Denver Nuggets vs. Phoenix Suns
The Nets and Nuggets need to work on their red-zone offense, because after Chris Broussard of ESPN reported on Sunday that the deal was, "on the 10-yard line," here I am two days later waiting for a touchdown that still hasn't formulated. At the risk of having a panic attack, we won't discuss the massive pink elephant that's going to be stomping around the Pepsi Center tonight and instead compare the two teams playing in the game as constituted.Tonight's Western Conference clash provides an interesting example of why defense and rebounding are so pivotal to success in the NBA. Phoenix, currently a disappointing 15-20, rank 2nd in points scored this season, putting up an impressive 105.9 points per contest. On the glass, they're 28th in the league with only 38.8 rebounds per game, and on the defensive side of the ball, 30th in points allowed, conceding a massive 108.3 points per game. Similarly, Denver has no trouble putting up buckets, ranking just barely behind the Suns at 3rd in the league with 105.6 point per game. They're only a little bit better at getting stops (allowing 104.3 points) and grabbing boards (41.3 rebounds per game), ranking 24th and 20th respectively. Denver's record is significantly better, however, at 20-16.
What do all these numbers tell us that we don't already know? If anything, that even slight statistical differences in terms of defense and rebounding can separate playoff teams from teams with losing records. We can certainly see that in this brief comparison of Phoenix and Denver. The Suns and the Nuggets score almost exactly the same amount, but Denver grabs about 3 more boards and gives up about 4 less points per game than the Suns do. Denver is 4 games over .500 and very much in the playoff hunt, currently 7th in the West. Phoenix is 5 games under and in 11th place, 3 games back of the 8th seed, Portland.
Who knows whether the Suns would make the playoffs or not if they improved their defensive and rebounding efforts by the small amounts necessary to make them equal to the Nuggets in these categories. It would certainly improve their chances. What we do know for sure is that at least we didn't touch on the Melo trade rumors for two paragraphs. If you do tune into NBA TV tonight, expect to have that conversation drilled into your brain.
One Game We Won't Be Watching Tonight:
Los Angeles Lakes vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
It's getting very ugly in Cavalier-land these days. They've only got 8 wins so far this year, Varejao is out for the season, and they had just had to switch hotels in LA so that they wouldn't be staying in the same place as the Miami Heat. Talk about adding insult to injury and throwing salt into a wound all at the same time. They might be the hottest mess in the NBA this year, and I'm not really in the mood to watch torture porn, so I won't be tuning in for this one.
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