Last year, I took some extended looks at crunch time performance (here and here). I’m going to continue doing so this year, starting with this article. Moreover, I’m going to examine it from a very macro perspective to better capture and criticize the heroball phenomenon.
In economics, there’s a measurement you may have heard of called the Gini Coefficient. It measures how equitably something is distributed in something else (e.g., how equitably is income distributed in a country). Borrowing the Gini Coefficient, I’ve created a measurement I call the Ballhog Coefficient. It measures how equitably shot attempts are distributed in the NBA. To illustrate this measurement, consider this graph.
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tagged as: stats
in essays
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A quick and digestible look at the most top-of-mind Rockets news of the past few days.
ESPN.com. James Harden scores 44 points, including 10 in OT, to lift Rockets over Kings.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Although he struggled to hit shots in regulation, James Harden demonstrated in overtime why he’s the NBA’s leading scorer. Harden scored a season-high 44 points, including 10 in the extra period, and also had eight assists to lead the Houston Rockets over the Sacramento Kings 113-109 on Thursday night.
Houston Chronicle. Five things we learned in the Rockets’ 113-109 road win over the Kings on Thursday.
James Harden began the road trip questionable to play at all with back spasms. By Thursday, he sat for just 43 seconds in the second half, playing 83 minutes in the back-to-back before heading to overtime. Once there, Harden demonstrated again how unstoppable he can be, taking the ball to the basket to complete not just the Rockets’ comeback to the win, but his top-scoring game of the season under particularly difficult circumstances.
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tagged as: Rockets Roundup
in columns
The Houston Rockets have persevered. They have fought over, scratched, and ground out victory after victory over the past several games. But as wonderful as this past stretch of games has been, you cannot help but wait for the other shoe to drop. Sooner or later, the Rockets would be worn out, battered by a thin rotation and relying far too much on James Harden’s offensive genius on that end of the court.
That moment nearly came today, as the Rockets sputtered out of the gate and led for all of 16 seconds in regulation play. But James Harden, dealing with back spasms and exhaustion, came out, made the tying shot to force overtime, fought for 48 minutes after playing 40 last night, and scored a season high 44 points to will the Houston Rockets to victory. Your move in the MVP battle, Stephen and Marc.
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tagged as: postgame recaps
in game coverage
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The Golden State Warriors are a very good basketball team. I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but they may in fact the be the best team right now, and they might, possibly, have the best record, too. It’s impressive that they were able to power through and take over a game late despite missing their starting center and key defensive anchor in Andrew Bogut. They’ve performed very well, and they have a real shot at winning it all. Notes on the Rockets? Oh, of course, the Rockets played in that game, didn’t they? For such a back and forth, high-energy game, there’s not much of a takeaway for Houston. They’re in the same limbo they’ve been in for weeks now, and things are still basically fine. That’s not very exciting, but it’s where they stand.
The game itself was alternatively exciting and frustrating, with a protracted period of frustration to cap it off. Despite the final score, the game was actually close throughout, with the Rockets leading the majority of the time. It took a grand collapse to seal Houston’s fate, and it took a lot of factors to cause that collapse. The Rockets made the Warriors work for what could have been a very easy win, and that’s a heck of a lot better than rolling over.
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