The Adam Dunn Article

For some random reason, I sat down to watch the Dodgers and Brewers play two night ago on May 6th, particularly because one of my favorite former Red Sox players, Adrian Gonzalez, had started the year off on a tear with 9 home runs and a .364 batting average through his first 26 starts.

And yet, it was a highly touted, baby-faced, lanky 23-year old center field prospect playing for LA, who was thrust into a very important role for the team earlier than expected because of an injury to Yasiel Puig, that caught my eye. That night, he ended up hitting the first multiple home run game of his career on two solo blasts in the 5th and 8th innings. The next night I turned back on the Dodgers game to watch Joc Pederson again and he came to the plate 6 times, struck out 3 times, and walked on 2 other occasions.

This has been the theme of Pederson's early rookie season because when he comes to the plate, he either goes yard, strikes out, or takes first on a walk (9 of his first 23 big league hits have been home runs). There is only one man over the past decade who defined his career based upon those three true outcomes and that is the one and only Adam Dunn (the original three true outcome king was Rob Deer).

There is a game that little kids know from Sesame Street called "One of These Things," where Kermit and Susan identify which item does not belong in a group. If I give you Jason Statham, Liam Neeson, Daniel Craig, and Steve Seagal, the name that does not quite fit in for an action movie star is Seagal. How about Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, Elgin Baylor, and John Havlicek? The answer is Havlicek because he won a NBA Championship. If I gave you Carlos Mesa, Danny Bejarano, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Evo Morales, Bejarano is the one that does not fit (know your Bolivian Presidents guys). If I give you Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Roberto Benigni, and Jack Nicholson, you know the odd man out would be Benigni because all four won the Academy Award for Best Actor, but only three of them can act.

So when people ask you in terms of home runs which name does not fit between Adam Dunn, Willie McCovey, Duke Snider and Willie Stargell, the answer may surprise you but it is Duke Snider, who is the only one that did not hit at least 460 career home runs (Snider hit 407 with the Dodgers, Mets, and Giants). Dunn's 462 career home runs are in the top 20 for a player over the last 40 years and he hit more long balls than all-time great power hitters like Andre Dawson, Juan Gonzalez, Billy Williams, Al Kaline, and Dale Murphy.

In very Adam Dunn-like manner, he is also third all-time in strikeouts with 2,379 career K's, behind only Reggie Jackson and Jim Thome, and his career K% of 28.6% is the highest for any batter with a minimum of 4,600 career plate appearances. Only one batter could put up those kind of numbers, so long live the unique legacy of Adam Dunn (also, long live the Starks because they are quickly dying out)!

Like most normal Americans, I have been waiting to write an Adam Dunn article for years, hoping that he would eventually get into the 500-home run club and be BY FAR the worst player ever to do so. As I patiently sat at home and fixated over his quickly rising home run numbers, despite his annual 170 strikeout seasons (and that would be a good year for him), I realized that Adam Dunn is a bigger hit or miss character than Ryan Reynolds (I will never forget the horror that was masquerading as the film Green Lantern, never). The "Big Donkey," as he is known around MLB circles, has always fascinated me with his all or nothing approach at the plate, an emphasis on the three true baseball outcomes of homers, strikeouts, and walks, which Joc Pederson is now emulating.

Dunn was incapable of doing anything other than slugging home runs or striking-out with his big, loopy left-handed swing during his 14-year career with the Reds, D-Backs, Nats, White Sox, and A's. His high-risk, high-reward batting style was always put under a microscope because of his astronomical strikeout rates and his failure to drive runners in scoring position home, but he was a guy that was one of baseball's most alluring hitters with his easy power. Only a few names in MLB history can be compared to all-time great power hitters from Ralph Kiner, Hank Greenberg, and Jimmie Foxx to Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Thomas, but also be aligned with batters like Lee May, Royce Clayton, Mark Reynolds, and Seth Green in terms of empty opportunities at the dish (one of those names may not apply).

Unfortunately, Dunn retired after the Oakland A's loss to the Kansas City Royals in the AL Wild Card Game last year. Despite waiting until May to make see if he would come back for some team to hit homers and strike out in 2015, I think he may just be making cameos in movies like he did in Dallas Buyers Club. Although he fell 38 long balls short of 500, an arbitrary mark anyway, some of his career numbers in terms of only hitting home runs, striking-out, or walking may never be repeated.

Here Are Some Of The Craziest Adam Dunn Stats:

• Of the 41 hitters in major league history to have hit at least 440 home runs, only Adam Dunn (25.1) and Dave Kingman (20.4) had a career WAR below 42.0. 
• The only other player to have blasted at least 360 homers and yet still have a career WAR as low as Dunn and Kingman was Joe Carter, who had a career WAR of 17.1. Carter rarely got on base, but he hit 396 long balls during his career, most of them with the Blue Jays after a massive trade between San Diego and Toronto that sent Carter and Roberto Alomar to the Jays and Fred McGriff to the Padres in 1989. Carter's 1993 World Series homer for Toronto made up for all those seasons when his OBP was barely above .300 because he never walked. (Carter is the third coolest guy in Toronto behind the Ford brothers, but definitely ahead of Phil Kessel).
• From 2010 to 2013, Adam Dunn stroke out 787 times in 2,400 plate appearances. Over the final 15 seasons of his career with the Red Sox from 1969 to 1983, Carl Yastrzemski stroke out a total of 776 times in 8,721 plate appearances, less than Dunn with more than 3.5 times the plate appearances. And yet, Dunn and Yaz sit next to each in other on the all-time home runs list and are 2 of only 40 players in nearly half a century to have a season with an isolated power of .295 or above (Yaz in 1967 when he won the AL MVP and the Triple Crown had a .295 ISO and Dunn had a .303 ISO in 2004). 
• The beauty of baseball is that different pros can do things in such drastically different manners to help their team win a game. Look at American League left fielders Alex Gordon and Hanley Ramirez.
• Gordon, who has won four straight Gold Gloves for KC, catches any ball within his zip code. His ultimate zone rating, which according to fangraphs "puts a run value to defense, attempting to quantify how many runs a player saved or gave up through their fielding prowess (or lack thereof)," is the 6th highest in the league (his UZR of 25.0 led the MLB last season). Despite only having a modest slash line of .253/.364/.425 so far in 2015, Gordon is baseball's best left fielder (sorry Matt Holliday) and the most important everyday player on the Royals along with Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez.
• Hanley Ramirez may be the worst left fielder to have played the position in some time. He is slowly morphing into Manny Ramirez with his complete ineptitude to play the outfield, but his pure looking, effortless swing that just shoots balls over the monster. The Red Sox rely so heavily on his production at the plate that it is no coincidence that when he hit 10 home runs in April the Sox went a respectable 11-10 and then when he hurt his left shoulder and did not hit a home run from May 1 to May 27, the Sox took a nose dive and went 8-14. Gordon and Hanley play the same position and yet contribute in such different manners to their team's success, kind of like Yaz and Dunn (my have-heartened attempt to get back on topic because I wanted to rant for a little).
• In 2004, Adam Dunn hit 46 home runs for the Cincinnati Reds, but he also stuck out 195 times and had a K% of 28.6%. Of the 136 single-seasons in which a player tagged at least 45 home runs, only four ever had a K% as high as Dunn. In 2001 with the Indians, Jim Thome hit 49 home runs, but had a K% of 28.7%. Ryan Howard blasted 47 homers in 2007 with the Phillies, but his K% was 30.7% that year. In 2013, Chris Davis hit 53 home runs for the Orioles, but also had a K% of 29.6% because of his 199 strikeouts.
• A team is going to take a season where a guy can give you 45-50 home runs, regardless if his strikeout totals range from 170 to 200 K's. Dunn's all-or-nothing approach made him a threat to go long every time he was at the plate.
• Some of the all-time baseball greats have had historic home run seasons, but unlike Dunn, they did so without a high strikeout rate. There have been 10 players in MLB history to hit at least 45 home runs in a season and to also have a K% of 10% or below.
• In 1930, Babe Ruth hit 49 homers and had a K% of 9.0% and in 1931 he hit 46 HR and had a 7.7 K%.
• Lou Gehrig had three such seasons when he hit 46 homers in 1931, 49 home runs in 1934, and 49 homers in 1936 while having a 7.6 K%, an incredible 4.5 K% (he stroke out only 31 times the entire season), and a 6.4 K% in those respective years.
• Joe DiMaggio hit 46 homers and had a 5.3 K% in 1937 and in 1947 Johnny Mize blasted 51 homers and had a 6.3 K%.
• Ted Kluszewski, the worst player to accomplish the feat, had two such seasons when he hit 49 homers in 1954 and 47 home runs in 1955 while having a 5.3 K% and 5.8 K% in those years respectively.
• In 1955, Willie Mays hit 51 homers and had a 9.0 K%, in 1961 Roger Maris hit 61 long balls and had a 9.6 K%, and Ralph Kiner hit 54 homers and had a 9.1 K% in 1964.
• More recently, Barry Bonds had 46 homers and a 7.7 K% in 2002 and 45 homers and a 6.6 K% in 2004, and Albert Pujols had three such seasons when he hit 46 homers in 2004, 49 home runs in 2006, and 49 homers again in 2009 while having a 7.5 K%, 7.9 K%, and a 9.1 K% in those respective years.
• In 2012, Adam Dunn stroke out 222 times for the Chicago White Sox in 539 at-bats, the second most in a single-season in MLB history behind only Mark Reynolds's 223 strikeout year in 2009 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Dunn stroke out on 41.1% of his official at-bats, but he still hit 41 homers, which gave him a rate of home run per every 13.1 at-bats (8th best in White Sox history)! That number actually set a White Sox record for most homers in a season by a left-handed hitter, and was only behind Albert Belle (49 in 1998), Jermaine Dye (44 in 2006), Frank Thomas (43 in 2000 and 42 in 2003), and Jim Thome (42 in 2006) for most home runs in a single-season in franchise history. If that doesn't tell the story of Adam Dunn's career, I'm not sure what does.
• In that wild season, where Dunn struck out more than Armie Hammer at the box office, he had 3 different games with 4 strike outs and 20 games with at least 3 strikeouts.
• In 17 years with the Yankees, Lou Gehrig never stroke out four times in a game. In 2,164 career games, Gehrig only had 13 games where he struck out 3 times at the plat/  including only one such game over his final 7 complete seasons from 1932 to 1938. He did so while also hitting 493 career home runs and leading the league in home runs three different times (1931, 1934, and 1936).
• Mel Ott played in the majors for 22 years with the New York Giants, and he had just 8 career games with 3 strikeouts out of 2,730 career outings. In 1930, Ott had just 3 games with 2 or more strikeouts in 148 starts (for perspective, you could have penciled Dunn in for at least 2 K's a game in 2012 because he did so in an astounding 65 contests).
• Only once in his entire career did Tony Gwynn have a three strikeout game for the San Diego Padres (it came in 1986 against the Dodgers and Bob Welch).
• While Ted Williams may be "The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived," Stan Musial is damn close, especially when you consider that he hit 475 home runs while NEVER striking-out. In 1943, Stan came to the plate 700 times and struck out just 18 times in route to one of his 3 MVP's with the St. Louis Cardinals. His absurdly low strikeout rate makes Dunn's constant swinging and missing look that much worse, like how Armie Hammer must have felt worse after the The Lone Ranger get crushed by Despicable Me 2 at the box office.
• Adam Dunn came to the dish 8,328 times during his career and in those plate appearances, he hit 462 home runs, stroke out 2,379 times, and recorded 1,317 walks (he led the league in walks in 2008 with the Reds and Diamondbacks and in 2012 with the White Sox). Of Dunn's 8,328 career plate appearances, his at-bats finished without the fielders coming into play and not involving the defensive team other than the pitcher and catcher 4,158 times (stat geeks argue that pitchers do not have control over balls put into play and therefore the three true outcomes (TTO) are the best way to measure their performance). Dunn's career TTO% of 49.9% is the highest in the history of baseball (for context the league TTO% has typically been anywhere from 25% to 30% over the last half decade, and it be increasing with the recent league-wide spike in home runs and strikeouts).
• The highest team three true outcomes percentage for a single-season came in 2010 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, which had a club TTO% of 37.11% with batters like Mark Reynolds and Adam LaRoche. 
• Rob Deer, the man the stat was originally designed for, had a career TTO of 49.1% while Jim Thome had a 47.6% career TTO, and Mickey Mantle had a 40.2% career TTO. Dunn's TTO sum is the highest in MLB history, and his 2012 season where his TTO% was 56.83% ranks behind only two Jack Cust seasons in 2007 and 2008 when the left-handed hitter's TTO% was 58.19% and 57.02% in two seasons with the A's.
• Since the three true outcomes deemphasize contact hitters because "TTO hitters" get on base through walks rather than constantly putting the ball into play, hitters with low strike out numbers, and typically lower home run numbers, have some absurdly low TTO's.
• Not including this season with the Miami Marlins because the year is still ongoing, Ichiro came to the plate 9,663 times from 2001 to 2014, and he had a TTO sum over that period of 1,646 (112 home runs, 944 strikeouts, and 565 walks). Thus, Ichiro's TTO% over his first 14 seasons was just 17.0%. 
• Going further back, Ty Cobb came to the plate 13,084 times during his 24-year career with the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics and he had a TTO sum of 2,047 (117 home runs, 681 strikeouts, and 1,249 walks), which means that his career TTO% was 14.8% compared to Adam Dunn's 49.9 TTO%!

Telling It All Podcast - American League East Preview

Topics Include: Red Sox Season Preview (2:00), Yankees Season Preview (13:45).
                           
Topics Include: Orioles Season Preview (1:50), Blue Jays Season Preview (6:30), 
                           Rays Season Preview (9:45)

SoundCloud Podcast Homepage: https://soundcloud.com/ctellallsports

NBA Regular Season Quick Facts

With the NBA post-season quickly approaching, it is time to look back and reflect on one of the more intriguing regular seasons we have seen from the association over the past decade. While the league's lengthy 82 game season often gets knocked by the public for being too long, forcing too many teams to play on back-to-back nights, or subjecting fans to the abhorrent Philadelphia 76ers tanking (love live Sam Hinkie and his 82 second-round draft picks over the next seven years), this has been by far one of the most captivating NBA seasons in recent memory because of all the different appealing storylines across the country (ok, so maybe only in the Western Conference since the East makes the NFC south look competitive). As much as America loved to hate on the Heat, by year four of the LeBron-DWade-Bosh big three, they no longer wore a villainous cloak to the general public outside of maybe Skip Bayless, and the league lost a lot of its regular season excitement last year since everybody was just waiting on the Heat-Spurs NBA Finals rematch. For as much as the regular season is itself a completely different entity from the post-season and teams certainly need a completely different gear come May and June (just ask the Thibs Bulls), we learned a whole heck of a lot from the NBA slate this season.

We discovered that David Blatt is the biggest copy-cat since Pharell and Robin Thicke. We confirmed that Anthony Bennett may forever be associated with the likes of LaRue Martin, Michael Olowokandi, Kent Benson, Mark Workman, and Bill McGill as some of the worst top overall picks in NBA history (I still can't believe I was a prisoner of the moment and overreacted to him looking in shape in Summer League and said he would improve this year). We learned that Phil Jackson is not a very good General Manager (re-signed Carmelo for a 129 million dollar deal when they have nothing to put around him and will pay him in the 20 million dollar range until he is in his mid-30's; traded Tyson Chandler, who in 2012 was third team All-NBA and won Defensive Player of the Year, and Raymond Felton's gun for the undersized Shane Larkin, Wayne Elligton, Samuel Dalembert, the corpse of Jose Calderon, and no draft picks when the 76ers got a protected first rounder for JaVale McGee and so did the Hawks for Adrian Payne; and then dealt J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert for essentially two trade exceptions and a second round pick despite Shumpert once being on the block for multiple first round picks). We have just begun to understand how dominate of a rim protector Rudy Gobert is for the Utah Jazz, but we may never understand just how Russell Westbrook broke his face and then came back on the court like nothing had happened. We also witnessed Klay Thompson go for 37 points in the third quarter of a game against the Sacramento Kings. Sadly, though we also had to watch the unfortunate death of Jason Smith on behalf of DeAndre "Wilt" Jordan (yes, I am going way too far with that, so maybe DeAndre "Thurmond" Jordan). Here are some crazy, amazing, insane, insert any other synonym here, notes about the 2014-2015 NBA season.

James Harden's Ability To Get To The Free Throw Line:

Anybody who has watched the Houston Rockets extensively this season knows that James Harden is having one of the best seasons in recent NBA history, and certainly in franchise history (up there with Hakeem's MVP season in 1994 or Moses's years in the early 1980's). But Harden's game is not the most aesthetically pleasing thing to watch on the planet, unlike a Chris Paul or Steph Curry. Harden does all of these herky-jerky side-steps and quick shifts of his body to get his defender off balance and free himself for a three pointer or a drive past his man to the rack. He is by far the best in the NBA at stopping and starting on the bounce, as his constant hesitations with the ball make it so difficult to know when he is pulling up or when he is going to go to the hole. Unlike John Wall, who can sometimes get caught playing at one pace, Harden is able to accelerate past defenders because he slows them down with all of his deceptive movements and dribbling. And the strange thing about the star shooting guard is that he is as repetitive as the plots of all the Fast and Furious movies because if you watch him closely, he has much less variety in his offensive game than a player like Westbrook, LeBron, or even DeMar Derozan (Harden's shot chart is entirely threes and layups in very Houston like fashion, as nearly 70 percent of his field goal attempts are at the rim or threes. In comparison, around 53 percent of Westbrook's shots are threes or at the rim). However, his quick body movements allow him to maneuver around defenders and his shiftiness prevents them from knowing which way he is going. Harden also has that incredibly crafty euro-step when he is going to the rim, which allows him at 6-5 to finish so easily at the rim against the trees, as only Westbrook has more transition points than Harden this season.

Now, looking at the numbers, Harden gets to the free throw line an absurd number of times for the Rockets, whose offense has basically become predicated on the charity strike (the Bulls and Clippers are the only other playoff teams that shoot more free throws than Houston, which makes sense since LA complains at the officials the entire game). Harden attempts over 10 free throws per game, which only LeBron James (2008, 2010), Kevin Durant (2010), Dwight Howard (2008-2009, 2011-2012), and the anomaly that is Kevin Martin (2009) have done over the past 8 years in the league. And unlike Dwight, Harden is a terrific free throw shooter at around 87 percent, so when he goes to the line, Houston is getting nearly 2 points per their possessions. Harden's 8.8 free throw makes per game have only been topped by Allen Iverson (2006), Kevin Martin (2009), and Kevin Durant (2010) since 1989.

Look with me, for example, at Harden's stretch since the All-Star break. The beard has only shot over 50 percent from the field once in his last 21 games, and yet, over that time span, he is averaging 28 points per game, which includes a 50 point game against the Nuggets, a 44 point showing versus the Pacers, and a 51 point game versus Sacramento (he missed one game in March against Atlanta due to suspension after kicking LeBron in the groin). The obvious answer to how he is putting up such monster numbers when he is not even shooting well from the floor is his ability to get to the free throw line so often. Since the break, Harden has had 16 games with double-digit free throw attempts, which allows him to score in bunches even when he is struggling to find his outside rhythm. There is not another player in the NBA, aside from maybe Westbrook, that could shoot 12 of 27 from the floor with only 4 three pointers and still score 50 points in a game like Harden did against Denver. In that game, he got to the free throw line 25 times and made 22 of them, making him just the 4th player in NBA history to score 50 points in a game with 12 field goals or less (Adrian Dantley in 1980, Willie Burton in 1994, and Kevin Martin in 2009 the others). It was also the most free throws made in a NBA game since back in December of 2013 when Harden himself accomplished the same feat against Memphis and joined Charles Barkley as the only players in NBA history to score more than 25 points in a game on 2 field goals or less. When people say that getting to the free throw line is not a skill, they are as misconstrued as Brian Shaw was with the Nuggets. While all of Harden's shifting and dancing with his in-between the legs back and forth dribble may seem unnecessary, he knows exactly how to attack a defender and get them to foul him as he is going up. It takes a lot of dexterity and understanding of defender's tendencies to constantly draw fouls game after game, and Harden does it better than anybody since Adrian Dantley. Kevin McHale must be saying, "keep going to that well Larry, I mean James."

I feel like I have to add this really quickly, but Harden also has to be recognized for the fact that his trade essentially changed the entire philosophy of NBA front offices. Daryl Morey stockpiled assets for three years (getting a first rounder for Battier and Ishmael Smith, acquiring a first rounder in the Brooks-Dragic trade, shipping Budinger for a first rounder) and then was lucky enough that the Thunder bailed on Harden way too early and then let him go for so much less than his true value. Now, every team in the NBA looks at trades much less from an individual trade value basis (am I getting the better end of this specific deal), but from the perspective of acquiring enough assets overall to either make a big time move or have enough drafts slots where eventually one of them will fall into the high lottery to get a possible future superstar. So, the next time that Harden is at the line or doing his little cooking and stirring the pot thing, NBA fans can thank him for the league's drive to continually acquire assets, except for Billy King of the Brooklyn Nets of course.

Harden has done all this despite the fact that Dwight Howard has missed 40 games this year, Terrence Jones has been in and out of the lineup (now out for the season with a collapsed lung), Patrick Beverley now out for the season with a wrist injury, and the Rockets even added Josh Smith, which is not really all that of a good thing. There has not been a player more valuable to his team than James Harden this season, who has basically single handedly brought them his team up to second place with the Memphis Grizzlies (a very important spot to possibly avoid the Spurs in the first round if they do not pass the Clippers and end up with the six seed).

Drayman Green Needs To Be Getting Even More Praise:

I know what you are thinking: why would a guy that is already being considered for NBA Most Improved Player (with Jimmy Butler and possibly Donatas Motiejunas) and Defensive Player of the Year (with Anthony Davis, DeAndre Jordan, and maybe Rudy Gobert) need any more national acclaim. The answer to that question is because he is the glue to a Golden State Warriors team that is truly having a historic NBA regular season. If Golden State finishes the season with a 7-1 record, they would join the 1973 Boston Celtics, the 1967 Philadelphia 76ers, the 1997 Chicago Bulls, the 1972 Los Angeles Lakers, and the 1996 Chicago Bulls, as the only teams in NBA history to win at least 68 games in a season. In sports, we often overestimate the difficulty of going from sub-par to good, but we underrate just how hard it is to go from good to historically great. While Steph is obviously the Warriors best player, Klay is the perfect complement that every great star needs, Bogut is the team's interior defender, Iguodala has excelled in his role coming off the bench, and Marreese Speights may have been the best role player acquisition in free agency, Green is the energy guy that holds the entire team together like Happy Hairston on that 72 Lakers team or Paul Silas on the 73 Celtics squad.

There are a wide range of views from fans on how to evaluate the significance of an energy guy or glue guy, but Draymond Green's role as the heart and soul of the Warriors cannot be understated. Steph, Klay, Harrison Barnes, Bogut, and David Lee are all clearly really gifted players, but none of them are going to get in the opponents face or physically go right after each and every guy that attempts to guard them. Green brings a toughness to the Warriors that they just do not have anywhere else on the basketball court. Aside from all the very tangible things he brings to their team, he is a guy that sets the tone for the entire club because of his uncompromising relentlessness. As much as Draymond benefits from open jump shots because of the creativity of Steph and Klay and all the attention paid to their three point shooting (he attempts nearly 6 shots per game without a defender within 4 feet of him), the Splash Brothers equally rely on Green to provide Golden State with an unrelenting toughness that really cannot be measured, even by the greatness of SportVU.

Green's biggest impact on the Warriors has been on the defensive end of the floor, where they lead the league in defensive efficiency and opponent floor percentage. Despite making two Final Fours with Michigan State, and being one of two Spartans along with Greg Kesler to finish their careers with more than 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds, Green was not taken until the 2nd round of the 2012 NBA draft (30 picks behind Thomas Robinson and 19 picks after Royce White) because he did not have a definite position (the knock on him was he was too slow to be a small forward but not big enough at 6-7 to be a power forward). However, Green's versatility and ability to play so many different positions on the floor has actually allowed him more success than anything with the Warriors. Golden State loves to switch screens under Steve Kerr and Green's combination of quickness and toughness allows him to guard basically any position on the floor at any time. Green ranks 2nd in the league in defensive rating at 96.3 and leads the league in defensive win shares at 4.9 because he can step out and guard wing players but still guard the post and rebound with other big men. In fact, Green's defended field goal percentage, which measures "the field goal percentage of the opponent when the player is defending the shot" according to SportVU, is all the way down at an impressive 28.4% on three point attempts (in comparison, that number is at 34.7% for Blake Griffin). Green provides so much versatility for the Warriors that they have even played him at the five this season along with Curry, Klay, Barnes, and Iggy, which allows them to pull their opponents away from the basket since they can all put up the three ball offensively.

The Atlanta Hawks - Not The Best Five But The Best Five That Fit Together:

Here is an interesting thought experiment: would you rather have a starting five of Chris Paul, JJ Redick, Matt Barnes, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan or a team composed of Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, DeMarre Carroll, Paul Millsap, and Al Horford. On an individual player basis, the Clippers have a pretty distinct advantage over Atlanta because Chris Paul and Blake Griffin would certainly  be the best two players on the floor at all times if these two teams faced off in a playoff series. However, as a collective unit, the Hawks are far more threatening of an opposition on both ends of the floor than LA. While people are so often concerned with a team's best five, it is much more important to figure out the best five players that can play together and maximizes each of their talents by fitting as a cohesive unit. It seems so simplistic, but the best individual parts do not necessarily make the best whole unit. When Blake Griffin was out in late February and early March, the Clippers went a respectable 9-6 despite a very difficult stretch of games because Blake was no longer clogging up the middle of the lane and taking space away from DeAndre. Theoretically, the Clippers should have went on a skid after losing a top 10 NBA player, but their team dynamics completely shifted based upon the overall unit on the floor. The Atlanta Hawks have established an incredible synergy amongst their team where the whole is truly so much more important than the sum of its part.

After going 38-44 last season and exiting the playoffs after a tough 7 game series against Indiana, the Hawks have pulled off something really special in 2015, especially after you consider that Vegas had their pre-season win total projection at 40.5, the same number as the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets. I think some people are getting a little carried away with the "the Hawks only have as much talent as the Milwaukee Bucks and just are an incredible example of what teamwork can do to an average group of individuals narrative." Jeff Teague is a top 10 NBA point guard (my order based upon who I would want to have in a 7 game playoff series right now would be Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving, Tony Parker, Damian Lillard, John Wall, Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry, and Jeff Teague), Dennis Schroder is one of the league's best backup point guards, Kyle Korver is the best shooter in the NBA, Paul Millsap is a top 7 NBA power forward and is only getting paid 9.5 million dollars a year (in comparison, Carlos Boozer is making 16.8 million this year), and people forget just how smart and fundamentally sound Al Horford is as a player because he only played in 29 games last year. With those core group of guys, based on talent alone, Atlanta was always going to be a playoff team. However, their ability to play together has led them all the way up to the top seed in the Eastern Conference and a 56-19 record.

After a middle career swoon, especially in his final year in Utah when C.J. Miles of all people was taking away his minutes, Kyle Korver has had a career resurgence in Atlanta. His ability to space the floor and just be a deadly catch and shoot guy (he hits 2.7 threes per game without taking a dribble on the shot) has allowed the Hawks to exploit any defense that attempts to over-help on Millsap or Horford. Korver also understand his role on the floor (73 percent of his points come from behind the arc), and he is so good at running to the corner on fast-breaks or taking a dribble handoff and immediately shooting with his quick release off the exchange. Also, unlike so many other prolific pure shooters like an Anthony Morrow, Korver is 6-7 and not a complete defensive liability. He also is fortunate enough to have the versatile and long DeMarre Carroll alongside him to guard the opposing team's best perimeter player, so when they play Toronto, for example, Carroll can chase around DeRozan and Korver can guard the less dynamic Terrence Ross. The Hawks terrific ball movement across all of their positions, especially from Horford in the post (the second best passing big in the league aside from Marc Gasol), allows them to the best ensemble since the cast of Pulp Fiction (Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, Ving Rhames, Christopher Walken, Tim Roth, Rosanna Arquette, Eric Stoltz).

Steph Curry Destroys Chris Paul

This video is presented to you without comment (except for the comment I just made about presenting this to you without a comment).

The CTAS Podcast - Teams That Can Beat Kentucky

NBA Mid-Season Quick Thoughts

We are approaching the midway point of the NBA season and just like everybody predicted before the opening tip back on October 28th, the Atlanta Hawks lead the Eastern Conference, Jason Kidd's new team (Milwaukee Bucks) has more wins than his old team (Brooklyn Nets) even without second overall pick Jabari Parker, the San Antonio Spurs are off to their worst start in the Tim Duncan era (since 1997-1998), the New York Knicks have three more losses than the Philadelphia 76ers despite Philly not having a single home victory at the Wells Fargo Center (it has been a rough sporting year for New Jersey/New York teams, but it is good to know that our NJ governor supports our local teams), Rasual Butler has provided a spark for the Wizards (the fact that Rasual Butler is still in the NBA is a surprise itself), and the Pistons front-court trio of Josh Smith, Greg Monroe, and Andre Drummond didn't work out (so we maybe could have predicted this last one).

The NBA season typically drags on from now until the All-Star game in the middle of February before we hit the final 25 games of the calendar in late February, March, and early April when football is over and attention turns to college and pro ball. However, we have already learned a lot about teams, coaches, and Vivek Ranadive in the opening half of the year (you have to love Vivek pulling the string on Mike Malone despite DeMarcus Cousins being out with viral meningitis). The NBA has already had its marquee trade of the season when Rajon Rondo went from the Boston Celtics to the Dallas Mavericks and admitted the widely known fact that "I haven't played defense in a couple of years" (poor Brad Stevens). Hopefully, I can provide as much candidness and maybe a little more effort than Rondo in my mid-season NBA quick thoughts.

The Oklahoma City Thunder As A 7 or 8 Seed?

Due to Kevin Durant missing all of November because of surgery on a bone in his right foot and then spraining the ankle again in December (I have no idea in the world why he came back so quickly) and Russell Westbrook breaking his right hand and missing 14 games at the same time, OKC is currently out of the playoff picture in the exceedingly difficult Western Conference. With Durant and Westbrook finally back on the floor for the Thunder, Serge Ibaka no longer needing to worry about carrying the load offensively and just blocking shots, and Steven Adams emerging as a force inside (the best thing to come out of New Zealand since the Lord of the Rings), Oklahoma City are the most dangerous team in the entire NBA. However, because of their slow start to the first half of the season with all of their injuries, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the Thunder could be one of the league's favorites to make the NBA Finals as a 7 or 8 seed out west. In the conference last year, 48 wins was not even good enough for the postseason (sorry, Phoenix) and it took 54 wins just to get the 5th seed (54 wins would have gotten the 2 seed in the Eastern Conference by the way).

With OKC currently sitting at 17-17 with a little more than half of the season still to be played, they would need a really hot finish just to get out of the bottom two or three seeds in the conference. For example, in 2013-2014 the San Antonio Spurs went 36-12 from early January until the end of the season, which was the best mark in the NBA over the final 48 games of the year. If the Thunder matched the Spurs mark in their final 48 games of this season, they would end up the NBA year with a record of 53-29, which would likely slot them in the area of the 5 or 6 seed. That estimation is assuming they finish the year with last year's best record in the NBA over that span, but it is much more likely, assuming no more injury breaks, that they end up around 49 or 50 wins and sneak into the playoffs with the 7 or 8 seed in the highly competitive West.

Russell Westbrook is the most athletic point guard we have ever seen in the NBA, which is saying something with the likes of Derrick Rose, Tim Hardaway, Kevin Johnson, and Oscar Robertson having played the position, and he is playing the best basketball of his life in his seventh year in the league. I have never seen a player with Westbrook's ability to dribble up the floor and stop on a dime for a jump-shot, which is impossible to contest because he pulls up so quickly despite running at full speed. The point guard gets to the foul line area and reacts to the defender's position to see if he should pull up or continue to go to the rim. If the defender does try to guess when Westbrook is going to stop for his jumper in the half-court or in transition, Russ will just blow by him and finish at the rim with his incredible quickness and athletic ability.

Westbrook needs a few more games to qualify for the various NBA statistical categories, but he would be leading the league in PER at 31.7 (the highest ever for a point guard in a season is Chris Paul's 29.7 in 2008-2009 with the Hornets) and in scoring at 27.3 points per game (Dave Bing in 1967-1968 with the Pistons and Nate Archibald with the Kings in 1972-1973 are the only point guards to ever win the NBA scoring title in a season). I have always disliked the inclination that Westbrook needs to change his intrepid, almost bordering on reckless, style of play because his unique athletic ability and attacking nature with the basketball makes him so special player. Just like how it is foolish to try and make Robert Griffin III or Johnny Manziel into a prototypical NFL quarterback, Westbrook has to be able to play with his fearlessness. Obviously, Durant is going to be Durant and be the best scorer in the NBA and one of the best we have ever seen along with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. But while Westbrook certainly shouldn't be out of control and forcing up 30 shots a game, he needs to be attacking the rim for the Thunder, like he has done so far this year, for them to be title favorites.

If I'm Golden State, Memphis, Portland, Dallas, or Houston, I am doing all I can to avoid the Thunder in the first round of the NBA playoffs because that is a scary team to have to play regardless of their regular season record. I have always thought that for as much as people love to obsess over seeding and home court advantage, match-ups are way more important than any other factor in a playoff run. For example, in the NFL this year, the Sunday Night game in week 17 between the Bengals and Steelers for the AFC North was much more important for the Cincinnati than for Pittsburgh. With the winner playing Baltimore and the loser playing Indianapolis, I though the Steelers would benefit from losing the game because they matched up better with the Colts and the Bengals would benefit from winning the game because they would fare better in a physical battle against the Ravens. The biggest deficiency of the Colts, protecting Andrew Luck, could not be exploited by the the Bengals because they struggle to rush the passer while the Ravens always play the Steelers really tough. And what happened? The Steelers won the game and the division, and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati both went out in the Wild Card Round to Baltimore and Indy respectively. In the NBA playoffs in 2013-2014, the Spurs were fortunate that Portland and Damian Lillard's heroics were able to knock off Houston in the first round because the Rockets size would have caused Pop's crew a lot more trouble than the Trail Blazers quickness and floor spacing. In fact, the Thunder would have been better off getting the three seed last season and not having to play Memphis because of the efficiency of the the Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol high-low action. I would not be surprised if teams do all they can to avoid the Thunder as the season comes to a close.

The Josh Smith-Greg Monroe-Andre Drummond Experiment Is Finally Over:

There were a lot of really painful things to watch in 2014 and that includes the ending of How I Met Your Mother, Stalker on CBS, I, Frankenstein, The Expendables 3, Godzilla, and Blended (the annual Adam Sandler film that makes us question how he is still making movies while Javier Bardem can't land a big role). Detroit alone has suffered enough in the new year, especially after the refs in the Cowboys-Lions game picked up the pass interference flag on Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens on third and one, and then Lions punter Sam Martin turned into Drew Butler and hit a 10-yard punt that completely changed the game's field position and helped Dallas only have to go 59 yards, instead of the entire field, for the game winning touchdown. With that Detroit tangent being said, people in Detroit can take some consolidation in the fact that they will never have to watch the front-court trio of Josh Smith, Greg Monroe, and Andre Drummond ever again after Smith was waived by Stan Van Gundy on December 22nd. Although the Pistons would have liked to trade Smith to get something in return for the forward and the Kings did show some interest in the off-season (of course, Vivek wanted Josh Smith), no team wanted to take on his terrible contract, so Detroit was forced to release him. Since giving up Smith, the Pistons are a perfect 5-0 and are playing so much better on both ends of the floor without the forward.

Whenever Stan Van Gundy tried to play Smith, Monroe, and Drummond all together on the floor, it was a complete disaster for the team (I'm talking Chris Christie losing the entire state of Michigan with his love of the Cowboys bad). Teams in the NBA no longer have centers that can get a bucket with their back to the basket in the post (outside of maybe Al Jefferson for the Hornets). The NBA nowadays is all about floor spacing and ball movement, and not clogging up the middle of the lane to allow for driving angles and cuts to the basket. With the league universally moving towards small ball, the Pistons proclivity to play three big men seemed rather imprudent. Not only was Detroit's idea that they could overpower teams with their larger lineup a foolish one in the first place because they would not be able to keep up with perimeter players defensively, but Josh Smith and Greg Monroe are not exactly big men that are going to dominate teams on the glass, so their larger lineup didn't even give them a distinct advantage offensively.

When Josh Smith came to the Pistons in 2013, he suddenly thought that he was Ryan Anderson, pulling up for jump shots from all over the court, even though he is not a good shooter. Despite shooting a terrible 26.4 percent from three point range, Smith still attempted 265 jumpers from behind the arc in 2013-2014, more than Eric Gordon and Manu Ginobili (no player in the NBA that took at least 190 three pointers had a lower percentage from behind the arc than Smith). In Van Gundy's defense, he played the front-court trio together way less than former Detroit head coach Maurice Cheeks, who never realized that the three big men on the floor all at the same time cannot work in the modern NBA. Smith, Monroe, and Drummond were only on the court together for 174 minutes in 15 different games under Van Gundy, as opposed to 2013-2014 when they were on the floor for 1,361 minutes together in 76 different games (18 minutes as a three-man grouping per game). However, Greg Monroe, who is an unrestricted free agent this summer, was unhappy coming off the bench and Drummond wasn't getting enough touches with Smith on the floor to develop his game (any team that has Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith on the floor together is a nightmare for anybody else looking to get up a shot), so the Pistons had to make a move to clear out Smith from the team for the present and the future of Detroit.

With Josh Smith off the Pistons and signing with the Houston Rockets to play with Dwight and Donatas Motiejunas up front, Detroit looks so much better on both ends of the floor and have a renewed energy about them now that Smith is not taking outside jumpers every other trip up the floor. Drummond's post up game is still developing, but he is really good in pick and rolls with Jennings and going to the glass for offensive rebounds off perimeter jump shots from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jodie Meeks (Drummond leads the league with an offensive rebound percentage of 16.6 and nearly 5 offensive rebounds per game, which comes a year after he grabbed the most offensive rebounds in a season since Jayson Williams with the Nets in 1997-1998). Drummond is already a top seven or eight NBA center (behind Dwight, Marc Gasol, Boogie, Noah, Big Al, and Al Horford) and is a player that has a ton of potential to improve because the Pistons don't even run that many plays for him and he can still dominate games with his rebounding and shot blocking ability. It was of the utmost importance that his growth as a 21-year old player would not be stunted by Josh Smith and his love for the three point shot. We shouldn't get too carried away here because the Pistons are still not very good, and settle for way too many Brandon Jennings fall away three point shots at the end of the shot clock. They should be picking in the lottery in 2015 for the 6th straight season without eclipsing the 30-win plateau (they will likely be fighting with New York, Philly, Utah, LA, and Minnesota for one of the top picks, so this team could be really improved next season if they get a player like Emmanuel Mudiay to play the point or Stanley Johnson, Justice Winslow, or Kevon Looney to play on the wing).

Mid-Season NBA MVP Candidates:

Coming into this season, as it has been for the past 6 or 7 years, LeBron James and Kevin Durant looked to be the favorites to take home the NBA MVP award. Although LeBron or Durant have won five of the past six most valuable player awards in the NBA (four for LeBron and one for Durant), as the season has unfolded, it has looked increasingly as if a relatively unexpected name in terms of the MVP discussion will walk away with this year's trophy. With the immense struggles of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the early season (David Blatt hot seat watch has already begun), LeBron has not really found his rhythm for a team that does not have a true identity on either end of the floor. More so than any season before, LeBron seems to be playing below the rim, and is not finishing as well near the bucket after taking contact. In fact, LBJ is out for the next two weeks with left knee and lower back injuries, which is a concerning sign since James has never missed more than 7 games in a season in his career. The weight of having to carry teams for his entire career and all the minutes he has played with Cleveland and Miami could be factoring into the soreness he feels in his body as he enters his thirties. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant has played in just 11 games so far this season because of injuries to his foot and ankle. Since KD is just beginning to get back into a groove on the floor, especially on the offensive end with his jump shot, he will be out of the MVP discussion because of all the time he has missed early on in the season because of his ailments.

With LeBron and KD out of the MVP picture this season, the mid-season candidates for the honor seem to be Stephen Curry, James Harden, Damian Lillard, and Anthony Davis with some sleeper picks for the award being Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, Marc Gasol, and Chris Paul. Anthony Davis is having one of the best statistical seasons we have seen from a big man in a very long time in the NBA, as The Brow could become just the 7th player in NBA history along with Bob McAdoo (1974), Kareem (1974-1977, 1980), Patrick Ewing (1990-1991), Hakeem (1989-1990, 1993-1995), David Robinson (1990-1991, 1994-1996), and Shaq (2000) to average 24 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 3 blocks in a single-season. However, his team is currently outside of the playoff picture in the Western Conference and outside of OKC never returning to full health, New Orleans is not going to make the playoffs regardless of what he does on the floor. The only players to ever win the MVP on a losing or non-playoff team were Bob Pettit with the St. Louis Hawks in 1955-1956 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975-1976 with the Los Angeles Lakers (Pettit won the inaugural NBA MVP in a radically different basketball time period when there were just 8 teams in the league and Kareem's 1975-1976 season was unprecedented, as he averaged 27.7 points, 16.9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4.1 blocks while still managing to shoot nearly 53 percent from the floor and Bob McAdoo, Dave Cowens, and Rick Berry had good but not great seasons for contending teams that year).

Lowry, Butler, Marc Gasol, and Paul could all play their way into the conversation in the second half of the season along with any other names not already mentioned here. Kyle Lowry, a player that has never even made an All-Star team (a complete injustice), has improved so much over his NBA career and is a legitimate MVP candidate. Lowry has been terrific all season long for the Raptors, who are currently 24-10 and tied for second in the Eastern Conference, especially since DeMar DeRozan went on for an extended period with a groin injury. Lowry, who Raptors ambassador Drake loves to call "the baby face assassin," is one of the many great point guards in the NBA right now, and can beat teams with the three ball or by using his wide body and tough lower base to get into the lane for easy buckets. Lowry could become only the 12th player in NBA history to average 20.5 points, 7.5 assists, and 5 rebounds in a single-season along with Bob Cousy (1955), Wilt Chamberlain (1967-1968), Lenny Wilkens (1969), Oscar Robertson (1961-1970), Walt Frazier (1970), Larry Bird (1987), Michael Jordan (1989), Magic Johnson (1981, 1987, 1989-1990), Gary Payton (2000), Chris Paul (2009), and LeBron James (2010).

All the talk this off-season in Chicago (aside from disgust over the play of Jay Cutler) was about the return of Derrick Rose and the acquisition of the Spanish duo of Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic, but Jimmy Butler's emergence into an NBA star has taken over the city. Kyle Lowry has certainly improved over his career, but Jimmy Butler has went from a late first round pick that averaged just 2.6 points per game in his rookie year to four years later being one of the best wings in the league. With his length and athleticism, Butler has shown over the past two seasons that he can be an elite defender on the perimeter, but he has dramatically improved his offensive game to the point where he is in the top 10 in the league in scoring.

Chris Paul is also in the NBA MVP discussion, as he has been almost every year since he came into the league with the Hornets back in 2005-2006, but Marc Gasol deserves some serious consideration as well for the 25-9 "grit and grind" Grizzlies. Marc, just like his brother in Chicago, is one of the best passing big men in the game, which makes the Grizzlies so hard to defend since Gasol can score with his back to the basket or feed Zach Randolph in some high-low action for Memphis. He has kept his assist total around 4 per game, but he has also become more aggressive than ever this season.

However, the leading candidates for the MVP award as we approach the mid-point of the NBA season have to be Stephen Curry of the 26-5 Golden State Warriors, James Harden of the 23-11 Houston Rockets, and Damian Lillard of the 26-8 Portland Trail Blazers. As you almost always have to do in the MVP discussion, you have to consider the best player on the best team in the league, and Stephen Curry more than deserves consideration for the honor with his play in the team's first 31 games of the year. Outside of Kevin Durant, Curry is the best scorer in the entire NBA because he can find so many ways to beat teams. Obviously, Curry is known for his ridiculous shooting ability, as he is knocking down 39.1 percent of his shots from behind the arc and is tied for third in the league in three point makes (behind only Wesley Matthews and Kyle Korver). However, unlike so many other catch and shoot three point guys like J.J. Redick, Danny Green, or Trevor Ariza, Steph can create his own shot any time he wants because his handles with both hands are so underrated, particularly when he is going to the left and pulling up off the dribble with his ultra quick release.

However, the reason Steph is in the MVP discussion this year is because he has cut down his turnovers on the offensive end (he averaged nearly 4 last season and is down to about 3 this year), and is playing much better defense with his quick hands. James Harden may take exception to the claim that Durant and Curry are the best two scorers in the league because Harden has been asserting his will for the Rockets all season long. The left hander is so crafty around the rim, especially with his euro-step when he goes towards the basket on a big man. Even when he isn't hitting his outside jump shot, he gets to the line so often that he rarely has a game where he doesn't end up in the 20 point range (Harden has scored at least 20 points in 26 of 33 games so far this year). Harden leads the NBA in free throws made per game at more than 8 per game and is only behind Russell Westbrook in free throw attempts per game at more than 9 per contest. Harden could become only the 8th player in NBA history to average 27 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds in a single-season along with Richie Guerin (1962), Jerry West (1966), Oscar Robertson (1961-1968), John Havlicek (1971-1972), Larry Bird (1985, 1987-1988), Michael Jordan (1989-1990, 1992), and LeBron James (2005-2010, 2012, 2014). Finally, Damian Lillard, whose typical conference game in college was against Northern Colorado and Idaho St., is the third leading candidate for MVP. Lillard is lighting fast all over the court, and has already had multiple big game moments for Portland. He showed that he is as cold blooded as any player in the NBA with his 43 point triple overtime performance against the Spurs and his 40 point game versus the Thunder just a few days later in another overtime contest.

The Biggest NBA Surprises Of The First Half Are The Atlanta Hawks And Draymond Green:

If I had told you the Atlanta Hawks would be leading the Eastern Conference as we approach the midway point of the NBA season before the year began, you would have thought that the conference would have collapsed faster than the Transformers film series or Brandon Routh's career. However, a team who this off-season had their general manager report that Luol Deng had "a little African in him," are somehow at the top of the East with a record of 25-8 and are playing beautiful free-flowing basketball. The play of the Hawks is proving that teams are better without any owners in place (or a soon to be changing ownership group), which Dan Snyder should definitely take notice of in Washington. In fact, without a imperious owner, Atlanta, who have been to the postseason for 7 straight years and yet have not won back-to-back playoff series since they won their lone NBA title in 1957-1958 with Bob Pettit in St. Louis, are at the top of the conference for the first time since December of 1997.

The success of Atlanta has been dependent on ball movement and a balanced scoring attack, especially since unlike so many other teams in the league, the Hawks can get scoring from the perimeter and also inside in the paint from their big men. The Hawks are 2nd in the NBA in assists per possession, 3rd in assists per game, 5th in assist/turnover ratio, and lead the league in assists on made field goals. In the front-court, Paul Millsap, who Atlanta somehow got at a discounted price last off-season, and Al Horford, who has returned very nicely from his shoulder and pectoral injuries, are one of the best combinations up front in the league (Blake and DeAndre Jordan in LA, Randolph and Gasol in Memphis, and the Gasol and Noah in Chicago are right there with them as well). While Millsap and Hordford don't have the athletic ability or size to fly over teams like Blake and DeAndre do for the Clippers, they are both really skilled bigs and can use either hand to finish in the lane. Millsap and Horford are complimented by the driving ability of point guards Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder and the outstanding shooting on the outside of Kyle Korver. Teague is in the top 10 amongst point guards in scoring because of his quickness in getting to the rim while Korver is second in the NBA in three pointers and second in the league at a ridiculous 51.3 percent from behind the arc. He could also join Steve Kerr (1995-1996) as the only players in NBA history to play more than 30 games in a season and shoot 50 percent from the field, 50 percent from three, and 90 percent from the free throw line.

In Golden State, almost all of the attention goes to the splash brothers, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, and deservedly so because they are the best shooting backcourt I have ever seen and are two of the best guards in the league (Quick aside: for all the great point guards in the NBA right now with Curry, Lillard, Conley, Rondo, Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Dragic/Bledsoe, Westbrook, Kyle Lowry, John Wall, Kyrie, and D-Rose, the shooting guard position has really plummeted as guys like Kobe, D-Wade, Jason Terry, Manu, and Vince Carter reach the twilight of their legendary careers. Monta, who only recently has had a resurgence with the Mavericks, DeRozan, who is currently out with an injury, Jimmy Butler, Wesley Matthews, Bradley Beal, who missed the beginning of the season, Klay, and Harden are likely the best the game has to offer right now at the 2-guard spot).

However, the reason the Steve Kerr led Golden State Warriors are leading the Western Conference has as much to do with the play of Draymond Green as anything else, especially with David Lee missing so many games with his hamstring injury, and Andrew Bogut now being out with a knee problem. Every team needs a guy that is going to put his heart on the line every single possession of a game, and make every possible hustle play because it is the little things, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, that separate good from great teams. Draymond Green is that guy for the Warriors. Green is as tough as any player in the entire league, and despite playing a lot of power forward against bigger guys with his wide 6-7 frame, Green fights like crazy in the post. He is not afraid to put his body on the line and be physical down low or take charges when the contact comes into his body, something I watched him do over and over again for Tom Izzo and the Spartans in East Lansing. He can then stretch teams with his shooting ability at the 4-position, which gives the Warriors another shooting threat on the perimeter (as if they needed any more), and also frees up the lane for Curry and Thompson for their drives because Green's defender has to respect his shot from outside (Green already has almost as many threes as he hit all of last season). In his third year in the association, Green's scoring has jumped up from 6.2 points per game to 12.1 per contest and his rebounds per game have gone up from 5 to 8.3 per outing.

The Biggest NBA Disappointments Of The First Half Are The Los Angeles Clippers And Lance Stephenson:

As odd as it may seem for a team that is 23-11 to be the biggest disappointment in the league, the LA Clippers, a team I picked to play in the NBA Finals earlier this year, have not looked like a championship caliber team at all this season. Although this is not saying much for a franchise that didn't register a win in a playoff series in San Diego or Los Angeles from 1978 until 2006, coming into this year, the Clippers had as high expectations as they have ever had in the history of their organization (they did have some good players in that time span like World B. Free for two years in 1978-1979 and 1979-1980, a young Danny Manning before the knee injuries started to get really bad in the early 1990's, or Elton Brand in the early 2000's, but Donald Sterling essentially ruined everything, which should come as no surprise to anybody).

While it would seem as though the Clippers, a franchise desperate for success to step out of the Lakers shadow in LA, Doc Rivers, a coach looking to show people that he can win outside of Boston, and Chris Paul, a guy that is trying to prove that he can carry a team to a title, would be playing with a sense of hunger and intensity each night, they look as if they are bored with the regular season. And that comes as a real big surprise because there is no reason that the Clippers should just be going through the motions with so much on the line in the ridiculously difficult Western Conference. With Chris Paul's creativity, Blake Griffin's inside game and improved jump shot, and J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford's outside shooting ability, the Clippers can score almost at will offensively (although they do settle for too many jump shots sometimes). Nonetheless, their biggest problem has come on the other end of the floor so far this season, as they rank 20th in the NBA in opponent shooting percentage, 21st in opponent effective field goal percentage, 23rd in opponent percent of points from 3-pointers, and 25th in opponent three point rate. While DeAndre Jordan is a good enough shot blocker to clean up for some of the team's mistakes defensively, their perimeter defense against opposing point guards and wing players has cost them a lot of victories so far this season (Bradley Beal scoring 29 against them in a loss to the Wizards in December as an example). The Clippers particularly struggle to get out to shooters and contest their jump shots. The Clippers have had a really disappointing start to the year given their high expectations.

Lance Stephenson can take some solace knowing that his blowing in the ear meme is by far the most popular twitter meme out there on the web today. But Lance has not had too many positive meme worthy moments so far this season with the Charlotte Hornets because he has played quite poorly for the team through the first 35 games of the season. After signing a three-year, 27 million dollar deal with Charlotte rather than returning to the Indiana Pacers in the off-season, Lance has really struggled to fit in on either end of the floor under Hornets second year coach Steve Clifford. In fact, at times things have gotten so bad for Lance that Clifford has benched him down the stretch of games because he just doesn't feel comfortable with him on the court. Stephenson has yet to gel with his new teammates on a struggling Charlotte team that is really underperforming.

While Lance has always been a lighting rod amongst his teammates and a polarizing figure for his eccentric personality on and off the floor, his role as a versatile wing that could guard the opposing team's best scorer was very well defined in Indiana. However, Lance has yet to found a distinctive role in Charlotte and has been asked to do a lot of things outside of his comfort zone as a player. The problem that the Hornets have is that Lance is a guy that can create for others and make plays in transition and off pick and rolls, but he is not a volume scorer and he does not shoot the ball particularly well (Lance is shooting 27.1 percent on jumpers beyond 16 feet and a horrific 15.1 percent from three point land). Any time Charlotte has Lance and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist on the floor at the same time, which has happened for 172 minutes this season despite them only playing 9 games together, or Lance and Gerald Henderson, which has happened for 323 minutes in 22 games, it is a complete disaster since their defenders can pack the lane when Kemba is driving or double team Big Al in the post. Lance has also been given much less freedom to create on the offensive end with the ball in Kemba's hands so often, which further creates problems because Stephenson is not the best at getting open off the ball for his shot. The Hornets rank 27th in the NBA points from three pointers, 28th in offensive efficiency, and 28th in field goal percentage, and it doesn't look as if Lance is going to be the offensive solver, even if his memes continue to break the internet.

Some Final Quick Facts:

It would take a minor miracle - I'm talking anybody beating out Richard Linklater for Best Director crazy - if any of the league's most historic three franchises, the Lakers (11-23), Celtics (11-20), or Knicks (5-31), made the postseason this year. There were some Laker fans coming into this season who actually thought they could compete in the West and although Swaggy P has provided us with some really great swaggy moments, LA has one of the worst rosters in the NBA (Byron Scott is also a terrible coach that doesn't see the distinct advantage from maximizing the three ball, which is like a director not valuing the acting of Ethan Hawke). The Celtics are in complete rebuilding mode, just like they were in last year, and will need another high draft pick, like Myles Turner, Trey Lyles, Kevon Looney, or Montrezl Harrell to help their front court). Meanwhile, for as much talk over the Knicks not properly running the triangle offense, it doesn't even look like they are running any semblance of an NBA offense or defense in New York under first year head coach Derek Fisher. The Knicks, who have just one win in their last 23 games since November 24th, have already suffered 9 defeats this season by 15 points or more, and look more helpless than Florida St. in the Rose Bowl. This would be only the second time in the near 70 years of existence of the Lakers, Celtics, and Knicks that not one of the three franchises would be in the NBA postseason.

The eighth seed in the Eastern Conference has been at or below .500 going into the postseason every year except for once since the 2005-2006 NBA season (the Philadelphia 76ers were 35-31 in the lockout shortened campaign just three years ago in 2011-2012). In 2006, the Milwaukee Bucks were 40-42 and lost to the Pistons in the first round in 5 games. In 2007, the Magic likewise ended 40-42 and were swept by Detroit. The Hawks were way under .500 at 37-45 in 2008, but took Boston to 7 games in a tight series. The following year, the Pistons went 39-43, but lost to the Cavs in 4 games while in 2010, Chicago was .500 at 41-41 lost to Cleveland in 5. In 2011, the Pacers had a 37-45 record as the 8 seed, but were easily dispatched by the Bulls in 5 games. In 2013, the Bucks went 38-44 and were swept by the Heat and last year the Hawks were 6 games under .500 at 38-44 and fell to the Pacers in a tough 7 games series. With the Eastern Conference much weaker than the Western Conference, just like it has been for the better part of a decade or two, it looks as if whoever ends up getting the 8th seed, whether it be the Bucks, Nets, Heat, Pacers, or Magic, will continue the trend with a below .500 record. The last time a team from the Western Conference made the playoffs with a losing record was all the way back in 1996-1997 when the 36-46 Los Angeles Clippers made the postseason and then were promptly swept in 3 games by John Stockton, Karl Malone, and the eventual NBA Finalists Utah Jazz.

Right now in the NBA, John Wall (10.3), Ty Lawson (10.2), and Rajon Rondo (10.0) are the only players in the league averaging more than 10 assists per game in the league. More than ever, point guards like Steph Curry, Lillard, Lowry, Kemba Walker, or Brandon Knight, rather than wing or post players, are becoming team's primary scoring options on the floor (the Cavs might argue that is killing them right now on the offensive end of the floor). Teams are looking to set everything up on the offensive end through their point guard and spread the floor to create space for their their slashing guard. Only once in the last decade has not one player in the league averaged at least 11 assists per game in a season, which John Stockton did 9 times in his career and Magic did 8 times with the Lakers. Also, Steph Curry this season has the fewest assists for a player in the top 5 of the category since Sam Cassell was in the top five at 7.3 dimes per game back in 2003-2004.

With recent basketball analytics emphasizing dunks and layups inside the paint and three balls from behind the arc rather than long two-point jumpers, three point shooting is at historic rates in the NBA once again this season. Deep ball shooting has been increasing in the NBA each of the last four years, which has a lot to do with the new movement, led by the San Antonio Spurs, of space and pace to allow court spacing for driving lanes and kick outs for open shots from the perimeter. The 7.7 three pointers per game in the association are tied with last year for the most in a season and the 22.1 three point attempts per contest are far and away the most for a league average in a campaign. More than ever, teams are putting at least one catch and shoot guy on the floor to allow for court balance and spacing on the offensive end. Players like Kyle Korver (73 percent of his field goals are threes), Wesley Matthews (51 percent of his field goals are threes), J.J. Redick (50 percent of his field goals are threes), Danny Green (55 percent of his field goals are threes), Trevor Ariza (54 percent of his field goals are threes), and Mike Dunleavy (55 percent of his field goals are threes) are getting major minutes on the floor specifically because of their shooting ability.

Everybody knows that Anthony Davis is having a historic season for the Pelicans, but everybody may not know that he is putting up numbers that Hall of Fame big men like Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, and Hakeem Olajuwon would be jealous of. Since "The Brow" can score in so many ways and doesn't even need too many touches to do so, Davis is having one of the most efficient offensive seasons we have ever seen in the NBA. Only Wilt Chamberlain (1967-1968), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1980), Kevin McHale (1987), Charles Barkley (1988-1990), and Amar'e Stoudemire (2008) have averaged 24 points while shooting at least 56 percent on less than 17 field goal attempts in a season, which is a list Davis could potentially join with his current play. The Pelicans should get way more touches to Davis in the post because he can score in so many different ways, including with his evolving jump shot from the elbow area.

Because championships in basketball are more often then not determined by star-power, which has allowed the NBA to be thoroughly dominated by dynasties over the years, typically only a handful of teams can realistically win a title at the end of the season. In the 1950's, you knew that either the Lakers with George Mikan, the Syracuse Nationals with Dolph Schayes, or the St. Louis Hawks with Bob Pettit would be featuring in the Finals (of course, it was much easier to predict the top teams back then since there were only 8 teams in the whole league). In the 1960's, you could of course just pencil in Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics against Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals (the Celtics beat the Lakers 6 times in the finals in those 10 years) with an occasional appearance from Wilt and the Warriors. The 1970's are really the only decade in NBA history where it was truly unpredictable as to which team would walk away as the NBA Champion. The great Knicks teams from the 70's with Willis Reed, Frazier, DeBusschere, and Bradley had their success, but so did the Milwaukee Bucks with Oscar, Bob Dandridge, and Kareem, the Warriors with Rick Barry in 1975, the Blazers in 1977 with Bill Walton, and the Dennis Johnson led SuperSonics in the late 70's. The dynasties returned in the 1980's, as Magic, Kareem, Jamaal Wilkes and the Lakers or Bird, McHale, Parish, and the Celtics appeared in every single NBA Finals over the decade with LA winning titles in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1988 and Boston coming away victorious in 1981, 1984, and 1986. While the Bad Boy Pistons with Isiah and Joe Dumars had their time in the 1990's and so did Clyde, Hakeem, and the Rockets, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and the Bulls dominated the 90's with 6 titles over the 10 year span. Moreover, the 2000's saw Shaq, Kobe, and the Lakers win 4 titles (Kobe on his own for the last one in 2009) while David Robinson, Tim Duncan and the Spurs took home 3 Larry O'Brien Trophies over the decade (No Robinson for the 2007 title).

However, I cannot recall a season where it seems like so many teams could possibly be playing in the NBA Finals once June rolls along with their being no clear or heavy favorites. The league is so wide open that anywhere from 4 to 5 teams from the East and 6 to 7 teams from the West could win their conference and be in position for an NBA title. The Bulls are the best team in the East even with D-Rose not all the way back from his knee injuries because of their depth with Aaron Brooks, Kirk Heinrich, Jimmy Butler, Pau, Taj Gibson, Mitotic, and Noah, but they are far from invicible. Toronto with Lowry and DeRozan have enough fire power to win the East and so do Washington with John Wall and Bradley Beal. Atlanta has to at least be considered a contender with their phenomenal start, and Cleveland, even despite their early season struggles, are just way too talented with Kyrie, LeBron, and Love to not have a shot at the Finals. The West is as deep from top to bottom as we have ever seen in the league, but there is not one team that stands out in the conference either. Golden State's shooting ability with Steph and Klay Thompson puts them at the top of the west, but Portland with their duo of Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge are just as dangerous. Memphis is always a threat because teams have such trouble stopping their front-court pair of Randolph and Gasol while Dallas has the most efficient offense in the league with their powerhouse starting five of Rondo, Monta, Chandler Parsons, Dirk (their lowest paid starter despite being a top 5 or 6 power forward of all-time - take notes Kobe), and a rejuvenated Tyson Chandler. Houston has James Harden, a player that can single-handedly take over a series offensively with Dwight helping him out on the boards and as a rim protector to make a deep run. Finally, although San Antonio has struggled early in the year, once they get Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard back healthy, they should start playing some better basketball, and so will possible Western Conference favorite, the Oklahoma City Thunder with Durant and Westbrook. As of now, I would slot the Bulls as the favorite in the East, followed by Cleveland despite their early season struggles, with the Raptors, Wizards, and Hawks following in behind, and all with chances to win the conference. The West is a little more clustered and open, but I would put Golden State, Dallas, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City at the top followed by Portland, Memphis, and Houston.

The holidays are over and we approaching the second half of the NBA season, but anybody that is upset that they have to go back to school or to work can take some solace knowing that at least they do not play for the mess that is the New York Knicks.

Chelsea vs Stoke City In-Game Analysis

1st Place Chelsea (12-1-3, 39 points) at 13th Place Stoke City (5-7-4, 19 points) at 3:00 on the NBC Sports Network

Pre-Match Background:

Last year, Stoke pulled off one of the most memorable upsets of the past several Premier League seasons when they beat Chelsea 3-2 in a wild match at the Britannia Stadium. After suffering their worst ever league defeat to the Blues in a 7-0 smashing just three years before in 2010, Stoke got their first win against Chelsea since the 1996 League Cup second round and their first victory against the London club in a league match since April of 1975. The stunning win had everything you could dream of in an unforgettable upset: the fans in Stoke-on-Trent were going wild, the team had a 2-1 lead and lost it to Andre Schurrle's second left footed goal of the match, and then just as it seemed all hope was lost, Liverpool loanee Oussama Assaidi had an absolute crack of a goal for the Potters in the 89th minute for the shocking victory. Assaidi cut into his favorite right foot from the left and hit a rocket of a shot into the top right hand corner that would have been the Premier League goal of the season if not for Rooney's goal versus West Ham, Arsenal's incredible team goal against Norwich, Alexander Tetty's wonder strike versus Sunderland, and Kasami's volley against Palace (ok, so it was not a top goal of the season candidate, but it was the most climatic goal of the year).

Stoke has always given clubs in the top half of the table trouble with their physical style of play, and Chelsea are at the top of the EPL right now. The Potters were victorious against Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, and Newcastle last year, and their five wins this season are all against teams in the top half of the Premier League (their wins are over Man City 1-0, Newcastle 1-0, Swansea 2-1, Tottenham 2-1, and Arsenal 3-2).

Chelsea has struggled under Mourinho against teams in the bottom half of the table that play without the ball and try to prevent the Blues from breaking them down by staying organized in the back. The Blues lost to 9th place Stoke, 15th place Aston Villa, 11th place Crystal Palace, and 14th place Sunderland last season, as well as tied 17 place West Brom in both their meetings, because they did not have the creativity to break down compact defenses.

Line-Up Analysis:

Chelsea Starting XI (4-2-3-1): Thibaut Courtois, Cesar Azpilicueta, John Terry, Gary Cahill, Branislav Ivanovic, Nemanja Matic, John Obi Mikel, Eden Hazard, Cesc Fabregas, Willian, Diego Costa

For the fourth straight game, Jose Mourinho is starting John Obi Mikel alongside of Nemanja Matic in the Chelsea midfield to allow Cesc Fabregas the ability to play higher up the field and be more of a creator for Diego Costa. Fabregas has only 2 assists in his last 5 league games after starting the season on a torrid pace with 9 assists in his first 10 matches. After the Blues suffered their first defeat of the season against Newcastle 2-1 at St. James' Park (their 3rd loss to the Magpies in their last 4 games against them), Mikel featured in the side's 3-1 win against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League, their 2-0 victory over Hull City in the Premier League, and their 3-1 win against Derby County in the quarterfinals of the League Cup. His role, as it almost always is in the Chelsea side, will be to clean up anything that makes it way into the center of the field and to watch Stoke's danger man going forward, Bojan Krkic.

Diego Costa is also back in the lineup after resting against Derby over a week ago and the team's usual back four of Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, and Ivanovic will be ready to go.

Aside from Fabregas sitting behind the striker in the role Oscar has typically played in, the side for Chelsea is their normal starting XI. Mourinho has put out almost the exact same line-up the entire season. It remains to be seen if Mou will need to use more of his squad as the year goes on and the team continues to wear down playing in four separate competitions. However, the consistent lineup selections have allowed Chelsea to get in a great flow early in the season.

Stoke City XI (4-2-3-1): Asmir Begovic, Erik Pieters, Marc Muniesa, Ryan Shawcross, Phillip Bardsley, Steven N'Zonzi, Geoff Cameron, Marko Arnautovic, Bojan Krkic, Jonathan Walters, Peter Crouch

With Marc Wilson still suffering from a hamstring injury that he picked up against Tottenham and then re-aggravated in Stoke's 2-1 loss to Manchester United, Mark Hughes is forced into the center back partnership of Ryan Shawcross and Marc Muniesa against the Blues (Wilson is on the bench, but not fully fit to play 90 minutes). Although Hughes experimented with the versatile Geoff Cameron in the center of defense against Burnley, Cameron will be in a defensive midfield role alongside Steven N'Zonzi. Marc Muniesa, a natural full back, will shift into the halfback position to try and contain Diego Costa. Wilson's absence was felt in the two games he missed this season in the Premier League, as the Potters conceded 2 goals to both Burnley and Arsenal in those fixtures (one of only two league games where Burnley has scored multiple goals along with their 2-2 draw versus bottom dwellers Leicester City).

Although Peter Crouch has struggled to find his best form this season for Stoke, his recent goals against Arsenal and Crystal Palace have ensured him a place in the starting XI ahead of the speedy Mame Diouf. While the Senegalese Diouf, who came over this summer from Hannover 96 in the Bundesliga, gives Stoke the ability to play in behind the defense with his pace, Mark Hughes is going for a more direct style against a Chelsea team that figures to have a lot of the ball. Crouch's ability to contest for headers and flick on aerial balls should put an emphasis on Arnautovic and Walters putting crosses into the box to test the Chelsea defense.

First Half Analysis:

• In the worst imaginable start for Stoke, Cesc Fabregas's corner connected with John Terry and the Chelsea skipper headed the ball into the back of the net past a helpless Asmir Begovic. Fabregas's out-swinging corner went towards the front post at the corner of the six yard box and Terry was able to win the aerial ball over Geoff Cameron for the early goal. The Chelsea captain was able to free himself by moving from the far side of the 6 yard box to the near post and Cameron, who was holding onto Terry's shirt in the usual pulling and shoving that goes on in the box, never even went up for the corner because he was trying to hold Terry down. Chelsea 1 - Stoke City 0.
• It is Chelsea's earliest league goal since Costa struck in the first minute of their wild 6-3 win against Everton at Goodison Park on August 30th. It marks Terry's 15 consecutive season with at least one Premier League goal, and was a classic headed goal for the skipper in moving a defender away from the ball and then getting past him off pure will and positioning. The goal also gave Fabregas his 12th assist of the season, and keeps him on pace to blow past Thierry Henry's record for assists in a single BPL season, which the Frenchman set in 2002-2003 with 20 helpers for the Gunners.
• While Stoke were a team under Tony Pulis that thrived off set pieces, they have been very poor in dead ball situations in the early season. Despite the size that the Potters have throughout their squad with Erik Pieters, Robert Huth, Marc Wilson, Ryan Shawcross Peter Crouch, and Steven N'Zonzi all being over 6-1, they now have conceded 8 headed goals through 17 games (they allowed just 11 in 38 games last year). They have also scored just 3 set piece goals, and have allowed 10 goals in dead ball situations.
• Meanwhile, Chelsea, who used their early corner to put the Potters in an early hole, now have 10 goals off set pieces and have only conceded three times on dead ball situations. Despite being one of the oldest players in the Premier League at 34, Terry is showing no sings of slowing down with his vintage finish to put Chelsea ahead.
• In very Stoke-like fashion, challenges are flying around everywhere in a fiery and physical game. Players are committing themselves all over the field to hard tackles on attackers.
• In the 18th minute, Phil Bardsley put in a very late sliding challenge on Eden Hazard down the side of the field and was quite fortunate to escape with a yellow card. The tackle was a careless and dangerous one from Bardsley that likely should have seen him off the pitch with a straight red card. The fullback recklessly came in on the challenge down the left flank and completely crushed Hazard on the play by taking out his front leg. A tackle like that, where a defender heedlessly kicks out a player's legs from under him with no intention of going for the ball, is more than often a sending off, and is a decision a stricter ref than Neil Swarbrick would have made under the circumstances.
• The tackle was a real late one, and the game has only increased in feistiness and aggressiveness after the challenge with Nemanja Matic and Steven N'Zonzi fighting in the box and tackles rolling in all over the pitch. A rugged game is the type of football that Stoke has embraced ever since they re-joined the Premier League in 2008, but while Chelsea do enjoy a smooth, technical style of play, they are always inclined to use their physicality to impose themselves on a match.
• Stoke have had some glimmers of goal scoring opportunities in the first half.
• In the 21st minute, Steven N'Zonzi, who can hit a shot as he showed with his 25 yard goal against Southampton in the League Cup, had an effort on goal that deflected off the right foot of Terry and made Courtois change directions to make the save.
• In the next minute, Jonathan Walters had an opportunity to level the game off a Bojan feed, but his shot was blocked on the left side of the box by a stretching Gary Cahill. Terry and Cahill in particular have become so good at blocking shots and passes in order to prevent the opposing team from having clear finishing chances in and around the 18 yard box.
• The Potters look most dangerous when they are able to get the ball to Bojan in dangerous areas of the field because he is so crafty in the attacking third. However, he has had few chances in the first half to get past Matic and Mikel and put himself in situations where he is going unimpeded at the slower moving Terry and Cahill.
• Chelsea has been content to keep the ball and patiently move it from side to side in order to wait for an opening in a Stoke defense that is allowing well more than a goal per game with their ever changing back four. While Chelsea have been maneuvering with slow buildup play in the first half, its best chances have come on the quick counterattack after Stoke have lost the ball and sent one of their defensive midfielders and fullbacks forward in attack (usually N'Zonzi and Pieters when they are attacking down the left with Arnautovic). The Blues have looked lethal when Fabregas picks up the ball in transition and attempts to put Diego Costa through on a long ball from midfield.
• In the 31st minute, Matic made a superb sliding challenge on Geoff Cameron and Fabregas played Diego Costa in on a through ball that the Spanish forward really should have slotted home for a goal. The striker, who has 12 league goals but just one in his last 6 starts in all competitions, was one-on-one with Begovic, but uncharacteristically pulled his shot from a little inside the 18 yard box wide of the net. While Muniesa had Costa offside, Ryan Shawcross did not move up the pitch quick enough to force Costa off. The defender should have stayed with Costa as he was step-for-step with the striker, and he should have followed his run since Costa does not have the blistering pace to leave him behind on a through ball. Instead, Shawcross took an untimely and foolish risk in trying to play a late offside trap after he had already started to follow Costa's run and was not in position to change his defensive angles. Shawcross was bailed out by a chance that Diego Costa should finish when he is in behind the defense and only has the keeper to beat. The striker just tried to slid the ball past Begovic, but he did not put enough pace on the shot to slot it into the bottom left-hand corner, keeping Stoke in the game at a one goal deficit.
• Overall, a first half that both sides would have expected coming into the match with Chelsea looking the more threatening going forward, but Stoke still having some opportunities in front of their inspiring home crowd to poke in a goal. Diego Costa may rue the clear cut chance he missed going in on Begovic, but his hustle throughout the field and darting runs across the defense has caused the Stoke back four some significant trouble. Peter Crouch has not really gotten involved in the game, especially since he has no help up front to latch onto his flicked headers, so Stoke may want to think about changing their attacking options if they can hold Chelsea without a goal until the 60 or 70 minute mark. Stoke look as if their goal scoring chances are more likely to come from take-ons by Arnautovic or Jonathan Walters rather than a direct style to Crouch, who is too isolated up front.

Second Half Analysis:

• The second half has begun as expected with Chelsea having a majority of the chances in trying to finish off the match and not let Stoke hang around.
• Just after the second half whistle in the 51st minute, Marc Muniesa and Erik Pieters committed themselves to a bruising tackle on Diego Costa, but the ball squirted to Willian, who drove down the entire free right side of the field and drilled a low shot that Begovic had to stretch to save.
• Just three minutes later in the 54th minute, Hazard overlapped Costa in the box, twirled around on his right foot, and then fed Fabregas in front of the net for a flick that surprised Begovic, but that did not have enough pace to get past the skilled Bosnian goalkeeper.
• Chelsea was the team with the better of play in the beginning of the second half, but they lacked the final pass through to Costa or the right finish to put them two goals ahead. The connection between Fabregas and Costa has been very strong all season long, and Hazard has been giving Phillip Bardsley a torrid time when he is on the ball, as he does with almost all opposing full backs in the Premier League. However, the Blues have been rather wasteful in and around Stoke's 18 yard-box to kill off the game. Costa seems to be slightly off the finishing touch he had at the beginning of the season, and he is often a little bit too separated from the midfield and on his own up front against Muniesa and Shawcross to really hurt the Potters.
• As in most matches where a team hangs around down despite not having a lot of possession in advanced areas of the field, Stoke still had an absolutely great chance in the 71st minute to level the game against the run of play.
• Their opportunity fell right to the left foot of Charlie Adam, a midfielder that can really hit a ball with his favorite side, as he has shown with some real cracking efforts over the years in English football (his free kick against Cardiff in the 2010 Championship Playoff Final for Blackpool, his strike against West Brom for Stoke, both of his wonder goals against Man United, and his rip against Liverpool last season just to name a few of his better finishes). On the play, John Terry came out of his position alongside Gary Cahill to try and win the ball off Steven N'Zonzi, which meant that John Obi Mikel had to cover him and move into the center back role in the box. Charlie Adam, who was standing right outside of the box in the center of the field, was free for an open shot and he was able to get it off on his first touch since Mikel could not close him down quick enough. However, for as well as Adam hit the ball, it cut off his left foot just a little bit too much and sailed past the post for a wasted opportunity for the Potters.
• Like all great teams, the Blues made Stoke pay for their missed goal scoring chance just a few minutes later to cement their victory and take another three points in their Premier League campaign.
• In the 77th minute, Diego Costa made a run across the face of the 18, which pulled Marc Muniesa away from the center of the box. That run from the striker was pivotal because it left open space for Cesc Fabregas to run into from his midfield position, a run that is very difficult to track. After Fabregas made a pass to Hazard, he darted into the space once occupied by Costa, and took his first touch with the outside of his right foot away from Ryan Shawcross to create the room to shoot on goal. Although Fabregas really missed his shot and barely even got a hold of it, the ball slowly rolled into the back of the net for his 4th goal in all competitions for the Blues. Shawcross saw Farbegas's run later then he would have liked, so he was trying to catch up to the midfielder, and his over pursuit allowed Cesc to take his touch back behind him to set up his shot. Begovic could do nothing with the slow, rolling shot because the buildup was so perfect that Fabregas only needed the slightest of touches to finish off the goal and another Chelsea victory. Chelsea 2 - Stoke City 0.

What Lies Ahead:

Chelsea may not be "The Invincibles" like the original 1888-1889 Preston North End squad or the more recent 2003-2004 Arsenal team that went undefeated, but they seem to be as invulnerable as any team in modern football.

The Blues, who are currently 13-1-3 as we approach the midway point of the Premier League season, have taken an impressive 42 points from a possible 51. When the Blues established the mark for the most points in a single English football season with 95 in 2004-2005, they had just 40 points through their first 17 games (12-1-4), and Chelsea's pace of 93 points is championship caliber (no team in Premier League history has ever reached at least 90 points and not won the title).

For all of Chelsea's early season success, they still have some significant question marks. Can Jose Mourinho go through an entire season playing the same relative squad and not see a dip in quality? Can a center back partnership of John Terry and Gary Cahill, both of whom lack any serious pace, keep up with better sides? Will Chelsea be able to find scoring outside of Eden Hazard and Diego Costa?

Coming up, the Blues will play Championship side Watford in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, PSG in the round of 16 of the Champions League for the second straight year, and Liverpool over two legs in the League Cup semifinals (Sheffield United, who play Tottenham in the other semifinal, are looking to become the first team from the third-tier of English football to reach the final since Aston Villa did so from Division Three in 1970-1971). Chelsea seem to be one of the four Champions League favorites along with Bayern (vs Shakhtar Donetsk), Barca (vs Manchester City), and Real Madrid (vs Schalke 04). Chelsea would love to cause Brendan Rodgers even more trouble in denying Liverpool a League Cup finals appearance.

In the league, Chelsea have their toughest stretch of the season with games home against West Ham, Newcastle, Manchester City, and Everton and away fixtures versus Southampton, Tottenham, Swansea, and Aston Villa in their next 8 matches. After their first trophy-less year since 2010-2011 in the first year of Mourinho's second stint with the club, Roman Abramovich will be expecting a Premier League title at the very least from his club.

Meanwhile, Stoke have somewhat transitioned from the direct style of play that they employed under Tony Pulis to a more possession based strategy under Mark Hughes. The results have largely been the same for the Potters, who need to get more points against teams from the bottom of the table. Although they have brought in same players over the last two years that can pick teams apart through their skill rather than merely through their physicality like Bojan, Diouf, Odemwingie, and Arnautovic, they are still on pace to finish somewhere between 9th and 14th, which they have done for 6 straight years since they returned to the Premier League in 2008-2009.

The Potters, who lost to Southampton 3-2 in the League Cup round of 16 because of a Graziano Pelle goal in the 88th minute, play fifth-tier Welsh side Wrexham in the FA Cup third round. In the league, Stoke have Everton at Goodison Park, West Brom and Mancheter United at home, Arsenal and Leiciester away from the Britannia, before playing at Loftus Road against QPR to finish up January. Stoke could use a spark up front and a player with a little quickness to get behind defenses, especially with Diouf going off to the African Cup of Nations in January for Senegal. I would not be surprised if they go after Joel Campell from Arsenal on a loan move in the January transfer window. They might also shop for a center back to form a more consistent pairing in the back with Ryan Shawcross whether it be Matija Nastasic from Man City or Philipp Wollscheid from Bayer Leverkusen.