NBA Advanced Matchups: Sunday, March 15th
Welcome to the NBA Advanced Matchups, presented by Ohnjz. I’ll be taking you deep into the depths of NBA advanced stats to uncover the top plays in each NBA slate (with four or more games). We’ll consider a broad spectrum of metrics here, including SPORTSVU player and shot tracking, play type data, individual defensive metrics, and my personal favorite, Ohnjz’ bad-jokes-and-snarky-comments-per-article. As always, this work is meant as a guide to help you hone in on what advanced stats would suggest are some of the top plays – but it’s ultimately up to you to decide how to build your lineups.
MINDFULNESS
Before we dig into the Advanced Matchups, we’ll take note of the team and game situations that can impact our decision-making each day
Blowout Concerns
• Cavaliers vs Magic – Cavaliers -10
• Timberwolves vs Spurs – Spurs -12.5
• Knicks vs Suns – Suns -11
• Hawks vs Lakers – Hawks -8.5
Fatigue Concerns
• Knicks: Third Game In Four Nights
• [NOTE: There’s a ton of teams that are playing their second game in three nights. Not that big of a deal in my opinion. But if you care, the only teams that AREN’T in any fatigue situation are: Pelicans, Cavaliers, and Lakers]
Verdict — The people have spoken: the ‘Mindfulness’ section stays. Thank you to everyone who gave feedback!
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
CAVALIERS POSITIONLESS MONSTER LEBRON JAMES
Anybody remember what happened the last time LeBron faced the Magic? You probably don’t remember the first three quarters, when LBJ had shot just 5/13. But then things got heated between James and Magic SF Tobias Harris (who will again be guarding James tonight), and James proceeded to take the game over on both ends. He finished with 29 points, even after the poor start, and when asked about it after the game, he told reporters that after the scuffle his “Chill Mode was deactivated.” The question for tonight is – will Chill Mode be deactivated again? It hasn’t taken a player of LeBron’s pedigree to scorch the Magic lately – they’ve given up a 30-point game to Khris Middleton, a 39-point game to Rudy Gay, and a host of similar performances to opposing scorers of late. Harris has been a culprit all season long, as the Magic rank 30th in SF DVP on the season and a not-much-better 28th over the last three weeks. The Magic also have very little rim protection, as Nikola Vucevic offers nothing more than sound rebounding inside. This all matches up very well for LeBron, who should have no problem taking this game over. If you can stomach the blowout risk, LeBron has a massive ceiling tonight.
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