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Basketball in brief

1. The Nuggets scored 168 points Sunday night, the fourth-highest total in regulation in NBA history, in beating the Sonics by 52.

I didn't see the game (some fan), but the box score paints an interesting picture. No one had a breakout game (Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 26 points), but almost everyone shot well: J.R. Smith (7-for-15) and Eduardo Najera (0-for-3) were the only Nuggets who shot under 50%. (And if you look closer, Smith was 4-for-10 on threes and 3-for-5 on two-point attempts, both of which are very good percentages.)

Even weirder, the Nuggets only out-rebounded the Sonics by six, and attempted just three more free throws. Denver even took six fewer field goals than Seattle. And bizarrely, four of Seattle's five starters shot over 50%.

I don't know what conclusions you can draw from this game, other than that it would have been sweet to watch.

2. March Madness starts this week, technically on Tuesday night but really on Thursday. (The play-in game is pretty stupid, though I'm sure whoever came up with it is pretty proud of himself.)

It's always kind of nice, since my first post here was about the NCAA tournament, and it means HPS has flourished for another year, or something like that.

I haven't watched enough college basketball this year (read: any) to give you good advice for your brackets, other than this: stay loyal. The closest I ever came to winning my family's bracket challenge was in 2005, when one of my five brackets started 13-0 and I was in the lead going in to the championship game. Unfortunately, though I'm a staunch North Carolina supporter, I'd picked Illinois to win that game, which meant when UNC won, I lost. (I'd picked every game in that bracket by winning percentage, so it wouldn't have been all that impressive to win, but at this age I wonder if I'll ever be that close again...)

Comments

blaine said…
Oh, finally a post on the Nuggets! I watched the game on Sunday night and it was pretty awesome. I've never seen the Nuggets distributing the ball so well. Granted it was against the lowly Sonics, but if they could pass the ball that well every time they play I think they will make the playoffs. I think the addition of Chucky Atkins has done wonders for the Nuggets. He's a viable outside threat and, unlike J.R., doesn't take ridiculous low-percentage shots. I think where Chucky's been able to help the Nuggets the most is in his perimeter defense. Since he's been back, I've also noticed that J.R. (probably the most athletic player on the team) has been much more under control and has been playing great defense. Hopefully they can keep it up. GO NUGGETS!
1:29 PM
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