Columnist Analysis 3: Where has scoring in NCAA basketball gone? (March 31, 2013)

(Link: http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/03/30/college-coaches-are-strangling-offense-out-game/L3KSraJXJC3jwKBaPVHOpJ/story.html#)

The title says it all for this Ryan column. He cannot stand how men’s college basketball’s scoring has fallen off. His reasoning for this huge drop-off is the over-coaching done at almost every school in the nation. This column is a feature because it deals with the issue of the lack of scoring in this sport.

Ryan is extremely frustrated by this phenomenon in college basketball and has a negative outlook regarding the future of the sport. He starts with a strong, emotional rant towards the subject: “It’s appalling. It’s depressing. It is certainly painful to watch. Did someone legislate offense out of basketball when we weren’t looking? Offensively speaking, things were better not just 10, not just 20, not just 30 (actually, that was a deviant year), not just 40, not just 50, but, yes, 60 years ago. How can that be?” His anger continues for a page and then he gets to his main point with a quote from Bill Walton: ““The game,” [Walton] thunders, “is over-coached and under-taught. It is over-thought and under-played.” Walton is totally in agreement that the athletes are better than ever. He just wishes the coaches would let them play.” Just by using the word “thunders,” Ryan is expressing the rage that he and Walton feel when watching college basketball.

Columnist Analysis 4: Bob Ryan

Bob Ryan’s target audience is the general sports fan, especially one from Boston. As a retired Boston Globe columnist who still writes weekly as a Globe Correspondent, Ryan provides strong, pointed and direct opinions on the most important stories in the sports world. The New Jersey native is extremely truthful when it comes to his writing, and he leaves all of his thoughts on the page.

His typical columns are features in which he tackles a significant issue from the past week in sports. As evidenced by Ryan’s guest appearances on “Pardon the Interruption,” he has tremendous versatility with his sports knowledge. Although I chose three of his basketball columns, he can write about all major sports stories. In the last year, he has had columns on wins above replacement, Stan Musial, Bill Belichick, the Olympics, badminton and figure skating.

Celtics vs. Nets Stat Pack

*The Nets vs. Celtics from 2007-08 to 2011-12: 2 wins (17 losses)
–The Nets vs. Celtics in 2012-13: 2 wins (1 loss)

*The Celtics are officially an “average” team through 77 games.
–They are the only team in the league with a current RPI of .500 (via http://espn.go.com/nba/stats/rpi)
–The Celtics also have the point differential closest to zero. Opponents are outscoring the Celtics, 7424 to 7414 (approximately -0.1 per game).

*Via @benmaller: For first time since joining the NBA in 1976, the Nets franchise will finish with a winning record on road.

*Before Tuesday’s Nets home game against the 76ers, the Nets displayed the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers championship banner on the court to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the opening of Ebbets Field.

*The Nets are 16-28 (.364) vs. teams with at least a .500 record this season. They are 29-4 (.879) vs. teams below .500.
–By comparison, the Celtics are 21-23 (.477) vs. teams with at least a .500 record this season. They are 19-14 (.576) vs. teams below .500.

*Reggie Evans is averaging more than 18 rebounds per game over his last 10 games, by far the most in the NBA over that span.
–Evans’ Hollinger rebound rate of 26.5 is also by far the best in the NBA (2^nd-best: Anderson Varejao and Kevin Love at 23.2)

*Via @ESPNStatsInfo: Reggie Evans now has nine 20-rebound games this season, which is more than twice as many as any other player.
–Via New York Times: Evans has 4 double-doubles in his last 7 games after having only 4 in his previous 69 games.
–Via New York Times: On Tuesday, Evans scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the first quarter, the first time a Nets player has recorded a double-double in the first quarter.

*Coming into Wednesday night:
–The Celtics are 10-10 on 0-days rest this season.
–The Celtics are 19-19 on 1-day rest.
–With a win on Wednesday, the Celtics would be 6-6 on 2-days rest.
–The Celtics own an impressive 6-2 record on 3-days rest.

*The Celtics’ 56% FG% Sunday was their 3^rd-best in a game this season.

*Brandon Bass set a new season-high with 9 field goals made on Sunday.

*Recent Meetings: Celtics vs. Nets
–The Nets won at TD Garden on November 28, becoming just their 2^nd victory there since Garnett joined the Celtics.
–The Celtics are looking to make it 2 wins in a row over the Nets in order to avoid losing a season series to the Nets for the first time in 7 seasons.
–In each of the 3 meetings in 2012-13, the Celtics have scored more points in the paint than the Nets.

*Milestone Watch:

–All-Time NBA Minutes–
5. Wilt Chamberlain 47,859
6. John Stockton 47,764
7. Kevin Garnett 47,755            (Garnett needs 10 to move into 6^th place)

–All-Time NBA Points Scored–
13. Alex English 25,613
14. Reggie Miller 25,279
15. Kevin Garnett 25,249            (Garnett needs 31 to move into 14^th place)

Celtics vs. Wizards Stat Pack

*Defensive Efficiency this season:
–Celtics: 100.0 per 100 possessions (7^th-best)
–Washington: 99.9 per 100 possessions (5^th-best)

*The Celtics’ 40.4 percent shooting on Friday was their 4^th-worst performance at home this season.

*The only player to score more than 25 points and grab more than 16 rebounds against the Celtics this season: Tristan Thompson.
–The last player to do this against the Celtics: Carmelo Anthony in the 2011 playoffs.

*Add in that 9-of-9 performance from the free-throw line to Thompson’s stat line of 29 points and 17 rebounds — He is first player since Alonzo Morning in 1993 with 29 points, 17 rebounds and that many free throws with a 100% free-throw percentage.

*How about Jeff Green as a starter now? In 12 games this season, he is averaging 26 points per game while shooting 57 percent from the field and 55% from 3-point!
–In addition, he is attempting 6 free throws per game as opposed to less than 3 when he was coming off the bench.

*Shavlik Randolph put up a career-high 16 points in addition to grabbing 4 offensive rebounds on Friday. The last Celtic reserve to do that was Brandon Bass in December 2011.

*In the 43 games that John Wall has played this season, the Wizards own a 24-19 record.
–When Wall records a double-double, they are 8-3 in 2012-13.

*Wall has stepped up recently with 3 performances of more than 30 points.
–One of those impressive games came Saturday night in a 104-85 win over the Pacers.
–Wall dominated George Hill for a game-high 37 points while Hill scored only 11.

*The last time Wall faced the Celtics was more than a year ago when Wall struggled and shot 5-of-17, scoring just 12 points.
–Avery Bradley had a fantastic contest, putting up a game-high 23 points as a part of an 88-76 Celtics win.
–The highest scorer for the Wizards that night, Jordon Crawford, is now in green.

*Avery Bradley has played 37 straight games for Boston, but sat out practice on Saturday. Fortunately, Bradley said that he was fine and plays his 38 straight game Sunday.

*Recent Meetings: Celtics vs. Wizards
–The Celtics have won 6 straight games against the Wizards.
–If the men in green are victorious on Sunday, they will have swept the season series from Washington in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history.

*Milestone Watch:

–All-Time NBA Minutes–
5. Wilt Chamberlain 47,859
6. John Stockton 47,764
7. Kevin Garnett 47,731            (Garnett needs 34 to move into 6^th place)

Celtics vs. Cavaliers Stat Pack

*The Cavaliers are still without 2 of their 3 highest scorers in this game. Kyrie Irving should be playing, but Dion Waiters and Anderson Varejao remain out.

*This Cavaliers team has had a relatively tough schedule recently, but they have dropped their last 10 games. This losing streak is the longest current one in the league and is Cleveland’s longest one since losing an NBA-record 26 consecutive contests in 2010-11.

*In Jeff Green’s 11 starts this season, he is averaging 22.5 points per game while shooting 56 percent from the field and 54 percent from 3-point.
–Although it is a small sample size, that overall field goal percentage would be 7^th-best in the NBA this season and the best among non-big men.
–In addition, the best 3-point shooter this season, Jose Calderon, is at 46 percent.

*The Celtics without Pierce this season…
–The Celtics are now about 5.5 points worse per 100 offensive possessions without Pierce on the floor this season.

*The Celtics without Kevin Garnett this season…
–The Celtics are now about 7.7 points worse per 100 defensive possessions without Garnett on the floor this season.

*Recent Meetings: Celtics vs. Cavaliers
–The Celtics will hope to win again to take the regular season series from the Cavaliers for the 3^rd straight year.

Celtics vs. Pistons Stat Pack

*After being outrebounded in their previous 8 contests (Celtics’ longest streak since 2002), the Celtics outrebounded the Timberwolves on Monday.
–With Monday’s loss, the Celtics are now 14-5 this season when winning the rebounding battle.

*For the 11^th time in Paul Pierce’s career, he has had a double-double in 3 straight games.
–Only once in Pierce’s career has he gone 4 consecutive games with a double-double (November 2002).

*The Celtics without Pierce this season…
–The Celtics are about 5.0 points worse per 100 offensive possessions without Pierce on the floor this season.
–Of all Celtics who have played at least 200 minutes this season, Pierce is the most impactful offensive player on the team.

*The Celtics without Kevin Garnett this season…
–The Celtics are about 7.9 points worse per 100 defensive possessions without Garnett on the floor this season.
–Of all Celtics who have played at least 50 minutes this season, Garnett is the most impactful defensive player on the team.

*Recent Meetings: Celtics vs. Pistons
–The last time the Pistons swept a season series from the Celtics was 2006-07.
–The Pistons have a 4-game win streak against the Celtics, the longest streak since the Pistons won 9 straight games over the Celtics from 2005 to 2007.
–During that 4-game losing streak, the Celtics have scored fewer than 90 points in each of those games.
–The last time the Celtics beat the Pistons: December 30, 2011.
–The Celtics have won 6 of their last 8 games at TD Garden over the Pistons.

*Milestone Watch:

–All-Time NBA Minutes–
5. Wilt Chamberlain 47,859
6. John Stockton 47,764
7. Kevin Garnett 47,731            (Garnett needs 34 to move into 6^th place)

Celtics @ Timberwolves Stat Pack

*The Celtics have been outrebounded in 8 consecutive games, the franchise’s longest streak of being outrebounded since 2002 (11 games: February 1 to 23, 2002).
–They are one of 8 NBA teams to have a streak like this of 8 or more games this season.
–One of those 8 teams is the Timberwolves (9 games – tied with 2 other teams for longest streak by a team this season).

*Coming into this contest, the Celtics have just 2 losses on Mondays this season, the fewest losses they have on a single day of the week in 2012-13.

*On Sunday, the Celtics gave up 14 made 3-pointers to an opponent for the 2^nd time this season.
–The other time: January 7 also at Madison Square Garden.
–The Celtics are 1-5 when giving up at least 12 made 3-pointers this season (lone victory: January 7).

*Jeff Green has now scored 27 points in each of his last 2 games.
–For just the 2^nd time in his career, Jeff Green has scored at least 27 points in consecutive games.

*Pierce is currently on his 2^nd streak this season of at least 3 double-doubles. It is the first time he has done that since 2002-03.

*The Timberwolves have the least halftime comeback wins in the NBA this season (3).

*According to NBA.com, the Timberwolves are still not mathematically eliminated from the 2013 playoffs.
–However, they will most likely miss the playoffs for the 9^th consecutive season.

*Recent Meetings: Celtics vs. Timberwolves
–The only team the Celtics have a perfect record against in the Kevin Garnett Era is the Timberwolves. The Celtics are 10-0 against them since 2007-08.

*Milestone Watch:

–All-Time NBA Minutes–
5. Wilt Chamberlain 47,859
6. John Stockton 47,764
7. Kevin Garnett 47,731            (Garnett needs 34 to move into 6^th place)

–All-Time NBA Minutes–
24. Patrick Ewing 40,594
25. Charles Oakley 40,280
26. Paul Pierce 40,223            (Pierce needs 58 to move into 25^th place)