Wednesday Analysis

by JordanLeDoux on Oct 9, 2008 3:55 PM PDT

http://theblazerbeat.blogspot.com/2008/10/preseason-game-2.html

I wrote the article below for my blog, but I thought it would be a decent fanpost as well.

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In many ways this was not as much of a loss for the players as it was for McMillian. And by loss, I don't mean that he's keeping score.

After the half, you could almost feel that McMillian didn't care at all about the final outcome of the game, he was truly using it as scouting material. Which while excellent for the head coach, was not the most exciting time for fans.

It didn't help either that Sergio had an impressive six turnovers on ten assists. That's right, a .6 turnover to assist ratio. If this had been a regular season game, fans would qucikly lament the absence of Brandon Roy, who never seems to fail at gluing the team together.

Despite languishing a bit on defense and failing to take the ball up strong a couple of times, Oden had an impressive second outing, and his rebounding really came into play. NBA refs tend to give the benefit to the player that makes a strong move; one Tuesday, that was Oden and on Wednesday, it was not.

The last thought I'll throw out there has to do with Outlaw and Webster. First, Outlaw is going to get unfairly criticized for this game. Yes, his shooting was abysmal, as was his shot selection. I would invite others to take not eof the fact thought that he played almost half his minutes at center, something you will never see happen during the regular season.

Webster also is very obviously the starting man right now. His play on Tuesday showed a confidence and demeanor that screams "start me", and he played very well with the first unit.

Fernandez played very well, although he was hindered slightly by having players around him that couldn't finish like Aldridge or Webster, and several plays which he was a part of on Wednesday that didn't convert, would have on Tuesday.

But overall, the game was a great barometer for the team in unusual lineups, and I'm sure McMillian will view the game as a positive thing.

0 recs | Comment 20 comments

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Comments

hurray

thank you for the excellent analysis.

now that you mention it, this wasn’t a loss for Nate either. because Nate didn’t care whether we won or lost. all he wanted to do was scout out his possibilities.

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

According to James Kunstler, who writes a well-respected if slightly profane financial blog whose title I cannot repeat here, "The Republicans must be clearly identified as the party that wrecked America... it's hard to imagine the American people giving the clean-up task to the very group that created the mess -- no matter how many cute little faces Sarah Palin can make on TV."

by vavoom on Oct 9, 2008 4:14 PM PDT 0 recs

I didn't quite make 4.0 in my calculus class but,

am I the only one who was confused by this line?

It didn’t help either that Sergio had an impressive six turnovers on ten assists. That’s right, a .6 turnover to assist ratio.

He who laughs last thinks slowest.

by prezofdeath on Oct 9, 2008 4:17 PM PDT 0 recs

Ahh, scratch that from the record

I guess he does have a .6 turnover to assist ratio, but generally people look at assist-to-turnover ratio.

Which, according to this page, CP3 had a 4.6?!?!?!?! what a BEAST!

He who laughs last thinks slowest.

by prezofdeath on Oct 9, 2008 4:21 PM PDT up 0 recs

Interestingly, on this page

I found that Steve Blake has the 7th highest assist-to-turnover ratio in the league (amongst players with at least 100 assists).

That’s the kind of consistency I like.

Word.

by joelor on Oct 9, 2008 4:50 PM PDT up 0 recs

Wow.

Blake is really underrated.

by CaptainSexyJacob on Oct 9, 2008 8:48 PM PDT up 0 recs

u can say that again

He who laughs last thinks slowest.

by prezofdeath on Oct 13, 2008 11:33 AM PDT up 0 recs

travis outlaw played half his minutes at center?

what game were you watching?

Afew years ago, a broadcaster once said Pryzbilla's name is "Polish for 'personal foul.'" Ouch.

by chrischa on Oct 9, 2008 5:19 PM PDT 0 recs

yeah

the assist to turnover ratio thing and outlaw at center are a bit strange. Though other parts were insightful.

by The Natural ala Mode on Oct 9, 2008 7:04 PM PDT up 0 recs

i guess this is where i would point out

that Bayless had an infinite turnover to assist ratio considering he had 5 turnovers and 0 assists. but i’m too polite to point that out. oops.

Free Sergio! http://www.freesergio.com

by sergioFTW on Oct 9, 2008 7:38 PM PDT 1 recs

That was polite of you

by southern oregon on Oct 9, 2008 7:56 PM PDT up 0 recs

Wouldn't that be undefined?

Punch 5 divided by 0 into a calculator.

by CaptainSexyJacob on Oct 9, 2008 8:49 PM PDT up 1 recs

I don't know what calculator says but mathematics say 5/0 is infinite.

by cbp on Oct 9, 2008 11:34 PM PDT up 0 recs

no

mathematics says 5/0 is undefined see this and this

by contemnor on Oct 10, 2008 7:06 AM PDT up 0 recs

no other blog

brings the math smackdown like BE. thanks for the info contemnor. i’ll just stick with infinite because it sounds so much better, but now i know i’ll be technically wrong.

Free Sergio! http://www.freesergio.com

by sergioFTW on Oct 10, 2008 8:18 AM PDT up 0 recs

Even though it's undefined, it's often assumed to be positive infinity with some quantities.

e.g. certain ratios like assist to turnover. It tells you more than “undefined” so it should be used with caution. So CaptainSexyJacob and contemnor are right, and cbp is wrong, but sergioFTW is not necessarily wrong. :)

by royroty on Oct 10, 2008 11:49 AM PDT up 0 recs

I had trouble

With the orbital mechanics part of calclueless to.

by southern oregon on Oct 10, 2008 12:30 PM PDT up 0 recs

Ok you may be right.

I found in your first link the following text "Bhaskara II tried to solve the problem by defining n/0= infinite. This definition makes some sense, as discussed below, but can lead to paradoxes if not treated carefully. These paradoxes were not treated until modern times.1

It seems I am too old.

by cbp on Oct 13, 2008 3:43 PM PDT up 0 recs