Posts tagged as:

Kevin Love

Roy Hibbert Doesn’t Think You Will Like Danny Granger When He Is Angry

by Jared Wade on February 2, 2012 at 1:42 am · 2 comments

There was a mini-dust-up between Danny Granger and Kevin Love late in the third quarter during Indiana’s 109-99 win over Minnesota earlier tonight. It was most likely one of those “he-did-he-thought” things. Love clearly reached out and smacked Granger with his arm extended and also sorta grabbed Granger’s shoulder while he was fouling him and lost his balance. But Danny, not having eyes in the back of his head (as anyone who has seen him pass can attest … ZING), thought Kevin was doing it more-on-purpose than he likely was. Perhaps he was up to something a little more nefarious. Love said it was a “hard foul.”

Either way, nobody was harmed, Danny yelled, Love just sorta stood there, Michael Beasley and Frank Vogel rushed over, and nothing really happened. But then something did happen.

Granger, who was already having a whale of a third quarter (15 points in the period up to that point), scored 14 more points following the fracas as his team pulled away. And he was ultra-physical and aggressive while waging his little one-man army campaign in a way that you know he was all sorts of charged up. As the philosopher Billy Hoyle once prophesized, Danny, unlike most guys, seems to play better when he’s mad.

After the win, Roy Hibbert wanted to make sure the rest of the NBA knew that Love had erred in his ways. So as a word of advice, he took to Twitter let everyone know they shouldn’t make the same mistake of angering his captain.

Great win tonight. Lesson to the league don’t get @dgranger33 mad. Y’all been warned!!

So take that to heart, league. You’re on notice about getting Danny Granger mad, according to Roy Hibbert.

The foul that started it all.

{ 2 comments }

Kevin Love: “I’ve Said It All Along, I Don’t Like the Pacers”

by Jared Wade on February 2, 2012 at 12:56 am · 14 comments

After the Pacers beat the Bulls in Chicago last week, Derrick Rose took exception to Indiana’s over-exuberance in celebrating the win. “I can’t wait to play them again,” he said, vowing revenge. Pacers Coach Frank Vogel later jabbed the Bulls back with some words, which my mom told me, unlike sticks and stone, can never hurt me. Thus, a sorta-feud was born.

Now, another young, usually mild-mannered NBA All-Star is lashing out at the team from the Hoosier State after getting beat on his home court. Look at how much Kevin Love doesn’t like the Pacers. (My emphasis added)

“I’ve said all along,” Love said, “I don’t like the Pacers.”

Love and Pacers forward Danny Granger almost came to blows with 23.7 seconds remaining the third quarter after Love was whistled for a foul and Granger approached him aggressively.

Players bumped into each other, with Michael Beasley and Martell Webster helping separate the pair. But like just about every fight in the NBA, it was all talking and no punching.

“I know that none of them were going to do anything,” said Love, who finished with 21 points. “Just play ball. It’s part of the game — a hard foul, everybody is getting fouled out there.”

The escalating feud between the two teams extends back to last season, when they split a pair of physical contests with each team winning on their home court.

“(They think) they are so tough,” Love said. “They take those pills and they got all that toughness. I don’t know where that comes from. They all think they are tough guys. I just don’t know where that comes from. It just blows my mind. They are all tough and that makes me laugh.”

The teams won’t play each other again until April 16 at Indiana, but it appears Love is already looking forward to it.

“I guarantee the next time we play them, it will be just as physical,” he said.

I’m not sure what pills he is referring to but he is clearly an authority on who is and who is not a tough guy. He has a scraggly beard and all, you know.

UPDATE: Danny Granger responded to Kevin Love on Twitter.

In response to @kevinlove’s “pacer toughness” comments… We don’t act tough, we just play hard. If we have to be tough then we will be…

In addition to wins, these Pacers sure are racking up the feuds.

Related Topics: Danny Granger, Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves

{ 14 comments }

Who Are These Two Men?

by Jared Wade on February 1, 2012 at 9:49 pm · 4 comments

Two probable NBA All-Stars …

… or two probable serial killers?

Jeff Foster Could Out-Rebound the Floor

by Jared Wade on February 18, 2011 at 10:02 am · 2 comments

Everyone who follows the NBA closely knows that Jeff Foster is one of the best rebounders in league history, particularly when it comes to offensive rebounding. Looking at offensive rebound rate (a metric that since 1971 has recorded the percentage of rebounds a player gets while he is on the court and is the best measure of rebounding ability), only four players in NBA history have a better career percentage than Jeff’s 15.2: Jayson Williams, Dennis Rodman, Moses Malone and Larry Smith. And overall, factoring in both offensive and defensive boards, Foster’s 18.93 is the eight best total rebound rate since they started recording it. (Rodman is first with an absolutely insane 23.44.)

Not bad for a skinny old man with a bad back, eh.

Given this, it should come as no surprise that he is again among the league leaders in both categories this season. He is healthy for the first time in a few years, and it has shown just as much on the court as it has on the stat sheet.

What is fairly amazing, however, is that Jeff Foster, at the age of 34, is currently having a career-best offensive rebounding year. And with a current rate of 19.4, he is not just besting his previous career high of 16.9 — he is shattering it.

Obviously, Jeff hasn’t played all that many minutes this season (not even enough to technically qualify for the league leader in the category, a distinction that with no minute-limits would actually go to Dan Gadzuric and his gaudy 20.0 rate). So sample size is significant here. But still … Foster has twice previously lead the league in offensive rebound rate, first in 2006-07 with 16.5 and again in 2007-08 with 15.0 — and he is making those numbers look absolutely pedestrian by comparison.

Looking at another pace-adjusted measure of offensive rebounding proficiency, Jeff is posting 6.2 offensive boards per 36 minutes. This is nearly a full rebound better than his previous high of 5.3 per 36 and nearly a board and a half better than his career average of 4.8 per 36.

For further perspective on how insane these number is, note that Kevin Love, a guy currently averaging 15.5 rebounds per night, “only” has an offensive rebound rate of 13.9 and 4.7 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes.

At this point, it is essentially impossible for Foster to officially qualify as the league leader in offensive rebound rate, but if he somehow does and can keep up the same rate, he has a shot to post the best season ever recorded. (To qualify, he needs to either play 2,000 minutes or grab 240 offensive rebounds.)

For fun, here are the top 20 offensive rebounding seasons since the stat began being recorded in 1971.

Best of luck, Jeffrey.