2014 All-NBA Defensive Team

Unveiling the 2014 All-NBA Defense, 2nd Team:

F – Serge Ibaka, OKC

F – Paul George, Ind

C – Joakim Noah, Chi

G – Lance Stephenson, Ind

G – Chris Paul, LAC

The Grizzlies Shooting Dicotomy

Through five games against Oklahoma City the Memphis Grizzlies outside shooting has been all over the map.

Tony Allen, Mike Conley and Courtney Lee have shot 7-41 from three-point land (17%).  Those same players have shot  54% on two-point attempts.

On the other end, Mike Miller has been 11-22 from three and only 1-11 from two.

Also, thanks to Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins, OKC has held Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph to just 40% shooting from the floor.

 

More Blocks Than Fouls

We have written before that nearly all post defenders commit more fouls than shots they block.   Milwaukee Bucks second year man John Henson went the first few months of this season with a near one-to-one ratio.  He has since slipped and committed about fifty more fouls than blocks through almost sixty games.

So which NBA players are blocking more shots than fouls this year?  Just one man, Tim Duncan.  The Spurs center has 122 blocks and 118 fouls.

The only other players who are close to Duncan are Serge Ibaka and Anthony Davis.  Each has fewer than twenty more fouls than blocks.

Serge Ibaka Meets The X-Man

Oklahoma City Thunder big man Serge Ibaka had a sweet shooting game Friday against Jason Kidd and the Brooklyn Nets.  He was a perfect 12-for-12 from the floor in 31 minutes played.  According to his shot chart at Basketball-Reference.com five of Ibaka’s made baskets were from outside of ten feet.  His other seven makes were all at the rim.  His full season chart shows that he has been good from almost every spot inside of the three point arc.

It turns out that Ibaka had just the third perfect game (with 12+ FGA’s) since Karl Malone in 2001.  The only other two in the past thirteen years both occurred in January of 2009.  Yao Ming and Nene Hilario each went 12-for-12.  The last 13-for-13 game was Vin Baker in 1997 and the only 14-for-14 game was produced by Seattle SuperSonics point guard Gary Payton in ’95.

Final note, the only perfect game in the Basketball-Reference database (since 1986) in which the player attempted zero free throws was by “The X-Man” Xavier McDaniel.