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Originally Posted by MotownPride I do find it funny that whenever I seem to think one player is the key to the success to this teeam, the next game always proves me wrong. I used to think it was B. Wallace's defensive intensity, then I thought it was C-Note's court leadership and big play ability, then I thought it was Rip's Consistency and man-to-man D, then I thought it was Tay's X-Factor.....
All I know is that when we have at least 3 of 5 of those things going we normally win. 4 or 5 out of 5 and we win BIG! |
I agree with this observation. And I think it could be broken down still further.
I think of the key, characteristic elements that each of the players brings as lights that can be on or off. Some of the players very obviously contribute more than one "light" (e.g. Chauncey as court leader/passer and Chauncey as big play scorer; Sheed as triple threat and Sheed as low post force and Sheed as defensive presence; Dyess as scorer and Dyess as rebounder, etc.). When I think of it that way, there are probably a total of about 10 of these "lights" that could come "on" at any given moment in a game (and be on for a second or for 48 minutes, depending on the night). (I'm sort of imagining an array of christmas tree light bulb, right?)
I know it's kind of a clumsy metaphor, but it gets at the fact that even with a single game, various Pistons step up for a few minutes at a time, then kind of step back while someone else steps up and does his thing, etc... all depending not only how each of them is feeling that night, but also on what the poor opponent is trying to take away. So, Rip didn't shoot the ball frequently or well from the floor on Tuesday night, but he never stopped moving and the number of fouls he took indicates not only his aggressiveness but how much attention Cleveland was paying to him. That gives more room for the Tayshaun as scorer light to come on, not to mention teh Sheed lights to come on.
But wait, there's more: here comes the beauty and refinement of this "lights" metaphor. Let's say that there are 10 of these "lights" -- it would be interesting for Stat Sprocket Man to figure out for us just exactly how many there should be -- and 48 minutes per game, there are a total of 480 possible "light-minutes" in a Piston game. Each Pistons game could now be rated on a scale of 0 (no piston player brings any of their characteristic, key contributions for even a single minute) to 480 (each Piston player brings all of their characteristic key contributions for every minute they are on the floor).
Within that scale, and plugging my extensive statistical mapping of the team into my Cray Mainframe, I've determined that we win most games so long as we hit 240 on the "light-minute" scale.
(i just woke up from a nap, so you can chalk this whole light vision up to the collective unconscious, or a visit by my animal familiar or some such thing... i don't want personally to take credit for it, you know)