Basketball Statistics Blog

Friday Press Clippings:
Amare Stoudemire, Lamar Odom's "Lucky Game"
and What it Means to be a Superstar

From 20 Second Timeout
By David Friedman
Download source here: ' Amare Stoudemire, Lamar Odom's "Lucky Game" and What it Means to be a Superstar ' by David Friedman

"... After Lamar Odom had 19 points and 19 rebounds as his L.A. Lakers defeated the Phoenix Suns 128-107 in game one of the 2010 Western Conference Finals, the Suns' Amare Stoudemire dismissed Odom's effort as a "lucky game." ..."

"... "Lucky" literally means "occurring by chance." How unusual was it for Odom to tally 19 and 19 during a 2010 game? ..."

"... Stoudemire's comment may have been ungracious and it may have been an unwise thing to say in the midst of a playoff series but - from a literal standpoint - it was quite true: a 19-19 game by Odom is truly something that happened "by chance." ... "

"... However, in a game of skill nothing really happens purely "by chance." The skill set based reason that Odom had a wide open path to the hoop for layups and rebounds is that the Suns had to double team Kobe Bryant--who still scored 40 points on 13-23 field goal shooting--and then rotate a defender to Pau Gasol, who took advantage of the Suns' scrambling defense to notch 21 points on 10-13 field goal shooting. ..."

"... Most of the published comparisons of James' supporting cast with Bryant's supporting cast have been nonsense. Yes, Bryant had the benefit of playing alongside one of the NBA's 15 best players, All-NBA Third Teamer Pau Gasol--but during the 2010 playoffs Bryant also played alongside a one-legged center, a small forward who never quite learned the team's offensive system, a point guard who was older and slower than the starting point guards on the other elite teams, a sixth man who was terribly inconsistent and a bench that was so unreliable that earlier in the season Coach Phil Jackson said that their performances made him feel like vomiting. James' supporting cast was not perfect but it included three players who have made the All-Star team as recently as 2008 plus a fourth player who is a two-time All-Star; the Cavs' remarkable depth and balance enabled them to play "big" or "small" and to overcome injuries, trades and other disruptions en route to posting the league's best regular season record for the second year in a row. ..."

Read more articles in 20 Second Timeout.

To read today's 'Press Clippings' in Spanish, click this week above on the 'Español' tab or afterwards click here: ' La selección de baloncesto y la lucha de clases ' by Pablo Iglesias Turrión.

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