Unfortunately for us Blazer fans, McMillan peaked as a head coach in Seattle about 8 years ago. He's just not a great basketball mind. No innovation or adaptation.
Woo Hoo!!!! We beat the second worst team in the league!!! Way to coach 'em up Nate! Actually, I did like what I saw in the 4th quarter tonight. I saw some variety for once. I saw some two man plays and some ball movement. I saw all five players involved - not at the same time, but all five guys in the game were getting shots. It's much harder to defend when you don't know what's going to happen every time down the court. I have no idea if Nate was calling those plays or the players were freelancing, but it was much more effective than the typical Nate all ISO all the time 4th quarter offense. Washington may suck, but any win is a good win. BNM
For the first half of his 5 years coaching it was Payton. For the second half it was Ray Allen. Flip Murray was good at it too. Back in McMillan's playing days it was Dale Ellis. Bickerstaff had Ellis the whole focus, though Ellis was a bad dribbler, so he was all catch and shoot. McMillan was a weird, unorthodox coach in Seattle, just like here, but with poorer owners and thus less talent than here. So Papa, have you gotten even one person to agree with the stupid premise of your thread about his talent in making adjustments? Well you go girl, just keep trying.
Of course he hasn't, because it's all based on a single stat that has been shown to be meaningless in this context. In their last two nationally televised games against the Lakers and Celtics, the Blazers were completely embarrassed and down by over 30 before halftime. Yet, they were +11 and +17 in the second halves of those games due to extensive second half garbage time. Of course, they still lost both games by double digits. The fact that they were down by 30+ points in the second quarter of both games tells us a lot more about Nate's coaching than the fact that we outscored them in the second half well after the outcome of those games had long since been decided. BNM
I'm smiling as I read this thread. Thanks PapaG. It adds special entertainment after you call yourself a "stats guy". You are confused because "stats guys" don't just copy-and-paste stats from another website, followed by completely ignoring the notion of correlation vs causation. If Nate is making great second half adjustments, and we have that amazing second half point differential, why are the Blazers still 3-17 (15%) when trailing at halftime? For comparison, the 21-21 Timberwolves are 12-16 (43%) when trailing at halftime. The 16-21 Warriors are 7-10 (41%) when trailing at halftime. The 14-26 Kings are 8-18 (30%) when trailing at halftime.
Making half-time adjustments, which leads to outscoring the opponent in a half, and winning/losing the game while trailing at halftime are not the same thing. I'd think a "stat guy" like you would understand that basic concept. The same statistic for the 2008-09 Blazers should have told you that, if you actually did some research. You just made a causation between second-half margin and W/L record after halftime. Horrible horrible mistake. The two have nothing to do with each other in terms of a coach making in-game adjustments. You can argue the validity of thinking second-half margin correlates to in-game adjustments, but you just compared the two and assigned the same parameter to them. LOL
As you finally admit you were wrong, laughter will not dignify your exit. Are you ready to admit your error in defending McMillan with that silly 2nd-half adjustment statistic?
You're not new here. You know that PapaG is bored and just wants some attention. It appears to be a sad, sad life.
This is classic. I love it. You're claiming that others are confusing causation and correlation even though you post garbage like this... Your entire premise is that a large 2nd half point differential is caused by good coaching adjustments at halftime, while ignoring all other factors. You started a thread putting two ideas together, and calling it causation. Now you're crying because you're being exposed for your lack of understanding. Carry on. I enjoy watching the trainwreck of your understanding of statistics.
I admitted I ignored other factors. You brought up W/L while trailing at halftime as some sort of proof of in-game adjustments. I never called anything 'causation', either. I offered my opinion based on what I thought to be a relevant statistic, and how it appeared that Nate was making in-game adjustments. Some agreed. Other brought their own stats in, and then there is you, doing whatever it is you do, which primarily seems to be building a strawman these days, and then debating that strawman. I'm still not sure why you brought up W/L record when trailing at the half. That seemed to be you attempting to show causation, and you brought Minnesota and Sacramento as examples for some baffling reason. I'm sure it made sense to you though. Thanks for the laughs!
Nope. I asked you to try to explain those stats. You can't because you think you found the reason for the 2nd half point differential. Wow. You look pretty silly saying that after you said this: You're either blatantly lying (which is pretty silly to do when there is a quote button) or you don't understand what "causation" means. I'm not at all surprised you don't understand. Which clearly shows that you don't understand "causation". Yes, I know you're baffled. Pretty standard for you when talking about statistics.
We're 3-17 when trailing at halftime??? wow, that sucks. And You still think Nate's a good coach? How about we trade in his so called "awesome" 2nd half adjustments skill in favor of first half adjustments and actually win a fucking game. instead of getting destroyed routinely. him and his scouts should be paying attention and making a decent game plan right off the bat instead of waiting for half time to draw one up. It all smells of bullshit- mcmillian style.
Portland has outscored their opponents by an average of 9 points in the 4th quarter in the last 3 games. Not only is Nate a genius at second half adjustments, he's amazing in 4th quarters. Stats don't lie...
