Author: David Babb Oh, you thought this was done? After a few days of data-collecting and research, I'm back with more of everyone's favorite, Dame vs. Kyrie stats! This time I dove into the Celtics' 16 game winning streak to start the season compared to the Trailblazers' current 8 game winning streak. Both streaks were/are very impressive. Each team knocking off the most talented team in the league, the Warriors, while also playing some of the worst teams in the league. First I'll show the statistical comparison between Dame and Kyrie during their streaks. As you can see above, you'll notice that Dame has the advantage in scoring, rebounding, assisting, staying out of foul trouble and 3pt shooting (both making more per game and also shooting a higher percentage). However, Kyrie commits less turnovers, shoots a better overall percentage and from the charity stripe, while playing less minutes per game. Next, I'd like to bring up the difference of competition between the two teams' streaks, as well as the scoring differential during the streak. The Trailblazers have averaged more points per game and a higher point differential against better teams. The collective winning percentages against their respective team at the time of the match up is nearly a 9% difference. The main reason for this is due to the fact the Celtics faced more lower-tier teams during their streaks. The Blazers player 50% of their games against teams .500 and up, while the Cletics only played a team of that caliber in only 37.5% of games. Some may think that the reason the Blazers have scored more points against better teams is because the rest of their players are better. That however is not the case. This stat shows the points scored by the other 4 starters and the entire bench. The Blazers, despite scoring more points per game, average less production from the rest of their starters and their bench. The Celtics' starters not named Kyire average nearly 2 more points than the Blazers not named Dame, while the benches are seperated by roughly 1.5 points. Finally, I'll show you the difference between the other top stats for each players' team. First we will start with the Celtics: In 35.7% (5 games) of of the 14 games Kyrie played during the streak, another player on the Celtics outscored Kyrie, an alleged "elite scorer". Kyrie was obviously a huge value to the team during the streak, but he had a tremendous amount of help from his team, which is most definitely more talented than this Blazers team. This streal was not because Kyrie was taking over and winning the Celtics games. He was playing his role, usually leading the way, but he had the opportunity to sit back at times and allow for his team to do what they do. You'll see a difference with Dame and the Blazers: As you see, the Blazers didn't look to more than 3 options to do the bulk of the scoring during this streak. It is the Dame and CJ show most nights, with the occasional game with Nurkic as a guest star. Dame led the team in scoring in all but 2 games so far, meaning his team only scored more in 25% of the games.
Dame has been a very consistent go to for the Blazers. On the Celtics, it can be any guy's night any night. Although it isn't necessarily a bad thing, Kyrie's impact to the winning streak wasn't necessarily as great as Dame's impact to the Blazers. If you take Dame off of that team, there is no chance they go on this run. Meanwhile the Celtics, with one of the best coaches and young wing duos in the league, you still have a chance to go on a win streak. I'm not trying to say Kyrie didn't impact the winning, but he definitely didn't have as significant of an impact as Dame did. Dame won the Blazers a ton of games. With a lackluster supporting cast. Obviously CJ is one of the most underrated shooters and scorers in the league, but other than that, the Celtics have the advantage at every other major position. Dame also has averaged more assists (with a worse team) along with his advantage in scoring per game. Kyrie should have definitely averaged more than 5 assists per game with a better team. Dame has elevated a less talented team to be playing great. His overall team scores more per game, despite having worse production from the other 4 starters and the bench. His impact on the games has been insane. Against the Lakers, when his team needed him most Dame came through and scored 19 points in the fourth quarter. That is just ridiculous!
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Author: David Babb (In response to Nathan's article, see below) Damian Lillard has been in the league for 6 years now, each year he has played for the Portland Trailblazers. For his career he has averaged 22.9 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 6.2 APG with a 20.8 career PER and 54.8 win shares (estimate of number of wins contributed by a player) Kyrie Iriving, in 7 seasons has career averages of 22.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 5.5 APG with a 21.8 PER and 49.3 win shares. These stats alone make a compelling case for Dame Dolla. Now, let's dive into each player's season with the least amount of talent on their team. 2015-2016 Portland Trailblazers Their 44-38 record was good for 5th in the Western Conference Damian Lillard: 25.1PPG, 4.0RPG, 6.8APG, 22.2 PER, 9.2 WS, 3.7 net +/-, 56% true shooting percetnage and a 3.8 value over his backup. The rest of this team consisted of: CJ McCollum: 20.8 PPG, 4.3 APG Allen Crabbe: 10.3 PPG Al-Farouq Aminu: 10.2 PPG Mason Plumlee: 9.1 PPG, 7.7 RPG Gerald Henderson: 8.7 PPG Meyers Leonard: 8.4 PPG, 5.1 RPG Ed Davis: 6.5 PPG, 7.4 RPG 2013-2014 Cleveland Cavaliers Their record of 33-49 was good enough for a measly 10th place in the much weaker Eastern Conference Kyrie Iriving: 20.8 PPG, 6.1 APG, 20.1 PER, 6.7 WS, 3.2 net +/-, 53.3% true shooting percentage and a 3.3 value over his back up. Based on the numbers, his team had better individual performances: Dion Waiters: 15.9 PPG Loul Deng: 14.3 PPG, 5.1 RPG Spencer Hawes: 13.5 PPG, 7.7 RPG Tristan Thompson: 11.7 PPG, 9.2 RPG CJ Miles: 9.9 PPG Jarrett Jack: 9.5 PPG, 4.1 APG Anderson Varejao: 8.4 PPG, 9.7 RPG Andrew Bynum: 8.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG These teams finished very differently, despite what the stats seem like. At first glance, many would think that the Cavs of 13-14 would be the better team due to the amount of players putting up a good amount points. But the deciding factor was in the hands of each team's star, Lillard and Iriving. Lillard was able to elevate the performances of his teammate pushing them to the playoffs. Kyrie on the other hand was unable to bring his team to the playoffs despite being called a superstar by some. Other players who were able to bring crappy teams to the playoffs were: Dwyane Wade in the 2006-2007 season. Wade led the Heat to a 44-38 record (4th in East) with averages of 27.4 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 7.5 APG with a 28.9 PER and 8.8 WS. The next best player on the team was Shaq, and despite being a great NBA player, averaged only 17.3 PPG, 7.4 RPG at a 21.7 PER with 2.8 WS in 40 games. Dwyane Wade carried a team to the playoffs with Shaq limited to under 50% of the games. Carmelo Anthony in the 2005-2006 season. Melo led the Nuggets to a 44-38 record (3rd in the West) with averages of 26.5 PPG, 4.9 RPG, a 22.0 PER with 9.4 WS. The next best player, Andre Miller averaged 13.7 PPG, 8.2 APG, a 16.4 PER with 6.2 WS. Carmelo led an even shittier team than the 2013-2014 Cavs to the 3rd seed in the playoffs. THE THIRD SEED! WITH NOBODY OTHER CARMELO! Kyrie has never made the playoffs without another All-Star on the team. Damian Lillard has. Lillard led a team that lost LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez (their entire starting lineup excluding Dame) the previous offseason, to the playoffs, as the 5th seed. And yes, Dame has had CJ for the past several years, but CJ went from 3.8 PPG to 20.8 PPG on a team that nobody expected to make the playoffs. A lot of that credit needs to go to Damian. Another argument many people have is that Kyrie Irving is the most clutch player in the NBA. Yes he has hit a handful of game winners, yes he hit the game sealing shot in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the 73-9 Golden State Warriors, but he didn't do that alone. He had LeBron James, arguably the GOAT, average 29.7 PPG, 11.3 RPG and 8.9 APG compared to Kyrie's 27.1 PPG, 3.9 RPG and 3.9 APG. No disrespect to Kyrie's shot, but come on, LeBron was the reason that series even went to 7 games. He simply played lights out. Damian Lillard has also hit his fair share of clutch shots, does 2014 Blazers-Rockets round 1 series ring a bell? Down 2 with 0.9 seconds left? Oh yeah, Damian hit the game winning 3 pointer to win the Blazers that series. Yeah he is clutch too, in fact he has actually hit MORE game winners or shots to send the game to OT. Damian has hit 17 game winners or OT senders in his career, while Kyrie has hit only a very respectable 10 of such shots. Numbers don't lie ladies and gentlemen. Damian has the stats to back it up too. Damian Lillard is a better player than Kyrie Iriving. Also keep in mind, Damian is in a tougher conference and a smaller market. He doesn't get the credit he deserves. Had he been playing in a big market such as New York, LA, or even Boston, many more people would agree with this opinion. Fans need to look more at the stats and less at the "brand". Kyrie Irving has a HUGE name in the NBA, he gets a lot more credit and attention than Damian. But the numbers don't lie. Damian Lillard is massively underrated and under-appreciated. He deserves a lot more respect than he has gotten throughout his career so far. I'll leave Damian's buzzer-beater against the Rockets down below, enjoy: Author: Nathan Gagne
I'm not going into detail but here is the backstory of what has happened. Dame Lillard made a couple nice plays in a regular season game against the lowly Lakers of Los Angeles. This prompted my friend, and fellow Sports Experience writer, Dave to say that Lillard is better than Kyrie Irving. During the past two hours we have been comparing stats of the two players as well as the different teams they played on. Arguments included that Lillard has elevated players while Kyrie didn't on the pre-LeBron Cavs. I don't agree with that because Kyrie was playing with guys from the local YMCA, while Lillard played with guys like McCollum, Aldridge, Batum, Henderson, etc. But that argument is neither here nor there, I'm sick of debating and listening to Kyrie slander. Kyrie, who had the NBA Finals winning shot in 2016, is clearly better than Dame Lillard. Dave keeps harping on the fact that Lillard is better, so something had to be done. I sent a message to a buddy of mine, asking him for a favor. I love Dave, but he has to be taught a lesson. Author: David Babb So yesterday the Cavs announced that JR would be suspended for their game against the Sixers later in the night for detrimental conduct to the team. It was reported after the game the detrimental conduct was actually JR throwing soup at assistant coach Damon Jones. Everybody knows Hennything is possible with JR Splif, from wearing Supreme sleeves, to not wearing a shirt to the championship parade, and even showing up to games SOOOOO high he becomes a lasting meme: This man is truly a national treasure. He must've been on some shit or so pissed at Damon to throw a flaming hot bowl of soup at him.
The Cavs should call up Jerry Seinfeld to get in contact with the Soup Nazi, at least that way JR can't get free reign to a weapon of mass destruction. JR seems like the kind of guy to enjoy Cream of Broccoli soup, for several reasons... But poor Damon, got his face all burned and whatever he was wearing all hot, wet and soupy. What for JR? I'd love to be the reporter to ask him that. In all honesty though, this should've been JR's last straw. Lock him up for attempted murder. Just remember though, Hennything is possible. Especially with JR. |
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