PLAYOFF PUSH IN MIAMI

With 8 games to go in the regular NBA season, the Miami Heat are in a dogfight to secure a place in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. The Heat are tied with the Brooklyn Nets for 7th place with identical 34-40 records and the Boston Celtics are 34-41, a 1/2 game behind. Three teams fighting for 2 spots.  Miami has occupied the 7th position most of the year, but a late push by the Nets and Celtics have complicated things for the Heat.  

Hassan Whiteside setting a pick for "The Dragon" Goran Dragic

The Nets are on a 5 game winning streak and Boston has won their last 2.  Miami, since the acquisition of Goran Dragic in late February to run the point, are 1 game over .500, but have lost 4 of their last 6.   Miami is pretty beat up with Dwayne Wade (knee), Loul Deng (knee) and Hassan Whiteside (hand laceration) going through assorted injuries. Udonis Haslem is unavailable and Shabazz Napier, the rookie PG, is finished for the season.  Chris Bosh, their 2nd best player is out for the season with blood clots in the lungs.  Miami is trying to crawl into the playoffs where they would play Cleveland or Atlanta in the 1st round.

Brook Lopez, Nets center, scoring on Indiana  (4h-entertainment .com)

The only thing going for Miami is the remaining strength of schedule.  They play away at Cleveland tonight and then visit Detroit and Indiana.  They return home to play Charlotte, Chicago, Toronto and Orlando and finish the season in Philadelphia.  The schedule favors Miami, so they can limp into the playoffs.  Though the chances are very slim, they are more likely to pull off an upset against Atlanta than a Lebron James led Cleveland Cavaliers.

REMAINING GAMES AND STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
NAME	W-L	SOS	>.500 TEAMS	<.500 TEAMS
Miami Heat	34-40	0.460	3	5
Brooklyn Nets	34-40	0.552	6	2
Boston Celtics	34-41	0.564	4	3
SOS Strength of Schedule remaining games.

BIG CITY MELTDOWN

The New York Knicks are a very bad basketball team.  Their 5-36 (.122 W%) record says so and if you watch them play it's obvious.  They're on course to compile the worst record in their 69 seasons in the NBA.  Before this year, the 21-59 (.263 W%) in 1962/63 was the bottom.  New York is on a 16 game losing streak and have lost 26 of 27, after losing streaks of 10 and 7 earlier.  The last 9 losses have been by 16, 28, 24, 10, 22, 13, 16, 21 and 22 points, so the games haven't been close.  

Phil Jackson, pointing in the right direction?

They are 29 of 30 in scoring and 29 of 30 in Defensive Rating.  The numbers are bad all around but they remain 8th of 30 in attendance at Madison Square Garden, some folks are still watching them play.  They won 37 games last year and in  2012/2013 were the Atlantic Division champs with 54 wins under head coach Mike Woodson.

Phil Jackson, the Zen Master.

The Knicks are the NBA's most valuable franchise (1.1 billion estimate by Forbes) and play in the largest market.  In 2013 they led the NBA with 243.0 M in revenues.  How is it that this iconic franchise can be in such bad shape on the floor? Management has been abysmal. It is hard to comprehend. Lack of vision and terrible decision making has put them in a straight jacket. This must be a very difficult environment for intelligent basketball people to work.

Carmelo Anthony still very productive at 30.

Enter Phil Jackson, the "Zen Master" in March 2014 as President of the New York Knickerbockers.  The man with 13 NBA rings ( 11 as a coach and 2 as a player), pushing 70 years old and a member of the last Knicks championship team in 1973, came just in time to preside over the mess.  Some inherited unproductive players and contracts did not help nor his hiring of Derek Fisher to take over this time bomb.  Everything is blowing up in his face. Even in rebuilding years it is possible to have some bright lights in player development.  That's not the case here.  Some big contracts come off the books next year, Amar'e Stoudemire (23.0M) and Andrea Bargnani (11.5 M).  Maybe these and a few other moves can give flexibility to bring in some better talent to find the road back to respectability.  The main asset is Carmelo Anthony,who at 30 is still productive at 24.0 ppg and 45.6 % shooting.  What to do with him?

Walt Frazier, point guard of the last Knicks title team.

The New York Knicks glory years were 1970 and 1973, when under head coach Red Holzman they won NBA titles. The 1973 team featured 6 Hall of Famers ( Willis Reed, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBuschere, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, Walt "Clyde" Frazier and Jerry Lucas).  Phil Jackson was a bench player on this team.  After the glory years, the next best period was under coach Pat Riley, racking up 4 consecutive 50+ win seasons (51, 60, 57, 55) from 1992-1995.  The Jeff Van Gundy era from 1997-2001 was good with 5 winning seasons.  A deep freeze of 9 losing seasons followed from 2002 to 2010 under 6 different coaches, until Mike D'Antoni broke through with 42-40 in 2011 but was fired the next year and replaced by Mike Woodson who was fired after last year.

FROM GIMMICK TO ESSENTIAL

The three point Field Goal (3P-FG) has been used in the NBA since 1980.  It started slowly and over time has become an integral part of the NBA offensive game.  The number of shots taken and the efficiency has increased dramatically.  On average it makes up about one in four shots taken in the NBA today.

Don Buse of the Indiana Pacers ABA.  One of the great 3point shooters.

Even though the 3P-FG had been tried on various occasions in some college games and some of the first organized leagues, it did not gain popularity and didn't stick with the public until the ABA (American Basketball Association), a rival league to the NBA in the late 60's and mid 70's ( 1968 to 1976 - 9 years) rolled it out in 1968.  The ABA was characterized by a free wheeling offensive game that featured the 3P-FG, the slam dunk, all done with a red, white and blue basketball.  It is the place where the legendary "Dr. J", Julius Erving and other greats initiated their pro careers.  The NBA and ABA merged for the 76/77 season with 4 ABA teams ( Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New Jersey Nets and San Antonio Spurs) moving to the NBA as the ABA went out of existence.  In the first All-Star game after the merger, 10 of the 24 All Stars were former ABA players, which speaks to the quality of the players.

Julius Erving vs Dan Issel of the Denver Nuggets

However, it was not until the 79/80 season that the NBA adopted the 3P-FG amidst opposition of some NBA people who said it was a gimmick ( something designed to draw attention and publicity without having any real value). Thirty six years later, the ABA would be proud to see the art form of the current 3P-FG in today's game. An essential part of today's game. George Mikan, the first ABA commissioner thought the three point shot would benefit the little guy (guards) and open up the inside game dominated by big men.  As we see today, it has also benefited the big man with the good shooting touch.   Although made popular by the ABA, the 3P-FG was never more than 4 to 6.5% of the shots taken in the league compared to around 25% of the shots taken today.

The incomparable Julius Erving of the New York Nets ABA

The table below shows the evolution of the 3P-FG in the NBA from 1980 to the present.  I took a snapshot every 10 years ( 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010) plus last year and a projection of this year after 35 games played per team.  

YEAR	TEAMS	3 P MADE	3 P ATT	3 P %	2 P MADE	2 P ATT	2 P %	2P+3P ATT	AVG SCORE
1980	22	64	227	28.0	3515	7205	48.8	7432	109.3
1990	27	179	541	33.1	3225	6605	48.8	7146	107.0
2000	29	397	1125	35.3	2623	5607	46.8	6732	97.5
2010	30	527	1487	35.5	2564	5212	49.2	6699	100.4
2014	30	635	1766	36.0	2458	5040	48.8	6806	101.0
2015	30	630	1795	35.1	2427	4974	48.8	6769	100.4

From 227 attempts per team in 1980 to 1766 per team last year, and from a low of 28% shooting to a record high 36% last year, the once thought of "gimmick" is now essential to scoring.  Last year 7 NBA teams took more then 2000 3-pointers with the Houston Rockets leading the league with 2179 of 6602 total shots for an average of 33%, or 1 in 3 shots.  The low scoring Memphis Grizzlies, 96.1 ppg last year, took the least 3 pointers with 1147 for the season, 1032 less than the Rockets.  
Notice how the amount of total shots taken per team has dropped from the 80's and 90's as the 3 pointers have increased, accounting probably for the lower scoring we see today.

Steph Curry dazzling the Blazers defender

The Golden State Warriors boast the best shooting back court in the game today with the "Splash Brothers", Steph Curry and Klay Thompson who last year averaged a spectacular 3 point shooting % ( Curry 42.4 and Thompson 41.7) while scoring over 42 points per game ( Curry 24.0 and Thompson 18.4).  They are the poster boys for efficient long range shooting. Even this display of firepower is not enough to guarantee winning games.  It is vital but needs to be combined with an inside game and strong defense to navigate the tough NBA playoffs.

Klay Thompson and Steph Curry  on the break against Denver.