Tuesday, June 9
Monday, June 8
Rashard Lewis: Magic From Mid-Range
There’s been quite a bit of talk about the Magic’ poor offensive showing in Game 1, and whether it was due more to just cold shooting on their part, the Lakers’ defense, or both. As Kevin Pelton points out at BasketballProspectus:
For example, take one Rashard Lewis. In Game 1, Lewis only made two shots all night, both of them from behind the 3-point line. In Game 2, as you no doubt are already aware, Lewis made six shots – in the second quarter alone. In total, he finished with 12 FGM and 34 points (including, sadly, the only jump shot the Magic sank out of six attempts in overtime). On the night, he was 2-2 on mid-range jump shots.
Just for curiosity’s sake, let’s take a look at the shot charts (courtesy of NBA.com) of Lewis matched up against Los Angeles during the past five seasons:
First, 2009, when he finished 0-2 on mid-range shots:
2008, 0/0:
2007, (during Lewis’ Seattle days), 2/8:
2006, 7/12:
2005, 2/5:
As you can see, with the exception of the 2006 season, Lewis has been a non-factor on those mid-range jumpers. That’s not to say he hasn’t been an effective offensive weapon, but just that his offense has come from far out or very close in.
Contrast that with last night, when Lewis made as many mid-range shots (two) as he had in four of the last five seasons. Rashard receives a lot of criticism for his lack of aggression on both ends of the court, and it is often deserved.
Last night, though, he seemed to change his style a bit and silenced those criticisms. Will this change carry over when the series relocates to the Sunshine State? With Rashard Lewis, expecting a continued aggressive performance is a fools’ errand, so I won’t go that far. If I’m a Magic fan, though, it at least gives me some encouragement as the franchise continues a quest for its first NBA Finals victory in seven tries.
What killed Orlando was a complete and total inability to finish inside the arc; the Magic made 15 two-pointers all game (fewer than Bryant, with 16, had all by himself) and shot 27.8 percent on those attempts, which is appallingly poor.I had noticed this trend myself, and it made me really nervous that this could turn into a four-game coronation for Kobe Bryant. Thankfully, the Magic improved their numbers dramatically in this regard in Game 2, and while the sample size is quite small, it is encouraging for the rest of the series.
For example, take one Rashard Lewis. In Game 1, Lewis only made two shots all night, both of them from behind the 3-point line. In Game 2, as you no doubt are already aware, Lewis made six shots – in the second quarter alone. In total, he finished with 12 FGM and 34 points (including, sadly, the only jump shot the Magic sank out of six attempts in overtime). On the night, he was 2-2 on mid-range jump shots.
Just for curiosity’s sake, let’s take a look at the shot charts (courtesy of NBA.com) of Lewis matched up against Los Angeles during the past five seasons:
First, 2009, when he finished 0-2 on mid-range shots:
2008, 0/0:
2007, (during Lewis’ Seattle days), 2/8:
2006, 7/12:
2005, 2/5:
As you can see, with the exception of the 2006 season, Lewis has been a non-factor on those mid-range jumpers. That’s not to say he hasn’t been an effective offensive weapon, but just that his offense has come from far out or very close in.
Contrast that with last night, when Lewis made as many mid-range shots (two) as he had in four of the last five seasons. Rashard receives a lot of criticism for his lack of aggression on both ends of the court, and it is often deserved.
Last night, though, he seemed to change his style a bit and silenced those criticisms. Will this change carry over when the series relocates to the Sunshine State? With Rashard Lewis, expecting a continued aggressive performance is a fools’ errand, so I won’t go that far. If I’m a Magic fan, though, it at least gives me some encouragement as the franchise continues a quest for its first NBA Finals victory in seven tries.
Friday, June 5
Dale Ellis: Cold-Blooded
Ran across this in the Marietta Times while looking for something else:
Ellis, the best 3-point shooter in Sonic history, is from Marietta, so it's quite likely that the Ellis referenced in the article is Lumar Mundane himself.
In and of itself, the story is not really all that newsworthy. Guy works on house, house catches on fire, fire department puts out fire. Nobody gets hurt (hopefully), and life goes on.
Except that by finding that story, and checking to see if this was the same Dale Ellis we all know so well, I came across this story, written by Tom Farrey of The Seattle Times back in 1990. It's a very long one, but exceptionally written, wonderfully informative, and a thrill to read. I'll throw one excerpt at you, to give you an idea of what young Dale's upbringing was like:
Pretty stirring stuff, and the rest of the article is along those lines.
You know, following the Sonics as closely as we do here, you begin to think you know the players enough to speak intelligently about them. Dale Ellis? Oh, yeah, he's from the south, got ignored in Dallas, came to Seattle, got his revenge, had some drinking and driving problems, got into a nasty spat with his wife, bounced around the league a bit, came back to Seattle, then retired.
Case closed, right?
Except it's not. Not by a longshot. Every one of these players, past and present, has traveled a remarkably convulted road to get to the NBA, and as fans, we only see them briefly as they zoom by us on that road.
20 years ago, Ellis' family never thought he'd come back to Marietta, that he was done with that town for good. Now, 20 years later, he's fixing the roof on his home in Marietta when a fire breaks out.
There's a story in there somewhere, but only Dale Ellis knows it.
"Marietta firefighters are battling a blaze at 103 Miller Ave.
"Property owner Dale Ellis said he was removing paint from a section of roof between the house and the attached garage with a heat gun. The fire apparently started after he went down to get a hose to spray the area he'd been working on and he stopped to check phone messages, he said."
Ellis, the best 3-point shooter in Sonic history, is from Marietta, so it's quite likely that the Ellis referenced in the article is Lumar Mundane himself.
In and of itself, the story is not really all that newsworthy. Guy works on house, house catches on fire, fire department puts out fire. Nobody gets hurt (hopefully), and life goes on.
Except that by finding that story, and checking to see if this was the same Dale Ellis we all know so well, I came across this story, written by Tom Farrey of The Seattle Times back in 1990. It's a very long one, but exceptionally written, wonderfully informative, and a thrill to read. I'll throw one excerpt at you, to give you an idea of what young Dale's upbringing was like:
[The Ellis' pride in doing things right] had a cost, Vivien [Ellis] believes, and that was his father's life.
On Sept. 22, 1969, John Henry Ellis Jr. was shot to death at age 42, the victim, Vivien says, of intra-family animosity.
John knew the man, a distant in-law, and for years they rode to work at the Lockheed plant together. But Vivien said the man did not like the Ellises, and on that day in an all-black Marietta restaurant tempers boiled over. The man shot John in the back. John turned and fired, hitting him. The gunfight ended with one last blast, a bullet through the heart of John Ellis.
"They argued, he shot him, he died,'' Lucille said.
The older children grieved the loss openly. One night Lucille sent Stephanie to bed, only to find her in the morning in another room curled up in the love seat where her father sat every Sunday night, sharing ice cream and Walt Disney with his kids.
... If Dale felt the same, he did not let on. Dale and Darryl had to stay home when the family went to the hospital. Too young, they were told. So Dale dealt with the matter on his own, a 9-year-old pillar of strength. Vivien can't recall him ever crying, and the twins rarely talked about it after that.
Pretty stirring stuff, and the rest of the article is along those lines.
You know, following the Sonics as closely as we do here, you begin to think you know the players enough to speak intelligently about them. Dale Ellis? Oh, yeah, he's from the south, got ignored in Dallas, came to Seattle, got his revenge, had some drinking and driving problems, got into a nasty spat with his wife, bounced around the league a bit, came back to Seattle, then retired.
Case closed, right?
Except it's not. Not by a longshot. Every one of these players, past and present, has traveled a remarkably convulted road to get to the NBA, and as fans, we only see them briefly as they zoom by us on that road.
20 years ago, Ellis' family never thought he'd come back to Marietta, that he was done with that town for good. Now, 20 years later, he's fixing the roof on his home in Marietta when a fire breaks out.
There's a story in there somewhere, but only Dale Ellis knows it.
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