The Miami Heat destroyed the Orlando Magic today (who are supposed to be one of the best teams in the East), 90 to 78. With 3 mins left in the game it was 88-68 to the Heat then the Magic scrubs poured it on in the final few minutes to make the scoreline a little more respectable. So we started thinking… if you are one of the best in the game, do you let your team get blown out? If you are a ‘Superstar’, how often does or should that happen? We started thinking about all the big time players in the game and decided we’d do a run-down of how many times each players team has been blown out. Our thinking is, if you are the best of the best… you’re a competitor. You can get the best out of yourself, the best out of your team-mates and whilst you may struggle in close games or fourth quarters (Hello Lebron James), you make it a game… you fight and you don’t ever give up. That’s what a true baller and a true competitor does. That’s a Superstar.

Superstars don’t get blown out.

We’ll leave it to ESPN to come up with an intricate & complicated algorithm calculating each players performance in every game… we prefer some simpler stats to see what our argument shows in the end. Looking at the number of 88-68 in that Heat-Magic game, we believe a 20 point margin is a blow-out in the NBA. When your team is down that much, do you check out or fight on? To us, a Superstar fights on. So of all the Superstar ballers in the NBA, which player has had the least 20+ losses since the 2008-09 season? Let’s check it out…

Dirk Nowitzki
12 regular season 20+ losses and only one post-season 20+ loss. 13 in total.

Tim Duncan
7 regular season, 2 post-season.

Kevin Garnett
5 regular season, 3 post-season.

Dwight Howard
6 regular season, 2 post-season

Carmelo Anthony
6 regular season, 1 post-season

Lebron James
3 regular season, 2 post-season

Kobe Bryant
3 regular season, 2 post-season

Considering Kobe has played in 56 post-season games since 08-09 and only TWO blow-outs… that’s amazing. Lebron has played 45 post-season games, Dwight Howard 44, Dirk Nowitzki 37, Kevin Garnett 32, Carmelo Anthony 25 and Tim Duncan 21. We’ve purposely left Kevin Durant & Dwayne Wade off the list as their teams were beyond terrible in 08-09 and Wade’s Heat also in 09-10 so the numbers are against them.

Bear in mind, it’s not just down to one guy, we get that. You need a team to get it done. But on the contrary, if you are the best of the best… you should be good enough to carry your team and get the most out of the other 4 guys on the floor with you.

Just for fun we thought we’d do the numbers on the grand-daddy of them all, Michael Jordan. As a comparison to the above, MJ had only 5 blowouts in his final 3 seasons with the Bulls, including one in the post-season. More numbers you say?!?!  Oh, we can do that! From 1990-91 to 1997-98, MJ played in over 500 regular season games and over 100 post-season games… his numbers during that time? 8 regular season blow-outs and 2 in the post-season. That’s only ten times in 600 games that Michael Jordan allowed his team to lose by more than 20 points… Plus, in 6 x trips to the finals, only twice in the post-season did MJ’s Bulls teams get beaten by more than 20 points in a playoff/finals game.

Superstars don’t get blown out.

Here at 3MW, we try to be diplomatic most of the time. We try to be impartial. We try to not let our individual feelings and biases enter the conversation. But sometimes things annoy us and we have to vent.

So…

We’ve decided to create a series of short pieces dedicated to whatever our current distain is… named ‘We talkin’ bout’, thanks to one of our favourite pieces of NBA history.

At the moment, we are a little sick of all the Dwight Howard talk. This guy:

At the moment, thanks to our friends in the US media we are reading far too much about Dwight Howard. Where he wants to go, where he doesn’t, is he happy, is he not, who wants to play with him, who he wants as team-mates, what teams are going to have to give up to get him and so on and so forth.

Honestly, we’ve heard enough. At a time when there are more elite point guards than we’ve ever had in the NBA (see Derrick Rose, John Wall, Deron Williams, Chris Paul & others), Kevin Durant is torching the entire league with class and giving us the most amazing offensive display for a 23 year old basketball player since a young Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant is averaging 32 points a game at age 33, Steve Nash looks like an All Star at 38 years old, Lebron James, Ricky Rubio, the Knicks are relevant again and Chris Paul & Blake Griffin have already given us more than our fair share of alley-oops. We talkin’ bout Dwight Howard? Really?

He’s huge, he’s athletic, he’s physically overpowering the other 449 players in the NBA and averages 20 points, 15 boards & 2.5 blocks a game… but seriously? In todays game, with the competition Dwight faces each night, he is ridiculously underachieving. He has no go-to move, he never seems as though he takes the game seriously, he’s openly bagged his own team (who are paying him a cool $18M this season) and he’s going into his 8th season barely more talented and mature than when he entered the NBA. Yet he’s filling the headlines and we’ve heard enough. We talkin’ bout Dwight Howard? Please…

True that, Pat!

Dwight is a talented basketball player and possibly the best centre in the NBA, but in the current game is that really saying much? Would you put a current Dwight Howard over a prime Pat Ewing? Shaq O’Neal? Hakeem Olaguwon? David Robinson? Bill Russell? Wilt Chamberlain? Bill Walton? Kareem? Hell no… not in the same class, not even the same school.

Funnily enough, it was the below image of Kareem that made us say, ‘Hot Damn! Kareem was really amazing… we talkin’ bout Dwight Howard?’

Australian Patty Mills has been released by Xinjiang in the China Basketball Association and is awaiting FIBA clearance before he can rejoin the Portland Trailblazers. Thoughts around the league are that he’ll be waiting until the Chinese season finishes in March. Add to that, the Blazers already have 15 players on their roster and would need to create room for Mills.

Yes. Derrick Rose dropped 17 of his 30 points on Atlanta in the fourth quarter in the Bulls HUGE come from behind 76-74 win. The Bulls outscored the Hawks 34-18 in the fourth.

Atlanta are one of the only teams employing a regular zone defence. It’s been good for 9th best defence in the league so far.

So Kobe dropped a lazy 37 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists in a Lakers win over Houston today. Not bad for a guy playing in his 16th season who is supposed to be old & past it… we won’t believe it. Ever. Kobe along with Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, Andre Miller, Chauncey Billups and Derek Fisher are the last of the old school. Ain’t no way Kobe is slowing down.

We love you, Greg Poppovich.

Welcome to the limelight, Spencer Hawes.

We all know that current number one draft pick Kyrie Irving was born in Australia and his dad played in Australia’s professional league, the NBL. But did you know that Kyrie’s godfather is ex-NBA player Rod Strickland?

Drew Gooden had 24 points & 12 boards today for the Bucks. Do we really care? Plus, the Bucks lost. In the two games he didn’t play… the Bucks won. He’s 6-10 and 250.. yet shot 43% from the field last season. Also last season, the Bucks were 22-28 without Gooden in the lineup (.440%) and 13-19 when he played (0.406%). Are these true numbers?  Yes. Are picking what stats to use to suit ourselves because we really don’t like Drew Gooden? ……yes.

Whilst we’re hating, does anyone else still find it weird that Lebron is still referred to as King James when he hasn’t won anything?

Does anyone else realise that Steve Nash turns 38 years old in February 2012? 38!! And Jason Kidd turns 39 in March!

Sad to see Manu Ginobili go down with a broken left hand… he was playing some brilliant basketball this season.

Who has made the most three pointers so far this season? Ray Allen with 22 is tied with…. Orlando’s Ryan Anderson.

And lastly,  we ALWAYS THOUGHT RICKY RUBIO WOULD PLAY THIS WELL.

Carmelo Anthony could be the best offensive player in the league. 37 points against a good defensive team today (Celtics) on 10-17 shooting and 13-15 from the line.

The Celtics’ Brandon Bass could be the best off-season acquisition.

The Mavs don’t look like the NBA Champs.

Goodbye, Nate Robinson.

The Oklahoma City Thunder look very good.

Carlos Boozer looks sick.

Tyson Chandler blocked 6 shots for the Knicks, but was bested by the Clippers DeAndre Jordan who swatted 8 shots.

Good for you, Chauncey Billups.

Derrick Rose can shoot threes? Good luck defending him NOW, rest of the NBA…

Kobe Bryant looks a step slower and had 8 turnovers in their loss to the Bulls today. But still good for 28 points, 7 boards & 6 assists.

The Lakers defended quite well today, showing more urgency on the defensive end than we’ve seen in years. A lot more double-teams and guys getting out in the passing lanes… great to see the influence of the defensive-minded Coach Mike Brown already. We still don’t get how the Lakers blow that game up 87-81 with under a minute left… to lose 88-87. Probably that Derrick Rose guy, dropping a jum,p hook over Gasol with 4.8 left.

3MW Top Ten

Now that the NBA has dispensed (somewhat) with their millionaire squabbling, we’re back to what’s important which is BASKETBALL! With NBA Free Agency to open up Monday, 5th December at 10am (ET, USA), 3 Man Weave takes a look at our top ten free agents of 2011-12!

10. Tayshaun Prince (Unrestricted, Detroit Pistons)
The Pistons have finished with Prince. He was such a key part of those mid-2000′s Pistons teams, winning a championship in 2004 and making the finals again in 2007. But now he’s the guy who walked out on coach John Kuester and couldn’t maintain professionalism in what was no doubt a very trying season for the Pistons players. Hopefully, we see Prince in a fresh situation because let’s face it, the guy can still ball. He averaged 14.1ppg last year and there’s a number of teams looking for a defensive 3 man.

9. Caron Butler (Unrestricted, Dallas Mavericks)
The Mavs were without Butler in their NBA Finals victory and many questioned whether they’d keep him this off-season. The Mavs then traded for Rudy Fernandez as well as having Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Corey Brewer, Roddy Beaubois & the developing Domonique Jones under contract. Butler won’t stay with the Mavs and there will be a number of teams who would love to slot Butler’s scoring ability & playoff experience into their lineup.

8. JR Smith (Denver Nuggets)
We question whether JR would be as effective in any other system, as he is in Denver. He gets a TONNE of offensive freedom and his shot-selection shows it. We aren’t a huge fan of Smith and don’t see him playing as well anywhere else (other than perhaps the Knicks under Mike D’Antoni). But you can’t ignore a guy this talented, who can pour on points and is only 26 years old.

7. Jamal Crawford (Unrestricted, Atlanta Hawks)
Still no doubt a little annoyed he wasn’t offered a contract extension last year, we’ll see Crawford on another team in 2011-12. Crawford isn’t young anymore, but the 31 year old came off the bench for 14.2ppg in Atlanta last season. Realistically, Jamal could be that guy teams need to go from a playoff team to a finals team.

6. DeAndre Jordan (Restricted, LA Clippers)
Jordan was huge in 2010-11 for the Clippers. 7 points, 7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in 26 minutes of action last season. Add to those numbers, DeAndre oozes potential and is a good friend of Blake Griffin. The Clips are only at $43m in salaries with 10 players under contract. They could comfortably re-sign DeAndre Jordan, sign rookies Trey Thompson & Travis Leslie and they’d still be comfortably under the salary cap. That being said, they have to offer him the contract he deserves (and will demand). If the Clips can’t do that, there’s around 10 other NBA teams with the capacity to sign him to a big deal.

5. David West (Unrestricted, New Orleans Hornets)
Great player, young, still hasn’t hit his ceiling and will be there for the someone to pounce on. It was well-known last season that West and his superstar point guard Chris Paul. Our thinking is that West will go elsewhere and the Hornets will let him go. We aren’t saying West is the bad guy, not at all. In fact we think he’d flourish in another situation (see Zach Randolph).

4. Marc Gasol (Restricted, Memphis Grizzlies)
Was one of the better centres in the NBA last season, averaging 11.7ppg, 7.0rebs, 2.5ass & 1.7 blk. Not to mention shot 53% from the field & 75% from the line. Marc then upped his numbers to 15.0ppg, 11.3rebs & 2.2blk in the postseason. At only 26 years of age and with only 3 NBA seasons on his body… Gasol hasn’t reached his potential. Mind you, the Grizzlies have money to spend so other teams will have to offer some huge money to get Gasol on board and hope the Grizz don’t match it.

3. Jeff Green (Restricted, Boston Celtics)
The Celtics have only 7 players under contract and around $56m tied up in Rondo, Allen, Garnett & Pierce alone. Green is restricted, yes. But the C’s won’t have the money to match the offers that Green is really worth. Before he was traded to Boston, he averaged around 15 points & 6 boards on an OKC team where he was the 3rd option behind Durant and Westbrook. Green is good enough to be a second option on a number of teams. He’s a good guy, a hard worker… and if not for the a couple of solid bigs in free agency this year, we’d have Green at number 1. Indiana and New Jersey would be our picks for Green.

2. Tyson Chandler (Restricted, Dallas Mavericks)
The big guy showed over the past season (realistically, the past 3 seasons) that he’s no longer the young kid who was drafted with Eddy Curry to the Bulls. Chandler may not have put up huge numbers for the Mavs, but a respectible 10.1ppg, 9.4rebs, 1.1 blocks and a whopping 65% from the field. Chandler was huge for Dallas in the Finals against Miami and many Dallas players have openly campaigned for Chandler to return. You’d have to think that Mark Cuban has pretty deep pockets but with their team salaries at $63m and only 10 players on their roster the Mavs may not be able to match offers for Chandler.

1. Nene Hilario (unrestricted, Denver Nuggets)
Nene led the NBA in FG% last season, averaged 14.5ppg, 7.6rebs, 2.0ass, 1.1stl & 1.0blk. He’s not Dwight Howard, but he can score, rebound, defend, has worked hard and in a time where we lack true big men… there is Nene. There’s not a better player at their position in this free agent class than the big guy from Brazil. The Nuggets have a number of unrestricted players (Nene, Kenyon Martin, JR Smith & Melvin Ely), as well as a few restricted players (Gary Forbes, Wilson Chandler & Arron Afflalo). We feel that Nene’s decision may have as much to do with the Nuggets’ approach to keeping his team-mates around as it will Denver’s & other teams’ offers to him.

Honourable Mentions

Thad Young (Philly) - Is restricted and the 76ers brass have openly said they’ll be matching any offer on Young. They won’t be letting him go, so hardly worth talking about.
Jason Richardson (Orlando) – Unrestricted free agent and very talented baller. But we’re not convinced teams will take a gamble on the guy who upset Steve Nash.
Shane Battier (Memphis) - Battier is extremely valuable to your team… hard to fathom for a guy who averaged 5ppg on .426% shooting after the trade to Memphis. But if you know basketball, you know that Shane Battier is that guy who helps you win games.
Kris Humphries (Nets) – We’ll be very surprised if Humphries leaves New Jersey. He’s one of the best big men in this free agent class but New Jersey was where Humphries found his feet. Coach Avery Johnson gave Humphries his chance, gave him his minutes and Humphries responded. The Nets will have to pay him to keep him, but it will happen.
Michael Redd (Bucks) – If you’re signing Michael Redd this offseason, you could end up looking very good. The former All Star who once averaged 26.7ppg in 2006-07 has played only 28 NBA games in the past 2 years. Redd’s contract paid him $18.3M last year and given he’s been paid… we don’t see Redd demanding big money. Let alone being in a position to command it. That being said, the guy is only a few years removed from being one of the best shooting guards in the game.