2010 Finals Game One: The Boston Celtics Bang Their Heads Against the Wall Over and Over and Over Again: Lakers 102 Celtics 89

The Celtics had better learn quickly that they won’t be able to beat the Lakers in the 2010 Championship by trying to score in the paint all of the time. The Lakers have all the tools necessary to keep the paint very, very well defended. Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum are the mainstays of a dream paint defense. But Pau Gasol and especially Andrew Bynum are not great defenders out in the open floor. Once the Celtics stop their obsession with running everything into the paint (assuming they ever do stop bumping their heads against the Lakers’ wall in the paint over and over and over) they will need to run a little and pass a lot if they want a chance to beat the mighty Lakers. They will need to space the floor and they will need to limit the number of isolation dribble drives and the number of defended isolation pull up jumpers.

The Celtics, who up until now in this year’s playoffs were outstanding at sharing the ball and making sure the offense is a team effort where no one is selfish, looked quite a bit different in this game. We know the Celtics are not selfish and yet they looked kind of selfish in this game. Too much of the scoring was in isolation. And just three players made virtually all of the 19 Celtics assists! Rondo made 8 assists and Nate Robinson and Paul Pierce made 4 assists each. So the Celtics had what we call good playmaking identity (which is a very big part of a great offense) and so Rondo certainly set the playmaking stage correctly, but the Celtics didn’t have enough offensive flow to go along with Rondo’s set-up. In other words, the Celtics did not correlate with Rondo by keeping the ball moving and by correctly mixing out of the paint with in the paint shots. It was too easy for the Lakers' defense in this game.

While we preach all the time that the guards should make about two thirds of the assists, we definitely don’t want to ever see the forwards make virtually no assists at all because they are isolating in the paint all night.

THE CELTICS NEED A LOT MORE THREES
One of the main payoffs for keeping an offensive flow going is that you get to attempt and make open threes. But the Celtics attempted only ten threes in game one and made just one of them! Ray Allen was hammered with foul calls and played only 27 minutes. But even for that number of minutes he should have made more three attempts than ne did, which was just two! Paul Pierce was 0 for 4 on threes, but even if he had made two of his, the Celtics would still have made only half of the absolute minimum number of threes they need to make in a game (which is six threes) to give themselves a chance to beat the Lakers in LA. To make at least six you generally have to attempt at least fifteen. Almost eighteen is the standard or average number of threes that NBA teams attempt in games.

Ten three attempts is not close to enough. During the 2008 Championship series versus the Lakers, the Celtics made eighteen or more three attempts in five of the six games. In one of the games, the Celtics made just fourteen three attempts. This underscores the fact that if you only attempt ten threes you are starving yourself of them.

In this year’s playoffs so far the Celtics have been averaging only about sixteen three-point attempts a game and they have been succeeding with that. But neither the Magic nor the Cavaliers had the ultra strong paint defense that the Lakers have, so the Celtics are going to have to loosen up and attempt more than sixteen threes a game (at least seventeen a game) not fewer than sixteen, and certainly not ten a game, which is suicide.

Not attempting enough threes is exactly what you don’t want to do versus the Lakers. The Celtics most likely can not win a single game in Los Angeles while starving themselves of three-point shooting, and they may not be able to win more than a game or two in Boston by doing this. They or anyone else who is afraid of attempting threes could be swept by this version of the Lakers.

The Celtics need to make sure that primary three-point shooters Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rasheed Wallace are on notice that they need to not be shy about attempting open threes. Wallace is more of a long shot and is much more inconsistent from long range than are Pierce and Allen.

2nd squad point guard Nate Robinson is an excellent three-point shooter and Doc Rivers is going to have to play Rondo and Robinson (two point guards) at the same time for more than he would like, and for more than we would normally recommend. Rondo is not a good three-point shooter but he is a very, very good rebounder, which reduces the disadvantage from playing two point guards. In fact, Rondo in 2009-10 has been overall just as good a defender as Kobe Bryant, so it’s not as if you are going to have two weak guard defenders out there while Rondo and Robinson are out there. Tell Rondo that when Robinson is out there he’s going to have to crash the boards and double down on his defending.

When you are playing one of the best paint defenses of all time, you have to do things you normally would not want to do, and playing two point guards for 10 minutes a game in a seemingly hopeless game in LA is one of them.

Finally, Michael Finley, who Doc Rivers is trying to avoid using, is a bad defender but an outstanding 3-point shot maker. When the Celtics fall behind by more than 15 points in LA, they need to seriously consider playing Finley for 12-16 minutes to see if Finley can get them back in the game. So what if Finley misses his threes and/or is burned defensively? You were not going to win the game with no Finley anyway. And if Finley backfires in a game that you were almost certainly going to lose anyway you can bench him for the rest of the series.

The standard number of three point attempts for a game is almost eighteen and the Celtics need to loosen up and attempt a rock bottom minimum 17 threes in all games or they will go down hard in this series as they bang their heads against the wall over and over trying to do the impossible: beat what is by a wide margin the best paint defense in basketball by running the overwhelming majority of plays into the paint.

The Celtics are apparently confusing the “toughness thing” with running plays into the paint all the time. George Karl does this but we hope the Celtics are not dumb enough to fall in this trap. The Celtics need to not be foolish and overboard about the “toughness thing” and they need to realize that in basketball toughness is much more a defensive concept than an offensive one.

The Celtics should not be thinking that you can not have a great and tough defense just because you attempt twenty threes in a game and/or just because you play small for eight or ten minutes in a game so that you can make some threes. Stay tough on defense but stop being obsessed with being tough on offense and start being obsessed with playing the Lakers the smartest way you can.

The Celtics in this game also looked uptight while they were obsessed with running everything into the paint, as if they knew that what they were doing was not going to work. They were right, it doesn’t work! Along with mixing the offense up and getting it to flow more, they need to loosen up to beat the Lakers in this series. It’s really the same thing said two different ways. Getting the offense well mixed and flowing automatically eliminates the uptight problem. Also and similarly, attempting and making enough long range shots is one of the best ways to prevent a team from getting all uptight.

In the playoffs so far, the Celtics beat the Heat, the Magic, and especially the Cavaliers with an outstanding offense balanced between outside and inside scoring. There has been a lot of passing and a lot of good flow. They mixed dribble drives, catch and shoots, pick and pops, pick and rolls, fast breaks, baselines and threes. The Celtics did not become obsessed with scoring in the paint all the time like they did in game one of the 2010 NBA final. In this game, the Celtics made it look as if you get three points from scoring in the paint and two points from scoring from beyond the 3-point line, but of course it is the other way around.

The Celtics had better learn quickly that a lot of toughness and hustle, but not much flow, can not beat the Lakers this time. That combination may have worked to some extent in the 2008 series but it won’t work this time because the Lakers are both tougher and more skilled in defending and especially in paint defending this time. The Celtics will need toughness, hustle, AND flow to beat the Lakers this time.

Rondo is more than capable of leading the flow but he is going to need teammates to be in the flow a lot more than they were in this game. Rondo can’t pass to himself and, unfortunately, he himself can not reliably make threes. The Celtics need to stop being afraid of running against the Lakers the same high quality Rondo offense that played a huge role in sending LeBron James home early and in getting them to the NBA finals.

In basketball as in life, don’t ever stop doing the best stuff you did to get where you are.

Rajon Rondo was Better than Kobe Bryant This Year so we Want the Celtics to Win the 2010 Quest

So who does Quest for the Ring like in this year's NBA Championship between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers? Both teams are extremely well owned, managed and coached and both teams are true to basketball and don't try to twist the game into something it is not. So we are happy whichever team wins.

We are happy to say the least. This year sure as hell beats last year when the Nuggets were threatening to appear in the Championship with their football approach to basketball and their coach way out in right field or left field (I’m not sure which, laugh out loud). Even though the Nuggets were eventually demolished by the Lakers in an elimination game in their own building 119-92, that experience of contemplating that the poorly coached Nuggets might actually be in the Championship was horrifying and miserable and will not be forgotten for a long time.

The top two factors we use to declare who we most want to win this year:

--On the superstar guard front, Kobe Bryant has four rings and Rajon Rondo has only one. Rajon Rondo was better than Kobe Bryant this year. Plus, Rajon Rondo and company bounced LeBron James from the playoffs and got the Cleveland coach fired (and the more coaches who can't coach well in the playoffs who get fired the better). Yes, Mr. Rondo deserves number two much more than Kobe deserves number five.

Also, as a side factor, Derek Fisher of the Lakers has four rings already and that's plenty. He will be the worst player among the ten starters. I know he is Phil Jackson's "coach on the court," but he just is too far in the shadow of Kobe Bryant and is just not good enough this year to deserve ring number five.

--On the coach front, expert Lakers Coach Phil Jackson has ten rings and Junior Expert Celtics Coach Doc Rivers only one. But Doc Rivers was at least as good as Phil Jackson this particular year, probably better technically, since for one thing he had even more problems to deal with than did Jackson. Doc Rivers deserves Ring number two whereas Phil Jackson's ten is already more than enough for his legacy.

So we like the Boston Celtics to win what will be a truly great series between the class of the NBA, a series almost certain to be at least six games and with a good chance for it to be seven games. Note that we are not predicting the Celtics will win; we just would prefer they would win, but again, either winning is alright from a basketball perspective.

Here is the Head to Head Preview and the two Team Grids for the 2010 Quest for the Ring Final Series. The numbers in the charts are 2009-10 Real Player Ratings for the players. A quick evaluation scale immediately follows the grids. For the full User Guide to Real Player Ratings, see the link at the bottom just above the photo of Rajon Rondo and Doc Rivers.

Below the preview grids I will preview this series further.

If you do not see a spreadsheet just below here, put the web address that you do see in a browser tab and you can view it in a new window.



SCALE FOR REGULAR SEASON REAL PLAYER RATINGS ADJUSTED FOR HIDDEN DEFENDING
Major Historic Super Star / "Perfect Player" 1.100 and more
Historic Super Star 1.000 1.099
Super Star 0.900 0.999
A Star Player / A Well Above Normal Starter 0.820 0.899
Very Good Player / A Solid Starter 0.760 0.819
Major Role Player / Good Enough to Start 0.700 0.759
Good Role Player / Often a Good 6th Man 0.640 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player 0.580 0.639
Marginal Role Player 0.520 0.579
Poor Player 0.460 0.519
Very Poor Player 0.400 0.459
Extremely Poor Player and less 0.399

The full User Guide for Team Grids is here.

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. These are estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .780
Shooting Guard .600
Small Forward .650
Power Forward .720
Center .750

ALL NBA PLAYERS (ALL POSITIONS) AVERAGE: .700

NUMBER OF RINGS GOING IN TO THIS SERIES
Alphabetic by first name

Andrew Bynum 1
Brian Scalabrine 1
Derek Fisher 4
Doc Rivers 1
Glen Davis 1
Jordan Farmar 1
Josh Powell 1
Kendrick Perkins 1
Kevin Garnett 1
Kobe Bryant 4
Lamar Odom 1
Marquis Daniels 0
Michael Finley 1
Nate Robinson 0
Pau Gasol 1
Paul Pierce 1
Phil Jackson 10
Rajon Rondo 1
Rasheed Wallace 1
Ray Allen 1
Ron Artest 0
Sasha Vujacic 1
Shannon Brown 0
Shelden Williams 0
Tony Allen 1

2010 CELTICS-LAKERS SERIES PREVIEW DISCUSSION
The thing about historical superstars (greater than 1.000 Real Player Ratings) is that about the only two things that can slow them way down in the playoffs is themselves (which is rare) very heavy doubling and trapping (which is very dangerous to the team doing it because then it's four against three most of the time) and injuries which as I write this do not seem to loom as a big factor in this series.

Doc Rivers can dream about it but Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are not going to be stopped or slowed way down by anything the Celtics can do except maybe once in a blue moon. Phil Jackson can dream about it but Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett are not going to be stopped or slowed way down by anything the Lakers can do except maybe once in a blue moon. Sure, there will be a quarter here and there where Kendrick Perkins shuts down Gasol and there will be a quarter or two here and there when Kevin Garnett is shut down by Lamar Odom, but these will be temporary things and, on the whole, Bryant, Gasol, Rondo, and Garnett are all going to have between really good and great series.

Kobe Bryant is not going to stop Rajon Rondo from keeping the Celtics very hard to defend with his passing and assisting all the time and neither Ray Allen nor anyone else will be able to stop Kobe Bryant from racking up mega points most of the time. Despite having the best group of three big men, the Lakers are most definitely not going to be able to any extent to contain Kevin Garnett, who is fully recovered from his 2009 injury troubles, especially since Pau Gasol is not quite big or strong enough to go head to head with Garnett and since Andrew Bynum comes to this series with a knee problem which will require surgery in the off season.

Lamar Odom is actually the one Laker who can slow down Garnett enough to swing a close game, but since Odom doesn't start the number of minutes he actually gets to guard Garnett will be fewer than the Lakers would want if they knew what was good for them. In other words I would start Odom, not Bynum, who has the knee problem and is not quite strong enough to contain Garnett even without a knee problem. Odom starting will happen if when Phil Jackson realizes that he needs to maximize the minutes where Odom is guarding Garnett; I suspect it is a "when Jackson realizes" rather than an "if Jackson realizes". Look for Odom to start either from game one or later in the series, especially if the Lakers are behind.

In general though, each team has two historical superstars and the only thing that will stop any of them from having a great series (other than injuries obviously) is themselves. I would not expect any of them to not have an outstanding series which is reason number one why this series will go down to the wire.

THE STARTERS AND BEST “6TH MAN” PLAYERS BROKEN DOWN
Historical superstars are those near perfect players with ratings greater than 1.000. Each team has two of them. The Celtics’ historical superstars Rajon Rondo plus Kevin Garnett combined are at least as good as Lakers historical superstars Pau Gasol plus Kobe Bryant combined and very probably better.

Notice that both teams come in with that perfect two historical superstar combo: one guard and one big man at power forward or center who are both historical superstars. Rondo is point guard and Garnett is power forward for the Celtics. Bryant is combo guard and Gasol is center for the Lakers. They just don't make teams any stronger than this, so this is a series most definitely worth watching.

Kobe Bryant is as you would expect a very good guard defender and he will probably early in the series be out to force Rondo to look to pass more and shoot less than even Rondo himself already wants to do, which is quite a lot to begin with. This may ironically work to Los Angeles' disadvantage, since Rondo is one of the best playmakers the NBA has seen in a long time, whereas his shooting is good but not outstanding. As the series goes along, Bryant may wisely decide to sag off Rondo a little to try to entice Rondo to shoot more, but if Rondo's IQ is as high as they say it is, and/or if Doc Rivers' calls Kobe's bluff, then Rondo will pass all the time anyway and be even more effective at making plays than if Kobe stays up on him all the time. In other words, it looks like it will be a damned if you do and damned if you don't with respect to how closely Kobe Bryant will be guarding Rajon Rondo. Rondo is about like the next Steve Nash but he is out there with one of the very best front courts whereas Nash’ front court was not what Championship teams are made of.

At the next level however, the plain old superstar level, featuring players with Real Player Ratings between .900 and .999, the Lakers are well ahead of the Celtics. Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum are superstars for the Lakers whereas the Celtics don't have any 2010 superstars. The next two Celtics are on the next rung down. The Celtics have a star in Paul Pierce at small forward and a near star at center in Kendrick Perkins. But in this series, look for Perkins to be so amped defensively that he'll be a star rather than merely a "solid starter".

At the lowest level among the starters and the 6th men, each team will feature two players with ratings below .800. (Remember that the NBA average rating among all players who play 300 minutes or more is .about .700. But averages by position vary from .600 for shooting guard at one extreme to .780 for point guard at the high end.) The Celtics start Ray Allen (.770) at 2-guard and have Rasheed Wallace (.757) as 6th man at center. The Lakers start Derek Fisher (.578) at point guard and they start Ron Artest (.752) at small forward.

Championship teams very often feature some of the best defending guards. Celtics 2-guard Ray Allen is at least as good a guard defender as is Kobe Bryant, but as already alluded to, Kobe Bryant can be slowed down a little but neither Ray Allen nor anyone else will be able to contain Kobe Bryant enough to win more than one game if even that. Offensively, Ray Allen is almost always at least as good at scoring the ball in a playoff series as he was in the regular season (which is really, really good).

By contrast Celtics 6th man center Rasheed Wallace has in recent years become very, very inconsistent offensively. He doesn't do much in the paint anymore and his three-point shooting in particular is often (but not always, fortunately for the Celtics) one extreme or the other. Wallace is fairly likely to win at least one game for the Celtics but is also fairly likely to cost the Celtics a game. In other words, if and when Wallace rains threes the Lakers are most likely going to lose that game whereas if and when Wallace misses all or most of his threes the Lakers are most likely going to win that game.

Lakers small forward Ron Artest is not as inconsistent as Rasheed Wallace is nowadays but is not as dependable as Ray Allen either. Artest has a temper that is like a volcano that you know is going to blow in the near future but you never know for sure if or when. If Artest gets ticked off about something and starts getting technical fouls and/or starts allowing Paul Pierce to score two dozen points plus a game, the Lakers are in real trouble. Artest going off like a volcano is a higher risk than you might think since Artest has no rings yet whereas almost everyone else including Paul Pierce has at least one, which increases the odds that Artest is going to get riled up if things don't go his way.

On the other hand, if Artest can make the threes he likes to make and if he can stay with Pierce without being hammered with fouls by the refs the Lakers will be in great shape. In theory, Artest can guard Pierce fairly well much of the time and very well in a game or two. In practice, it remains to be seen what will actually happen. Especially considering the four historical superstars roughly offset, Artest versus Pierce at the three spot is a major key that will determine who will win this series.

PHIL JACKSON VERSUS DOC RIVERS
Whereas two years ago Doc Rivers was unproven as a great coach before the Celtics beat the Lakers in the Championship, this year he is proven, although still not as heavily armed with “seen it all” experience as is Phil Jackson. Whereas Jackson has more knowledge, Rivers has more soul and thus more pure motivation power. Jackson has an unbelievable amount of basketball intelligence and Rivers has an unbelievable amount of basketball motivation power. But don’t kid yourself, Jackson has a lot of soul and motivational power of his own while Rivers has a lot of knowledge of his own. You have to really like this great at the least and possibly historically great coaching matchup.

RAJON RONDO
Your instructions, should you be big enough to accept them, are to go out there and get your second Ring by doing the same thing you did to bounce LeBron James: play the hell out of the point guard position and prove that it should really be called the power guard position. You were better than Kobe Bryant this year and, for that matter, you were even better than Pau Gasol. Yes, thanks to Real Player Ratings we know for sure here at QFTR that you are the best player in this Championship series! Rondo, the 2010 Ring has your name on it and it will be yours should you choose to accept this challenge and win it.

Quest for the Ring is wanting and waiting for you to make 2010 the year when you, your Coach, and your teammates proved once and for all that either you respect the power point guard concept or you almost certainly will not be winning the Quest. Plus in general your winning will make 2010 a whole hell of a lot better than it is. (Plus you can make George Karl look really bad, and you can make Larry Brown look like a complete idiot for removing Iverson from the point guard position, laugh out loud.)

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USER GUIDE
The Real Player Rating User Guide is a necessary reference for anyone who wants to truly understand the value of, the validity of, and the ways you can use the Real Player Rating performance measures. Moreover, you should become a regular visitor to Quest for the Ring if you want to get the full advantage of reading and using Real Player Ratings Series performance measures. The more you visit and check out ratings, the more quickly and easily you will be able to evaluate what you are seeing.

DOC RIVERS AND RAJON RONDO

Real Player Ratings: 2010 Round 3 West Conference Final, Game 6: Lakers 111 Suns 103

NBA ROUND THREE WEST CONFERENCE FINAL PLAYOFF SERIES
GAME SIX
MAY 29, 2010 IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA
LOS ANGELES LAKERS 111 PHOENIX SUNS 103
LAKERS WIN THE SERIES 4-2

REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME WITH SPECIAL HIDDEN DEFENDING ADJUSTMENT
Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.

--Real Player Rating shows you the quality of players quickly and accurately.

LAKERS REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Jordan Farmar, PG 1.412
Kobe Bryant, SG 1.208
Ron Artest, SF 1.204
Andrew Bynum, C 0.882
Lamar Odom, PF 0.668
Derek Fisher, PG 0.521
Pau Gasol, PF 0.351
Sasha Vujacic, SG 0.162

SUNS REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Steve Nash, PG 1.455
Goran Dragic, PG 0.884
Channing Frye, C 0.833
Jared Dudley, SF 0.617
Amare Stoudemire, PF 0.535
Grant Hill, SF 0.502
Leandro Barbosa, SG 0.454
Jason Richardson, SG 0.320
Robin Lopez, C -0.493

COMBINED SORT REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Steve Nash, Suns PG 1.455
Jordan Farmar, Lakers PG 1.412
Kobe Bryant, Lakers SG 1.208
Ron Artest, Lakers SF 1.204
Goran Dragic, Suns PG 0.884
Andrew Bynum, Lakers C 0.882
Channing Frye, Suns C 0.833
Lamar Odom, Lakers PF 0.668
Jared Dudley, Suns SF 0.617
Amare Stoudemire, Suns PF 0.535
Derek Fisher, Lakers PG 0.521
Grant Hill, Suns SF 0.502
Leandro Barbosa, Suns SG 0.454
Pau Gasol, Lakers PF 0.351
Jason Richardson, Suns SG 0.320
Sasha Vujacic, Lakers SG 0.162
Robin Lopez, Suns C -0.493

SCALE FOR REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME WHEN THE SINGLE GAME HIDDEN DEFENDING ADJUSTMENT IS INCLUDED
Major Historic Super Star / "Perfect Player" 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A Well Above Normal Starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A Solid Starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good Enough to Start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a Good 6th Man 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player 0.460 0.539
Poor Player 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player and less 0.299

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. These are estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .780
Shooting Guard .600
Small Forward .650
Power Forward .720
Center .750

ALL NBA PLAYERS (ALL POSITIONS) AVERAGE: .700

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
--Shows basketball production or quantity of players
--Hidden defending adjustments from the season are used; see above explanation (just before the Real Player Ratings) for details.

LAKERS REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Kobe Bryant, SG 49.54
Ron Artest, SF 49.38
Jordan Farmar, PG 24.00
Lamar Odom, PF 23.39
Andrew Bynum, C 17.64
Derek Fisher, PG 16.15
Pau Gasol, PF 14.39
Sasha Vujacic, SG 1.78

SUNS REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Steve Nash, PG 43.66
Channing Frye, C 33.31
Amare Stoudemire, PF 23.01
Jared Dudley, SF 16.04
Goran Dragic, PG 15.92
Grant Hill, SF 11.05
Jason Richardson, SG 9.29
Leandro Barbosa, SG 6.98
Robin Lopez, C -3.94

COMBINED SORT BASIC REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Kobe Bryant, Lakers SG 49.54
Ron Artest, Lakers SF 49.38
Steve Nash, Suns PG 43.66
Channing Frye, Suns C 33.31
Jordan Farmar, Lakers PG 24.00
Lamar Odom, Lakers PF 23.39
Amare Stoudemire, Suns PF 23.01
Andrew Bynum, Lakers C 17.64
Derek Fisher, Lakers PG 16.15
Jared Dudley, Suns SF 16.04
Goran Dragic, Suns PG 15.92
Pau Gasol, Lakers PF 14.39
Grant Hill, Suns SF 11.05
Jason Richardson, Suns SG 9.29
Leandro Barbosa, Suns SG 6.98
Sasha Vujacic, Lakers SG 1.78
Robin Lopez, Suns C -3.94


============== SUB RATINGS ==============

OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
--Shows the quality of players' offense

LAKERS OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Jordan Farmar, PG 1.185
Kobe Bryant, SG 0.788
Ron Artest, SF 0.760
Andrew Bynum, C 0.436
Derek Fisher, PG 0.389
Lamar Odom, PF 0.236
Pau Gasol, PF 0.145
Sasha Vujacic, SG 0.136

SUNS OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Steve Nash, PG 1.262
Goran Dragic, PG 0.656
Grant Hill, SF 0.462
Channing Frye, C 0.407
Leandro Barbosa, SG 0.367
Jason Richardson, SG 0.329
Amare Stoudemire, PF 0.251
Jared Dudley, SF 0.166
Robin Lopez, C -0.194

COMBINED SORT OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Steve Nash, Suns PG 1.262
Jordan Farmar, Lakers PG 1.185
Kobe Bryant, Lakers SG 0.788
Ron Artest, Lakers SF 0.760
Goran Dragic, Suns PG 0.656
Grant Hill, Suns SF 0.462
Andrew Bynum, Lakers C 0.436
Channing Frye, Suns C 0.407
Derek Fisher, Lakers PG 0.389
Leandro Barbosa, Suns SG 0.367
Jason Richardson, Suns SG 0.329
Amare Stoudemire, Suns PF 0.251
Lamar Odom, Lakers PF 0.236
Jared Dudley, Suns SF 0.166
Pau Gasol, Lakers PF 0.145
Sasha Vujacic, Lakers SG 0.136
Robin Lopez, Suns C -0.194

THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is .385

DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
--Shows the quality of players' defending
--Hidden defending adjustments from the season are used; see above explanation (just before the Real Player Ratings) for details.

LAKERS DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Andrew Bynum, C 0.446
Ron Artest, SF 0.445
Lamar Odom, PF 0.432
Kobe Bryant, SG 0.421
Jordan Farmar, PG 0.226
Pau Gasol, PF 0.206
Derek Fisher, PG 0.131
Sasha Vujacic, SG 0.025

SUNS DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Jared Dudley, SF 0.451
Channing Frye, C 0.426
Amare Stoudemire, PF 0.284
Goran Dragic, PG 0.229
Steve Nash, PG 0.194
Leandro Barbosa, SG 0.088
Grant Hill, SF 0.041
Jason Richardson, SG -0.009
Robin Lopez, C -0.299

COMBINED SORT DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Jared Dudley, Suns SF 0.451
Andrew Bynum, Lakers C 0.446
Ron Artest, Lakers SF 0.445
Lamar Odom, Lakers PF 0.432
Channing Frye, Suns C 0.426
Kobe Bryant, Lakers SG 0.421
Amare Stoudemire, Suns PF 0.284
Goran Dragic, Suns PG 0.229
Jordan Farmar, Lakers PG 0.226
Pau Gasol, Lakers PF 0.206
Steve Nash, Suns PG 0.194
Derek Fisher, Lakers PG 0.131
Leandro Barbosa, Suns SG 0.088
Grant Hill, Suns SF 0.041
Sasha Vujacic, Lakers SG 0.025
Jason Richardson, Suns SG -0.009
Robin Lopez, Suns C -0.299

THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is .315

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USER GUIDE
The Real Player Rating User Guide is a necessary reference for anyone who wants to truly understand the value of, the validity of, and the ways you can use the Real Player Rating performance measures. Moreover, you should become a regular visitor to Quest for the Ring if you want to get the full advantage of reading and using Real Player Ratings Series performance measures. The more you visit and check out ratings, the more quickly and easily you will be able to evaluate what you are seeing.

KOBE BRYANT, COACH PHIL JACKSON, AND THE TROPHY IN THE FLYING STRETCH LIMO

Real Player Ratings: 2010 Round 3 East Conference Final, Game 6: Celtics 96 Magic 84

NBA ROUND THREE EAST CONFERENCE FINAL PLAYOFF SERIES
GAME SIX
MAY 28, 2010 IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
BOSTON CELTICS 96 ORLANDO MAGIC 84
CELTICS WIN THE SERIES 4-2

REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME WITH SPECIAL HIDDEN DEFENDING ADJUSTMENT
Each player's hidden defending rating from the regular season is used as the Hidden Defending Adjustment (HDA). Obviously, players in any individual game including this one were not exactly as good defenders as they were on the average during the regular season. But since there is no way to provide HDA for individual games and since it is better to have some reasonable HDA than none at all, we use the season HDA as a reasonable substitute.

--Real Player Rating shows you the quality of players quickly and accurately.

MAGIC REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Dwight Howard, C 1.059
Mickael Pietrus, SF 0.853
Vince Carter, SG 0.758
Marcin Gortat, C 0.740
Jason Williams, PG 0.655
J.J. Redick, SG 0.594
Rashard Lewis, PF 0.586
Matt Barnes, SF 0.275
Jameer Nelson, PG 0.254

CELTICS REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Paul Pierce, SF 1.363
Nate Robinson, PG 1.175
Glen Davis, PF 0.955
Ray Allen, SG 0.814
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.698
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.633
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.342
Rasheed Wallace, C 0.086
Tony Allen, SG -0.126

COMBINED SORT REAL PLAYER RATINGS
Paul Pierce, Celtics SF 1.363
Nate Robinson, Celtics PG 1.175
Dwight Howard, Magic C 1.059
Glen Davis, Celtics PF 0.955
Mickael Pietrus, Magic SF 0.853
Ray Allen, Celtics SG 0.814
Vince Carter, Magic SG 0.758
Marcin Gortat, Magic C 0.740
Rajon Rondo, Celtics PG 0.698
Jason Williams, Magic PG 0.655
Kevin Garnett, Celtics PF 0.633
J.J. Redick, Magic SG 0.594
Rashard Lewis, Magic PF 0.586
Kendrick Perkins, Celtics C 0.342
Matt Barnes, Magic SF 0.275
Jameer Nelson, Magic PG 0.254
Rasheed Wallace, Celtics C 0.086
Tony Allen, Celtics SG -0.126

SCALE FOR REAL PLAYER RATINGS FOR A SINGLE GAME WHEN THE SINGLE GAME HIDDEN DEFENDING ADJUSTMENT IS INCLUDED
Major Historic Super Star / "Perfect Player" 1.200 and more
Historic Super Star 1.080 1.199
Super Star 0.960 1.079
A Star Player / A Well Above Normal Starter 0.860 0.959
Very Good Player / A Solid Starter 0.780 0.859
Major Role Player / Good Enough to Start 0.700 0.779
Good Role Player / Often a Good 6th Man 0.620 0.699
Satisfactory Role Player 0.540 0.619
Marginal Role Player 0.460 0.539
Poor Player 0.380 0.459
Very Poor Player 0.300 0.379
Extremely Poor Player and less 0.299

AVERAGE RATINGS BY POSITION
Not all positions are created equal. These are estimates for average ratings by position among all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more. There are very few small forwards and shooting guards who don't fit at other positions who are superstars. Most superstars are players who can play point guard, power forward, or center.

Point Guard .780
Shooting Guard .600
Small Forward .650
Power Forward .720
Center .750

ALL NBA PLAYERS (ALL POSITIONS) AVERAGE: .700

REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
--Shows basketball production or quantity of players
--Hidden defending adjustments from the season are used; see above explanation (just before the Real Player Ratings) for details.

MAGIC REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Dwight Howard, C 43.42
Vince Carter, SG 29.57
Rashard Lewis, PF 23.43
J.J. Redick, SG 13.66
Jason Williams, PG 10.48
Mickael Pietrus, SF 10.23
Jameer Nelson, PG 8.12
Marcin Gortat, C 7.40
Matt Barnes, SF 5.77

CELTICS REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Paul Pierce, SF 61.34
Ray Allen, SG 30.92
Rajon Rondo, PG 24.42
Kevin Garnett, PF 20.89
Glen Davis, PF 16.24
Nate Robinson, PG 15.27
Kendrick Perkins, C 11.30
Rasheed Wallace, C 1.03
Tony Allen, SG -1.64

COMBINED SORT BASIC REAL PLAYER PRODUCTION
Paul Pierce, Celtics SF 61.34
Dwight Howard, Magic C 43.42
Ray Allen, Celtics SG 30.92
Vince Carter, Magic SG 29.57
Rajon Rondo, Celtics PG 24.42
Rashard Lewis, Magic PF 23.43
Kevin Garnett, Celtics PF 20.89
Glen Davis, Celtics PF 16.24
Nate Robinson, Celtics PG 15.27
J.J. Redick, Magic SG 13.66
Kendrick Perkins, Celtics C 11.30
Jason Williams, Magic PG 10.48
Mickael Pietrus, Magic SF 10.23
Jameer Nelson, Magic PG 8.12
Marcin Gortat, Magic C 7.40
Matt Barnes, Magic SF 5.77
Rasheed Wallace, Celtics C 1.03
Tony Allen, Celtics SG -1.64


============== SUB RATINGS ==============

OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
--Shows the quality of players' offense

MAGIC OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Mickael Pietrus, SF 0.556
Dwight Howard, C 0.455
Jason Williams, PG 0.408
Vince Carter, SG 0.382
J.J. Redick, SG 0.247
Marcin Gortat, C 0.182
Rashard Lewis, PF 0.122
Jameer Nelson, PG 0.103
Matt Barnes, SF 0.087

CELTICS OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Nate Robinson, PG 0.978
Paul Pierce, SF 0.872
Ray Allen, SG 0.458
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.366
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.365
Glen Davis, PF 0.272
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.019
Tony Allen, SG -0.025
Rasheed Wallace, C -0.308

COMBINED SORT OFFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Nate Robinson, Celtics PG 0.978
Paul Pierce, Celtics SF 0.872
Mickael Pietrus, Magic SF 0.556
Ray Allen, Celtics SG 0.458
Dwight Howard, Magic C 0.455
Jason Williams, Magic PG 0.408
Vince Carter, Magic SG 0.382
Rajon Rondo, Celtics PG 0.366
Kevin Garnett, Celtics PF 0.365
Glen Davis, Celtics PF 0.272
J.J. Redick, Magic SG 0.247
Marcin Gortat, Magic C 0.182
Rashard Lewis, Magic PF 0.122
Jameer Nelson, Magic PG 0.103
Matt Barnes, Magic SF 0.087
Kendrick Perkins, Celtics C 0.019
Tony Allen, Celtics SG -0.025
Rasheed Wallace, Celtics C -0.308

THE AVERAGE OFFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is .385

DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
--Shows the quality of players' defending
--Hidden defending adjustments from the season are used; see above explanation (just before the Real Player Ratings) for details.

MAGIC DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Dwight Howard, C 0.604
Marcin Gortat, C 0.558
Rashard Lewis, PF 0.464
Vince Carter, SG 0.376
J.J. Redick, SG 0.347
Mickael Pietrus, SF 0.296
Jason Williams, PG 0.247
Matt Barnes, SF 0.188
Jameer Nelson, PG 0.151

CELTICS DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Glen Davis, PF 0.684
Paul Pierce, SF 0.491
Rasheed Wallace, C 0.394
Ray Allen, SG 0.356
Rajon Rondo, PG 0.331
Kendrick Perkins, C 0.324
Kevin Garnett, PF 0.267
Nate Robinson, PG 0.197
Tony Allen, SG -0.102

COMBINED SORT DEFENSIVE SUB RATINGS
Glen Davis, Celtics PF 0.684
Dwight Howard, Magic C 0.604
Marcin Gortat, Magic C 0.558
Paul Pierce, Celtics SF 0.491
Rashard Lewis, Magic PF 0.464
Rasheed Wallace, Celtics C 0.394
Vince Carter, Magic SG 0.376
Ray Allen, Celtics SG 0.356
J.J. Redick, Magic SG 0.347
Rajon Rondo, Celtics PG 0.331
Kendrick Perkins, Celtics C 0.324
Mickael Pietrus, Magic SF 0.296
Kevin Garnett, Celtics PF 0.267
Jason Williams, Magic PG 0.247
Nate Robinson, Celtics PG 0.197
Matt Barnes, Magic SF 0.188
Jameer Nelson, Magic PG 0.151
Tony Allen, Celtics SG -0.102

THE AVERAGE DEFENSIVE SUB RATING
for all NBA players who play 300 minutes or more is .315

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USER GUIDE
The Real Player Rating User Guide is a necessary reference for anyone who wants to truly understand the value of, the validity of, and the ways you can use the Real Player Rating performance measures. Moreover, you should become a regular visitor to Quest for the Ring if you want to get the full advantage of reading and using Real Player Ratings Series performance measures. The more you visit and check out ratings, the more quickly and easily you will be able to evaluate what you are seeing.

DOC RIVERS AND RAJON RONDO