Man’s build

I have never liked the 2-3-2 format for a seven game playoff series. I am convinced it gives the team with the home court advantage too much of a edge. Surprisingly, in the last 10 days I have heard 2 people from Boston (a sports radio talk show host and the Celtics head coach, Doc Rivers), complain about the the 2-3-2 format because they feel that this format gives the team with the home court advantage LESS of an advantage than the 2-2-1-1-1 format. What are they smoking? I might have expected that from a sports talk show host — who are rarely as smart as they think they are; but, from not Rivers — who seems like an intelligent guy (with his team’s great comeback Thursday night and his team’s 3-1 lead, he is looking even smarter this week).

Their complaint was that with the 2-3-2 format the team with the home court advantage does not get the “pivotal game 5″ at home. First of all, game 5 maybe be pivotal when the series is tied 2-2, however, it is only pivotal when the series is exactly 2-2. Their have been 61 finals played in NBA history and in less than half (25) was there a fifth game played when the series is tied was tied 2-2. In these series when the the NBA used the 2-3-3 format (1949, 1953-55, 85-present), the team with the home court advantage won an impressive 9 out of 11 finals (81.9 winning %). When the NBA used the 2-2-1-1-1 format (or a similar format with the 5th & 7th games still played at the home court of the team with the home court advantage), the team with the home court advantage only won 10 out of 14 finals (71.4 winning %).

This is partially because even if the team the with home court advantage loses game 5 and goes down 3-2, they now have the HUGE advantage of having both game 6 AND 7 at home. In the history of the NBA Finals, the home team (before game 5 of the 2008 Finals) is 227-126, or a 64.3 winning %. And no team has EVER won games 6 AND 7 on the road to win the finals. However, THREE times teams have won games 6 & 7 at home to win the finals. Also, in NBA history when the 3-2-3 format has been used, the team with the home court advantage has a 22-5 record (81.4 winning %) in winning the finals, while they are only 24-10 (70.6 winning %) with the other formats.

The other complaint that I read concerning the 2-3-2 format was that the team with the home court advantage is at a disadvantage because they have to play three straight games on the road (unless someone is swept) in front of a raucous crowd. While there is some validity to this argument, the other side of the coin is: that it is extremely difficult to beat a great team three straight games — even if all three games are at home. Statistically, this has held true in the NBA Finals. Under the 2-3-2 format, the team without the home court advantage is only 37-34 at home, or a 52.1 winning percentage. In 28 tries, only three times (only once in the first 24 tries) have they won all three games at home; in addition, three times they have LOST ALL THREE games at home.

The bottom line is: would you rather have games 6 & 7 at home or games 5 & 7 at home. I’ll take the former and the statistics (as of 2008) back up my reasoning (the extra traveling is not a persuasive argument to me with today’s jets).

Mark D. Hauser
Owner: http://UltimateSportsRankings.com

Basketball is a game of inches. Championships have been won and lost by the slimmest of margins. One of the most famous NCAA championship games was in 1983 when NC State beat the University of Houston on a last second tip-in by Lorenzo Charles. Derek Wittenberg, NC State’s shooting guard, had taken a 40 foot shot that missed the rim by inches. Charles ended up catching the ball and putting it in the hoop as if it were planned. On the replay you can see the Houston players expecting the ball to hit the rim. Wittenberg was one of the best shooters in the country and hadn’t missed that badly all season so why would this happen now? Basketball is a game of inches. If that ball hits the rim, the game would have gone into over-time and Houston would have more than likely won. In this article I will go over three facets of the game of basketball that don’t get talked about a lot and seem trivial but have a huge impact on the outcome of a game.

Balance

There are few things more important than balance in a basketball game. Try and think of a basketball move that doesn’t involve proper balance? Feet should be about shoulder width apart with the weight evenly dispersed. I have often heard coaches talk about keeping that weight on the balls of your feet and I haven’t found anything to dispute that. Ball handlers need good balance to be in control and to be able to stop or start with relative ease. When I was young I made the mistake of driving around the defender off-balance and I wasn’t in a position to stop or shoot or anything. I was only in the position to keep going forward. As a shooter, you need to have good balance. If a player you are guarding shoots an off- balance contested jump shot you are doing a good job. Very few basketball players can hit those shots. Not all of us are named Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant and can hit those types of shots. Good shooters maintain balance by going straight up on their jump shot and don’t drift from side to side. When my shot is off, it is typically improper balance in my feet. Defensive balance is also important. All good defenders maintain balance in their stance and in their ability to move quickly. When you pay attention to it you will notice it making all the difference in the world.

Pivoting

I go crazy watching young kids play sometimes. They are not taught correctly how to pivot. It drives me nuts. Here’s what happens, the player stops his dribble and holds the ball. The defender gets up on him and the offensive player stands there and just leans back until he falls over or gets tied up. If you are a coach working with young players make sure they learn how to pivot. Demonstrate for them how to turn away from the defense by pivoting. Have them pivot in all directions without traveling or changing pivot feet. This is such a minor fundamental but something that makes all the difference in the world. With young teams, the key is preparation and it isn’t shooting drills as much as it performing correct fundamentals. Pivoting is one of those fundamentals kids need to learn as early as possible.

Positioning & Spacing

Players need to be taught where they should be on the floor. They need to understand why they shouldn’t look like a bunch of 5 year old soccer players that just herd after the ball. It doesn’t work well in basketball at all. When I coach young players on positioning I teach them the purpose of offense - to get an open shot as close as possible to the basket. A good shot to me is one that is not contested. When a shot goes up, who has the responsibility to get back and stop the other team from getting a lay up? When the point guard has that job ends up taking the shot, then what? When a point guard drives in and a defender comes from someone else to help out, then what? These are positioning questions that need to have answers. When someone is dribbling or driving to the basket, don’t run in after the guy unless you have a lane. Don’t drag your man into the play as that will only cause problems for your man. Stay away because an ideal situation for the defense is one player guarding two offensive players. Practice these drills as coaches and as players. Watch games and understand what players are trying to do. You will begin to really understand how things work by paying attention to some of these details that often get overlooked.

Brian Schofield is a former division I college basketball player and the sr. writer for HoopSkills.com. By visiting that site you’ll find more of his expert basketball training advice

It’s been a long time in coming. But finally, after more than a decade of sensational seasons, NBA superstar Kobe Bryant has finally won the illusive title of Most Valuable Player.

The Lakers star, who entered the league straight out of the Philadelphia area’s Lower Merion High School in 1996, has been a constant bright spot for the game. Since then, we’ve seen this boy grow into a powerhouse player right before the eyes of sports fans everywhere.

Arguably the best player in the world for several years, Bryant has been in the running annually but could never seem to acquire enough votes for the top spot.

Perhaps it had a lot to do with the little scandal in 2003 with the young lady from Colorado made a flimsy accusation of rape. Charges where dropped but the damage to this clean cut young man’s reputation was done. Or maybe it has something to do with the NBA’s apparent push for a new, more marketable Michael Jordan-like figure. (Personally I think the league administration is pathetically in love with LaBron James.) Maybe it’s something else entirely. But the fact remains, Bryant has been overlooked too many times.

With a career practically made up of highlight films featuring three NBA titles, 10 All-Star game appearances, two scoring titles, seven times as an All-Defensive Team selection, and the second highest score ever posted in a single game (81 points), who could even question his greatness.

It’s about time such a tremendous talent gets the recognition he truly deserves.

In fantasy sports there are a lot of things that go into making a team a great team. They all come down to team management. This includes the preparation for and execution of the draft, the analysis that precedes and the “selling” involved in trading, the unwavering attention the other teams in league and the players available on the waiver wire, and, of course, the discipline and knowledge of current real life sporting events required for the proper setting of lineups. This article will focus on the discipline part. The others will be reserved for later articles.

Before I really got into writing this article I scoffed even at the concept of writing it. It almost seemed like a given. I mean, who needs to be told that setting their lineups is an important thing to do? The answer: most of us. I guess it’s similar to asking “who needs to be told why it’s a bad idea to run a red-ish yellow light or go faster than the speed limit?” People commit traffic violations all the time and ‘the man’ has classes devoted to traffic safety for all of those who need to be reminded (I’ve been reminded before…). The man gets paid our hard earned money to tell us something we already know. I’m giving you this one for free.

It’s the same way in fantasy sports with setting lineups. How many owners manage to forget to set their lineups? In one of my leagues this year with 15 owners at least 60% of them forgot at least once about setting their lineups for a given day (to be fair it should be noted that I was one of them). Bad dogs! Do they just ignore the commonly known truth that not setting their lineup (even occasionally) hurts their chances of making the playoffs? The same is true for football in that one missed day can break an entire season. It’s hard to remember every day, especially in basketball, but it’s in your best interest to try. Here’s why…

If you assume that on average 75% of teams who forget to set their lineup for a given day lose the fantasy game that includes that day then that it a staggering number of games given away! In the league I am using as a case study that would mean that atleast 7.5 games were given away (we’ll call it eight) somewhere along the season. “Bah…”, you say, “Eight games across an entire season… What does it matter? Why should I care?” Well, I’m glad you asked.

Let’s take one of the guys who is always in my leagues as an example. To be nice, I’ll hide his real name and call him… Kiley (like Wiley the Coyote - he’s always trying hard and getting really close but doing something silly to trip himself up). Anyway, Kiley is a pretty good fantasy player. Great with numbers, a strong analytical mind, and a decent sports fan so he tends to do pretty well. By doing pretty well, I mean that he is generally a threat come playoff time each season. You wouldn’t want to play him if you could avoid it. Our leagues have been like the western conference is this year (0.5 to 1.5 games separating 4th from 10th place), and he has ended up in 9th in both. He was the definition of a bubble team in both. If he would have won or another team would have lost he would have been in - or sometimes just the other team losing would have been enough.

Kiley does have one tragic flaw (aside from having been a “potato fluffer” at one point in his life) that explains why he has “gone fishing” rather than is playing in the playoffs. At least 2 or 3 times every basketball season he forgets to set his lineup. Effectively he gives away 2 or 3 games every single season. He just plain forgets. Last year the margin between “In the playoffs and out of the playoffs” in the Western Conference was basically one game. What if one team’s coach didn’t bother putting any players on the court a couple of games (or even quarters) this year? That’s how Kiley’s situation should be viewed. Coaching robbed him of a shot.

As I mentioned before, for the last two years he has missed the playoffs by the slimmest of margins (he tied for 8th place and lost the tie breaker to get knocked out). I mentioned to him after he got knocked out in the final game of the season that I was thinking about doing a post on this subject. To be a good sport he went back, analyzed the season and found that he had missed three days and that it cost him 2 of those three in wins. It also affected his average per game score by about 6.5 points. The average points turned out not to have mattered as it would not have been enough to get him in, but the two games certainly did. If he had set his lineup he actually would have been a 7th seed rather than a fisherman.

As fantasy owners we do a lot during the preseason and season to get ready for the fantasy playoffs. We need to be aware that little slipups along the way can do major damage to undermine all that work and effort. Set your lineups and put yourself in that other guy’s shoes. Wouldn’t you rather be the guy that tied Kiley for that last spot and made it into the playoffs instead of being Kiley who lost a tie breaker that didn’t even have to happen?

About the Author

Josh Ahlstrom is the creator of SignAndTrade.com, a fantasy sports community and game hosting website.

SignAndTrade.com offers customizable fantasy sports leagues fit for those serious about their fantasy sports, but user friendly and intuitive enough for novice fantasy GMs. Besides fantasy sports games SignAndTrade.com includes a message board and blog. We hope that information sharing and a spirit of community involvement will abound. Please feel free to check out more of our fantasy sports information at the following URL.

URL: http://www.signandtrade.com