Cleveland at Orlando; San Antonio at Phoenix

Two great games on tonight, you can watch them at home with the laptop in lap, joining us for a BDL live blog, or you can head out to OJ Dingo's to take in the fun. Actually, OJ Dingo's probably has free Wi-Fi, so take the laptop there and have it both ways.

Both contests are worth your time, and attention, and this is probably as good a time as any to take on a couple of odds and ends regarding two of tonight's participants.

I get snooty and haughty after the jump ...

This is a good read, discussing LeBron James in essentially what has become a transition year: 2008-09 being the year where everyone made the transition to realize that he's the best player in the game, a year too late. A great column, no doubt, but I do take issue with one part of the piece:

" ... [last season, James] sometimes looked like he was chucking pumpkins at the backboard. According to NBA.com, he hit only 37.1% of his two-point jumpers from the top of the key and the wings, which are the money spots for an off-the-dribble midrange shooter."

First off, how is a 20-foot shot a "midrange" shot? I could see it being a "midrange" shot if the three-point arc was 40 feet from the hoop, but that's not the most ridiculous assertion.

37 percent from 20 feet, when 35 percent from 24 feet is the league average, is pretty damn normal, if not "good." I mean, Joe Johnson has a rep as a midrange guy, and he shot 36.8 percent from that area last year according to NBA.com. Was he "chucking pumpkins"?

This isn't to say LeBron's shot hasn't improved this year, it has. But the guy was destroying teams last year. It's just the collective, "it's time to bestow unparalleled greatness on him anecdotally, now let's work backwards to find out why"-nonsense has made its way to James.

Also, I've got a bit of bad news (in a way) for Andrew, who queried the TBJ boys about why, exactly, the Phoenix Suns turn it over so damn much. In the question, Matt Barnes was mentioned as someone who "is not a big source for turnovers," and that made sense to me upon the initial listen. But things go a little deeper than that.

Barnes is only averaging 1.9 turnovers a game, which doesn't seem that problematic until you realize how few times he touches the ball over the course of a game, and how many minutes (less than 27 per) he's playing. Because Barnes' role is to defend, then catch and shoot, those 1.9 turnovers take up quite a bit of his working day.

In fact, 14 percent of the possessions that Barnes uses up turn into a turnover, and that's good for 18th-worst in the NBA. Amar'e is 35th. Shaq is 65th. The easy answer is to point to Amar'e, who has been lackadaisical at times with his offensive play this year, but for him to have the ball in his hands as much as he does, playing the minutes (37 a game) he does, on a team with that many possessions per game ... and only turn it over three times a game? That's pretty solid.

And Steve Nash? He's 9th-worst in the league at turnover rate. Uh oh. Let's not tell anyone about that.

Cleveland Cavaliers: 35-8, 89.4 possessions per game (25^th), 113 points scored per 100 possessions (3^rd), 101.2 points allowed per 100 possessions (2^nd). 

Orlando Magic: 34-10, 92.6 possessions per game (10^th), 110.3 points scored per 100 possessions (5^th), 101.5 points allowed per 100 possessions (3^rd).

San Antonio Spurs: 30-14, 88.4 possessions per game (26^th), 107.9 points scored per 100 possessions (13^th), 104.7 points allowed per 100 possessions (4^th).

Phoenix Suns: 25-18, 93.8 possessions per game (6^th), 110.1 points scored per 100 possessions (7^th), 109 points allowed per 100 possessions (21^st). 

Related: Game to pay attention to