Hakeem 15
Cousins 10
Big E 10
Ewing 8
Dwight Howard 8
9) 24 Point and 12 Rebound Seasons
Wilt 10
KAJ Baylor Pettit 9
Moses 6
McAdoo 5
Bellamy Hayes Shaq 4
Hakeem 3
10) Moses Had 3 MVPs, and a Finals MVP, and was regular season and Finals MVP in the same year, in a year where he led the league in both regular season and playoff WS and WS/48.
This has been done as follows:
1971 - Kareem
1983 Moses
1991 Jordan
1996 Jordan
2000 Shaq
2012 LeBron
Worthy of a Note:
In 1967, Wilt won the MVP and his team won the title and he won WS and WS/48 for the season and the playoffs. But there was no Finals MVP formally awarded.
In 2013, LeBron waon MVP, Finals MVP, WS and WS/48 in the season and WS in the playoffs - but his temmate Chris Anderson had the best WS/48 at .303, playing roughly 300 minutes. Chris Paul also had a higher WS/48, playing around 200 minutes.
CONCLUSION -- Moses was awesome. Happy Moses Malone Day!!!
1) Most importantly,
Moses is my #18 player of all-time. Since I spend weeks on that analysis every 3 years, and I rank Moses so high, I think it is pretty egregious that Moses is only now getting his number retired in Philly.
2) Moses Malone was so physically dominant as a high school player that he was told to go home early from Five Star Camp. As recently as 2016, Hubie Brown stated that Moses was the greatest player ever at Five Star Camp.
Moses once stated of his own physical dominance that he and any 4 guys he could pick off the street in Petersburg, VA could win NBA games.
3) Moses Malone in 1979-83, finished 1-9-4-1-1 in MVP voting:
1979 -- Beat George Gervin 112-35
1980 - received a first-place vote (Magic did not)
1981 - finished behind Dr. J, Bird and Kareem
1982 - beat Bird 40-20 in first place votes
1983 - had 69 out of 75 first-place votes. (defeating Bird, Magic, Dr. J, Kareem)
So, over a 5 year stretch, Moses did better in MVP balloting than 4 of the top 20 players of all-time - Dr. J, Magic, Bird, Kareem).
3) Over this same stretch of time, Moses' Houston team went to the Finals from the West in 1981 (displacing Magic/Kareem - something that was not done again in the Western Conference until 1986)
Moses led the NBA in playoff Win Shares in 1981 and 1983. Again, this means he had more playoff WS than Bird in 1981 and more playoff WS than Magic or Kareem in 1983.
There is a solid argument that from 1979-1983, Moses Malone was the #1 player in all of basketball. Certainly he destroyed Kareem in head-to-head competition on a regular basis, taking him out in 1981 as a Rocket and then sweeping the Lakers in 1983. In 1983, Moses was so head and shoulders above his competition that he stated his classic "Fo-Fo-Fo" boast before the playoffs, and, but for a long Sidney Moncrief buzzer beater, would have gone 4-4-4. As it was, teams got exactly 1 game off the Sixers, and the Magic/Kareem Lakers were swept.
CAREER STATS
4) Moses
-- #2 in career FT made and attempted
-- #9 all-time in career points
-- #3 all-time in career rebounds
-- #14 in Win Shares
Only Russell and Wilt have more rebounds.
5) 4X first-team all-NBA, 4X second team all-NBA The league did not go to 3 teams of all-NBA until 1988-89.
Moses was a 13x all-star, so he was really good for 13 years, even though only 8 of them resulted in all-NBA honors.
6) Moses was the greatest offensive rebounder since offensive rebounds were counted as a statistic in the NBA in 1973-74.
NBA Seasons with over 330 Offensive Rebounds:
Moses 14, Rodman 7, no one else more than 5.
NBA Seasons with over 400 offensive rebounds
Moses 6, Rodman 3, Drummond & Larry Smith 2. No one else with over 1.
Seasons with over 500 offensive rebounds.
Moses 3, Rodman 1 (end of list)
Career Total Offensive Rebounds:
Moses 7382
Gilmore 4816
Now, imagine that there is some statistic that has been around for 45 years and you are number one by roughly 50% in excess of the 2nd place guy.
The active leader is Dwight Howard. If Dwight Howard gets 22 more offensive rebounds, he will have 50% of Moses Malone's career rebounds.
7) Moses Was the greatest Offensive Rebounder/Scorer Ever, By a Huge Margin.
Games With 40+ Points and 10 Offensive Rebounds - Moses 5, Shaq 3
30/10 - Moses 29, Barkley 10, Shaq 8, David 7, Hakeem 7
25/10 - Moses 40, Barkley 17, Shaq 13, Hakeem 12, David 10.
8) How great was Moses as a 30 points/20 Rebound Player?
For seasons after 1973:
Moses -- 36 Such Games
Kareem 27
McAdoo 22
Barkley 20
Shaq 18
Hakeem 15
Cousins 10
Big E 10
Ewing 8
Dwight Howard 8
9) 24 Point and 12 Rebound Seasons
Wilt 10
KAJ Baylor Pettit 9
Moses 6
McAdoo 5
Bellamy Hayes Shaq 4
Hakeem 3
10) Moses Had 3 MVPs, and a Finals MVP, and was regular season and Finals MVP in the same year, in a year where he led the league in both regular season and playoff WS and WS/48.
This has been done as follows:
1971 - Kareem
1983 Moses
1991 Jordan
1996 Jordan
2000 Shaq
2012 LeBron
Worthy of a Note:
In 1967, Wilt won the MVP and his team won the title and he won WS and WS/48 for the season and the playoffs. But there was no Finals MVP formally awarded.
In 2013, LeBron waon MVP, Finals MVP, WS and WS/48 in the season and WS in the playoffs - but his temmate Chris Anderson had the best WS/48 at .303, playing roughly 300 minutes. Chris Paul also had a higher WS/48, playing around 200 minutes.
CONCLUSION -- Moses was awesome. Happy Moses Malone Day!!!
Tuesday, February 05, 2019
50 Most Rat-Infested Cities 2019. Have I Been? Do I Like Them?
- Chicago - have been many times, love the city
- Los Angeles (+1) love
- New York (-1) love
- Washington, DC (+1) love
- San Francisco (-1) love
- Detroit (+1) some good, some bad
- Philadelphia (-1) some good, some bad
- Cleveland, OH (+5) yes, I like Cleveland
- Baltimore (-1) some good, some bad
- Denver (+1) like a lot
- Minneapolis-St. Paul (+1) my home
- Dallas-Ft. Worth (-2) do not like Dallas
- Boston (+2) some good, some bad
- Seattle (-5) like a lot
- Atlanta (-1) terrible city
- Indianapolis (+3) - it is a nice little town
- Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (+1) don't love
- Hartford, CT (-2) - terrible
- Pittsburgh (+3) some good some bad
- Cincinnati (+4) same
- Milwaukee same
- Charlotte, NC (+6) do NOT like Charlotte, almost mugged there
- Houston (-3) terrible
- Portland, OR (-7) really like
- Columbus, OH (+6) it is fine, nothing to write home about
- San Diego (+9) mediocre, not great
- Raleigh-Durham (+6) has come a long way, would say like alot
- Buffalo, NY (+2) - my home town, its struggles continue, but it is OK.
- New Orleans (-6) - I love the outlaw nature of NO
- Norfolk, VA (-1) - only driven through
- Richmond, VA (-6) - same
- Albany, NY (+4) -- I like Albany, kind of a sleepy quiet town
- Kansas City, MO (-6) - has some really nice things, I'd go with really like
- Portland, ME (+19) -- basically a poor man's Boston
- Nashville, TN (+5) - love
- St. Louis, MO (-4) - terrible city
- Sacramento (-11) - never been
- Greenville, SC (+4) - driven through only
- Grand Rapids, MI (-5) - driven through only
- Phoenix (+4) -- can be OK, not great
- Orlando (+6) - can be Ok, not great
- Tampa (-4) -- traffic is insane, if you lived way out on the water it would be cool
- Burlington, NY (+11) -- I imagine they must mean VT - went 30 years ago - pretty
- Champaign, IL (-3) - not much to recommend here, where I was born
- Rochester, NY (-6) - it's fine, getting smaller and smaller
- Syracuse (-1) - nice Italian food, little else
- Charleston, WV (+17) - never been
- Dayton, OH (+7) - driven through only
- Memphis (-6) -- I like Memphis to visit, pretty crappy town though
- Flint, MI (-1) - driven through only/ They have to be happy to finally find out that the absolute bottom of some list is sometimes preferable (since they are at the bottom of so many).
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