Nylon Notebook: An A, and an F for Effort

Nov 12, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Reggie Jackson (15) celebrates against the Boston Celtics during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

You often hear critics of analytics say that numbers can’t measure intangibles like heart, determination, and passion. It’s the standard default criticism when somebody doesn’t want to talk about the topic, or doesn’t want to credit areas of study outside their comfort zone.

But, some boxscores literally SING about heart, determination, and passion when you read them. Particularly when you apply context to the backdrop of a game.

Here’s a quick example from Wednesday Night…

Oklahoma City was an underdog of +7.5 points at Boston

Oklahoma City was playing on night two of a back-to-back

Night One was a grinder, so there was a built-in excuse for flatness and fatigue

Oklahoma City, as you know, is playing shorthanded because of a slew of major injuries

Oklahoma City beat Boston 109-94

Oklahoma City won the second half 67-43

Oklahoma City won the fourth quarter 33-22

Oklahoma City’s bench outscored Boston’s bench 50-15

Oklahoma City won points in the paint 50-30

Oklahoma City earned more trips to the FT line by a 22-13 count

Oklahoma City outrebounded Boston 41-35

That was an effort! You didn’t need an in person or TV “eye test” to recognize it either. And, who besides loyal fans of either team is going to spend much time watching that one anyway? You could have checked the boxsore before bedtime, or awakened early the next morning and seen it in your newspaper. Oklahoma City doesn’t have many healthy bodies. But, those who are in uniform care.

The boxscore suggests it…and the fact that all that happened in the most obvious type of flat spot in the NBA drives the point home. If OKC had lost 109-94, it would be easy to say “Yeah, but what do you expect in a back-to-back spot after losing a toughie. They left everything on the court the night before.” They…the starters, bench, and coaching staff…put everything they had on the floor in Boston when tired.

On the other side of the Wednesday coin, we have the Denver Nuggets. They were trailing 84-50 at halftime of their home game with Portland! That’s such an insult to the franchise and its fans that they could all sue for libel. When a team is trailing by 34 points at halftime…you know that the group (or the alpha dogs of the group) have tuned out the coach and are not giving much effort. Crystal clear. But, as a backdrop, we have…

Denver was at home, at a site that historically has the best home court advantage in the NBA

Denver was fresh after a day off

Denver was in a quick revenge spot because they lost Sunday at Portland 116-100

Denver has already failed to care in a prior revenge situation with Sacramento

Often, the potential of a revenge factor gets diluted in the NBA because it can be weeks or even months before you face a team that just beat you. It’s much more likely to be a motivating force in quick turnaround situations. Those guys just beat you, what are you going to do about it?!

Denver fell behind 84-50, while fresh and playing on a strong home court. That’s what they did about it. And, this is the second time in the young season the team had no-showed a revenge spot.

Denver lost 116-100 and 130-113 to Portland (huge garbage time run to trim deficit)

Denver lost 110-105 and 131-109 to Sacramento with one day between meetings

That’s four of their last five games. And, oh…by the way…if you go six games back you see a 102-91 loss to the Oklahoma City team we were just talking about. The Nuggets were -4.5 in that loss at OKC, and…even with their all of their recent gutlessness, were -2.5 Wednesday Night at home against Portland. Market expectations haven’t been sinking fast enough for the no-show Nuggets.

One last point off a Wednesday night boxscore for this edition of the Nylon Notebook…

The New York Knicks fell to 2-7 with a home loss to Orlando. There has been a lot of media discussion (and quality analytics discussion) about the issues New York is having while trying to learn Phil Jackson’s triangle offense. The team is taking too many long two-point shots. Plus, the team has so many poor defenders that they have to shoot lights out to win.

What jumps out in Wednesday’s boxscore is the free throw category. New York only lost by two points, dealing with this huge differential from the line:

Orlando: 25 of 32

New York: 13 of 14

Orlando was +12 in makes on 18 more attempts. Big problem in a nailbiter!

And, a continuation of an issue that’s been plaguing New York all season. If everyone’s focused on getting good looks for their teammates in open space, then there are fewer attempts to earn cheap points at the free throw line that come from aggressively attacking the basket. Look at these per-game free throw averages through 9 outings.

Opponents: 22.0 of 28.1

New York: 12.0 of 15.4

The 12.0 and 15.4 for the Knicks both rank #30 out of 30 NBA teams. The dozen makes are six below the league median of around 18…and way below what the most aggressive teams do. The 15.4 attempts are well below the league median of around 24. Based on those numbers you’d think the Knicks are focused on avoiding free throws.

For practical purposes, the Knicks start out every game in a 10-point hole. Then try to climb out of it with an offense they haven’t yet learned and a defense that doesn’t scare anybody.

On a day where report grades jump out for OKC and Denver regarding effort, we can see that the Knicks are stuck on the low end of a learning curve that could have them frustrated for weeks to come.