There is no greater feeling than completing the last "thing" you need to do before going on vacation. I'll get that feeling at 4:30 pm tomorrow afternoon when I lock the door at the Post Office and hop in the car free until the 15th. Our little family will take our first 3 person family vacation, which is my favorite achievement yet (although first baseball game was pretty high). We'll be headed southeast to see my grandparents and a certain sandy place the locals call "beach."
There are several different philosophies of what makes a good vacation. This is something I've thought about, so I'll share said thoughts with you, the reader.
Typically, Vacations parse out to the following varieties:
1 - Event/Location
This is Disneyland or New York City
2 - Activity
This is camping or skiing or scuba diving
3 - People
This is visiting family, friends etc
I very, very, very, very much prefer #3. Vacation is an ancient word for "no work" (Vaca = vacuous, or empty and tion such as automation, "self work") which can also be translated "sleep". None of that is true, but it should be. Anyone who takes "vacation" to go climb a mountain or walk 50 miles has literally lost their mind. See Jim Gaffigan on camping. He nails it. If given a choice between a tent and virtually anything else, I'll never choose the tent. The "event" oriented vacation is often more stressful than the average 60 hour workweek and therefore defeats the purpose of leaving.
Instead, a perfect vacation is as follows. Arrive at random relative/friend's house. Sleep for 10-15 hours straight. Eat. Sit and talk to relative/friend for 3-4 hours. Eat. Sleep for 10-12 hours. Go to small, simple event/location such as Church or a museum with friend/relative. Eat. Watch movie. Eat. Sleep for 10-12 hours. Wash, rinse, repeat. This is vacation as the original authors intended it.
The mountain climbing, skiing, bicycling, surfing, maniacs come home from vacation "revitalized" and "plugged-in" which are code words for tired and sweaty. I come home from vacation with sleep-surplus and a +400 on my book-page quota.
This year, however, will be an exploratory expedition into the possibility of relocation. This is a fancy name, and fancy names always mean work. So, I will probably be doubly focused on increasing my sleep-surplus and burning away skin cells and hours at the aforementioned beach to compensate for the "workation" part of our journey.
All said, I'm stoked and have been on brain vacation since last Tuesday (right AFTER the Dirk/Duncan post so Ha!). I don't know what the Internet will be like out yonder so this'll be on hiatus till we return. Probably a summation of our vacation will re-launch us on the 16th. Till then, tootles.
Braves continue to beast. Retired Chipper's #10 on Friday, the first of a 3 game sweep of Arizona. Comfortable lead in the AL East heading into the All-Star break, Gattis and Beachy both almost ready to re-join the team. Things are feeling like '95, and couldn't be better.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Prayer - What, When, Where, Why and How
That's enough NBA talk for a little while, back to something a little more important. I wouldn't begin to know who to source regarding my ideas on Prayer, I know CS Lewis, John Piper and my Dad have all played vital rolls in the formation of the following. However, there are many other things I've read and people I've heard that lead me to these conclusions. I'll try the W ?'s as a framework and see if that organizes this better.
What - Prayer is defined as "a devout petition to God, or an object of worship" on dictionary.com, "an invocation or act that seeks to to activate rapport with a deity, an object of worship, or a spiritual entity through deliberate communication" by wikipedia, which breaks my third rule of definition: don't use words that would need to be looked up when defining a word, but is a much fuller definition. In Scripture the word Prayer, Pray and Praying are used a combined 439 times in the Bible. Which is a statistic I've never understood the value of. Sure, when comparing particular author's word usages I get it, but not just intro-ing a sermon on a topic and rattling off its usage stats and various Greek & Hebrew modes. Nonetheless, despite only appearing 439 times, prayer is a very important topic in the Bible. There's no recorded instance of God pulling aside Adam, Noah, Abraham or any other Patriarchal figure and explaining to them how to talk to Him. The word prayer first appears in 2 Sam but I think its safe to assume the practice had been going on since the beginning of time itself. Of course, the "Lord's Prayer" story is the most commonly used template to teach how to pray and is also relates Christ teaching His disciples. However, do you think the disciples really didn't know how to pray? When they asked Christ to teach them, was it out of total ignorance in the process? These are Jews, they've been watching and participating in prayers their whole lives. They were asking for special guidance, not start-up instruction. Christ prayed differently because Christ was speaking to His Father within perfect harmony of His will.
My definition of prayer:
The intentional and sometimes audible presentation of praise, information and requests with expected results from the created to the Creator.
When - Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing" or "pray constantly." I've heard it preached that in a perfect world we could sit on our knees and talk to God all day. That's dumb. God is eternally long suffering so we can't annoy Him per se, but He created and saved us for a reason and as far as I can tell, it wasn't to sit on our knees all day. Maybe the Muslims are on to something here. Just like Daniel, they have set times to gather and pray. This is good and a lot of Christians I know are similar, just less public (which is recommended in the Sermon on the Mount) but it doesn't quite fit into "without ceasing." I don't think I'm going to blow anybody's mind by saying Paul is talking about maintaining a close, sharing, open communication channel between God and ourselves at all times. Does this mean we don't have to bless our meals? Yes. Is it a good practice to do it anyway? Of course it is. But my mom saying "You're going to choke on that because you ate it before we prayed" is frankly ridiculous. In fact, suggesting we can't start anything without "praying first" suggests we weren't praying to begin with, which misses the point entirely. Praying for ritual's sake cheapens the act. Prayer should be spontaneous, legitimate and passionate. However, I think we should also have public prayer before ballgames, meetings, meals and the Sunday morning offering. But public prayer is a different beast altogether than personal prayer, I'll explain more as we go.
Where - If we are praying "without ceasing" then everywhere. There are some recommendations though. The parable of the Publican and the Sinner shows that a prayer's legitimacy is dependent on the heart not the performance. This concept is attached to the corollary that requests made known to God in secret are fulfilled in the open. Meaning relying on God alone in our prayer lives will strengthen our faith more, make us more like Christ (who prayed alone on numerous occasions) and promises results.
Side note - teaching "how to get prayers answered" is borderline blasphemous. God is not a tool to be used or a daddy figure to be manipulated. Take care
Why - Everything we do should be to the Glory of God, correct? So prayer fits into that same category. In the case of public prayer, a benediction or invocation at the beginning or end of an event symbolizes God's presence there, His power over the proceedings and the utter dependence on Him of the participants. This is beneficial for all in attendance and I believe "beneficial" to God in that it gives Him glory or as we've mentioned before, demonstrates His glory fuller.
Side note - If you think Ben Franklin's request to open the Constitutional Congress session with prayer is evidence of his faith, consider these facts. 1 - Franklin was a well-documented Deist who believed God had no or little interest in the affairs of men and 2 - the task facing the members of that Congress was enormous to say the least. I believe Franklin was showing his hand regarding prayer and throwing up what was in his mind the most desperate "Hail Mary" (pun intended) he could think of. I suggested as much my sophomore year in "Early American Political Thought" and the prof, who has since retired, about burned me at the stake. oh well.
In regards to personal prayer. The benefits for an individual frequently praying are clear - a closer relationship to God, there are more chances to repent so sins have less of chance to fester, constant prayer means Christ-like thinking more often which wards off sins to begin with, a more direct connection can be made between requests and results which increases faith, the transforming power of the Holy Ghost which works through direct contact with the Divine (this occurs only 2 ways: prayer and the reading/meditation of Scripture), etc.
How - as I said before, "how to pray in order to get results" is a false teaching. Christ lays out a template in the Lord's Prayer, the Saxon Paraphrase goes like this:
Heavenly Father, the Almighty God,
may your perfect will be accomplished,
You've promised to provide and as You know I need ________, thank You for Your provision.
Forgive me for ______ and help me to forgive ________ for __________, thank You for You forgiveness. Protect me from myself and the darkness of this World, thank You for Your protection. In the name of the Christ, the Supreme King Jesus, Amen.
Braves have won only 13 of their last 36 on the road. They dropped yesterday's in extras to the Royals. This 3 games series is their first ever at Kauffman stadium, one of 2 active stadiums Chipper Jones never played in. They did win game 1 however, Jason Heyward blasting off in a big way with 3 rbis and a big fly. As the All-Star game approaches here are my picks for the starters, always a bunch of tough picks:
NL
C - YMolina 1B - FFreeman 2B - MCarpenter SS - TTulowitzki (hurt but deserving) 3B - DWright
LF - JUpton CF - SChoo RF - CBeltran
Bench - JVotto, PGoldschmidt, YPuig, BHarper, ACraig, CGonzalez, JSegura (start), CGomez, BPosey
SP - AWainwright
AL
C - CSantana 1B - CDavis 2B - RCano SS - JJHardy 3B - MCabrera DH - PFielder
LF - AGordon CF - AJones RF - NCruz
Bench - NMarkakis, JLowrie, YCespedes, JMauer, MNapoli, JEllsbury, VMartinez, JBautista
SP - MScherzer
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Who's Better? NBA: Dirk Nowitzki vs Tim Duncan
Here it is, the debate that has been raging for years...at least in the Saxon home. I will set out to prove what I have vehemently argued for, that Dirk Nowitzki is a better player than Tim Duncan. Team accomplishments aside (because is NBA Champion Chris Anderson really better than no-ring Charles Barkley? Of course not). What makes a player better than another player? A series of things. First of all, physical abilities. What is a player capable of or what has he proven he can do? Secondly, statistics. What has a player actually done? Thirdly, legacy. What will he be remembered for? This is balanced by his supporting cast. Be ready, this is a big one.
I will compare Duncan and Nowitzki in these 3 areas and then present my answer. All stats taken from Basketball-Reference.com and Wikipedia (shut up)
Dirk stands in at 7'0" weighing a trim 237. He was selected 9th overall by Milwaukee in '98 and then traded to Dallas with Pat Garrity for Robert Traylor (Top 10 worst trade in sports history)
He has logged 3000+ minutes 6 of his 15 seasons, dipping below 2000 only in his first and most recent year (2013 due to a knee injury). Even this last year he kept up a streak of 14 years in a row of 31 or better minutes per game.
He made 151 3 pointers in 2005 and has 1340 for his career at a 38% clip, this is very good - compare with sharpshooter Mike Miller: 1420 40%. Especially for a 7 footer! Let's compare with several others 6'10" or better...
Name: Height Career Total 3P%
Robert Horry 6'10" 795 34%
Chris Bosh: 6'10" 87 29%
Shaquille O'Neal: 7'1" 1 5%
Marc Gasol: 7'0" 34 24%
Mehmet Okur 6'11" 598 38%
Brad Miller: 6'11" 200 33%
Once again, taking the 3 point shooting and offensive rebounding together gives you a picture of what Dirk brings to the table.
Secondly, he played with good offensive rebounders:
Shawn (the Stormin' Mormon) Bradley [while playing with Dirk]: 796 offensive boards
Erik Dampier [While with Dirk]: 1224 (and he lead the NBA with 334 the year before joining the Mavs)
Compared to era centers:
Marcus Camby: 2480 (while contemporary with Dirk, only leaving out his rookie season) only 400 more than Bradley and Dampier
Yao Ming: 1233 (direct contemporary to Dampier's career with Dirk, only 9 more!)
Andrew Bogut: 1216 (ditto but with 8 less)
So, no I didn't put Shaq or Dwight Howard up there, but obviously if Dirk had played with them he'd have less offensive boards but more offensive chances. Compared to average centers (and Yao, Camby and Bogut are usually considered a bit above average) Bradley and Dampier were good rebounders.
Defensively he was nicknamed "Irk" because he had no "D" early in his career. Is this fair? Let's take a look.
His peak at defensive win shares was in 2002 at 5.3, career total at 50.9 (that's 3.4 a year)
Other similar players with a similar build or defensive responsibilities:
Kevin Durant (who is the best comparison physically I know of) is at 21.9 thru 6 seasons (3.65)
Mike Miller: 19.4 for his career
Mehmet Okur: 21.3 for his career
Chris Bosh: 30.1 (3 per season, most would have Chris as a better defender than Dirk but not the numbers)
Kevin Garnett: 87.4 (4.85 arguably the best defensive PF ever)
This, in my opinion, shows Dirk is possibly a below average defender but actually contributes more than people give him credit for. Was he ever a 1st team all-D candidate? No, but he wan't somebody you could pick on either, which was his reputation. But why did he get this reputation? Let's try to dig deeper...going through the game logs I found each instance these premier power forwards faced Dirk and the results (I am leaving Duncan off till the conclusion).
Garnett vs DAL '98-'13: Reg Season: W-L for Garnett (17-22); <10(1); 11-20(12); 21-30(22); 31-40(4)
Playoffs: W-L for Garnett (0-3); <10(0); 11-20(1); 21-30(1); 31-40(1)
Webber vs DAL '98-13: Reg Season: W-L for Webber (11-10); <10(2); 11-20(10); 21-30(7); 31-40(2)
Playoffs: W-L for Webber (9-3); <10(0); 11-20(3); 21-30(6); 31-40(3)
Rasheed vs DAL '98-13: Reg Season: W-L for Sheed (16-15); <10(6); 11-20(15); 21-30(6); 31-40(4)
Playoffs: W-L for Sheed (3-4); <10(0); 11-20(5); 21-30(2); 31-40(0)
I could show more, but I think this is sufficient. I didn't confirm Dirk played in every one of these games, so it's possible some of the numbers don't apply, but here's what I see in these games. Webber killed Dirk in the playoffs, but on the whole Dirk kept him at or below his averages. Garnett got his 20 a majority of the time but Dirk crushed him in the playoffs when it mattered most. Sheed was characteristically streaky, but again, never was able to bust out against Dirk in their two playoff match-ups. What this doesn't show, but if you were to look at the game logs you would notice, Dirk (and Dallas' D) got stronger as he got older. Granted, Webber and Sheed aged fast, but even Garnett didn't score more than 28 after the first 5 seasons. All this to say, Dirk was/is an average defender, and coupled with his elite offense is better than Duncan. Need more? Let's continue.
His career highs are 26.6/9.9/3.5/1.4/1.5 at 52/42/92
(those are pts/rbs/ast/stl/blk at fg%/3p%/ft%).
His peak season was was 26.6/9.0/2.8/0.7/1.0 at 48/40/90.
(Sheed: 19.3/8.2/1.9/1.3/1.3 at 47/36/73)
His career averages are 22.6/8.2/2.6/0.9/0.9 at 48/38/88.
(Webber: 20.7/9.8/1.4/1.4/2.8 at 48/30/65)
His 10 best games:
Regular Season: brutally difficult to select 10
'04 53-16-2-3st-4bl
'03 43-4-8 3's
'05 51-9-5
'07 34-10-10-4 3's
'01 33-23-8-4bl
'01 40-11-6 3's
'02 34-18-4-6 3's
'01 38-17-3st
'06 43-12-2
'07 42-12
5 best in the Playoffs: even more challenging to pick these
'06 50-12-3-5 3's
'00 42-18-2-6st
'02 46-10-4 3's
'08 44-13-3
'01 39-17-3st
His finest moment:
'11 21-11-1-2st (Game 7 clincher)
He led the league in PER (Player efficiency rating) '05-06 and finished top 10 in 10 of his 15 seasons. He's 6th among active players and 18th all-time.
He dished out 200+ dimes 8 straight seasons from '02-'10 minus '09 when he only had 197. He topped out at 266 in '07. 2923 total for his career, 196th all-time. If he hits 3000 he'll pass the following: Greg Anthony, Johnny Dawkins, Doug Christie, Rolando Blackman, Anthony Mason, Tom Gola, Kendall Gill, Howard Komives, Antonio Daniels and Bob Weiss. He also trails former teammate Devin Harris by 3. He's 103 behind Shaq and 32 more to Hakeem. (Garnett is at 51st all-time with 5224) (Sheed: 1 200 ast season, 1994 in 16 yr career)
He swiped over 100 passes in '02 and blocked more than 100 shots 3 different times in his career. He sits 75th all-time in blocks and 158th in steals.
He won the MVP in '06-07 and finished in the top 12 in voting 11 times, 3 times in the top 3. He is 7th among active players in MVP vote shares and 22nd all-time. He went to 11 straight all-star games, has been 1st team all-NBA 4 times, 2nd team 5 times and 3rd team 3 other times. That's all-NBA 12 of his 15 seasons!
He's 3rd in points scored among active players, 17th all-time (top 20!) 13th in career FT%. He's 6th among active rebounders and 4th in free throw attempts. In '06-07 he logged a 50/40/90 which has only been done by 6 players, Steve Nash (his teammate), Larry Bird, Mark Price, Reggie Miller and recently Kevin Durant. Add in Ray Allen, and you have the greatest shooters of all time (with the possible addition of Steph Curry sometime soon). That's right, Dirk Nowitzki, a seven-footer with over 9000 rebounds is one of the greatest shooters ever.
I mentioned defensive win shares. Dirk was average in that category. Now let's talk offensive win shares.
Dirk stands at 11th all-time, above names like Shaquille O'Neal, Moses Malone, Magic Johnson, LeBron James (for now), and someone to be named later. The 10 names above him hold really only one surprise:
1. Kareem
2. Wilt
3. Oscar
4. MJ
5. Stockton
6. Karl
7. Reggie Miller (?????)
8. West
9. Bryant
10. Barkley
11. DIRK
That's a great list.
When offensive and defensive are combined you get total win shares, Dirk is currently 13th all-time, 3rd among active, and just ahead of Kobe Bean Bryant. Because the stat can be compiled there's also WinShares/48 min (essentially per game). Dirk is 14th, 5th among active, and just ahead of Shaq and John Stockton. Basketball reference creates a similarity comparison chart with 10 other players and shows their win shares across their careers (and the duration of the player being compared). The players rated as similar to Dirk are: LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Dr J, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Larry Bird, Bob Pettit, Dolph Schayes and Adrian Dantley. THAT's a list. What is...the greatest forwards in NBA history?
Interestingly, and of course conveniently, Dirk scores quite well.
Year 1: 5th.......(Duncan 3rd)
Year 2: 6th.......(Duncan 4th)
Year 3: 4th.......(Duncan 8th)
Year 4: 2nd.......(Duncan 8th)
Year 5: 3rd.......(Duncan 7th)
Year 6: 4th.......(Duncan 6th)
Year 7: 3rd.......(Duncan 4th)
Year 8: 3rd.......(Duncan 7th)
Year 9: 3rd.......(Duncan 4th)
Year 10: 2nd.......(Duncan 3rd)
Year 11: 2nd.......(Duncan 3rd)
Year 12: 6th.......(Duncan 2nd)
Year 13: 5th.......(Duncan 2nd)
Year 14: 6th.......(Duncan 1st)
Year 15: 6th.......(Duncan 2nd)
In 9 of his 15 seasons (9 straight) he contributed more to the wins of his teams than Tim Duncan did to his. Year 3, 5 and 8 he contributed much more.
Ok, so you've got an idea on how good Dirk is. It's time to shift gears and present the case for the Big Fundamental.
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Timmy is 6'11" 248 lbs according to BBall Ref
He lead the league in games played his first two seasons (50 in the strike shortened '98) . He entered the league one year before Dirk. Tim was selected 1st overall by San Antonio in '97 and hasn't moved since.
He's logged 3000 min only 4 times in his career, but has only come off the bench twice in his 1180 game career.
In 2001 he led the league in field goals made, free throws made, defensive rebounds and total rebounds. It was his peak season which slashed out to 25.5/12.7/3.7/0.7/2.5 at a 51/10/80 clip. That's awesome numbers (its not Dirk's 27 and 9 while shooting 38 from 3) but its still awesome, I mean 4 assists and 2 1/2 blocks a game? Nasty.
His career average
20.2/11.2/3.1/0.7/2.2 at 50/18/70
(22.6/8.2/2.6/0.9/0.9 at 48/38/88 Dirk, in case you forgot)
His peak #s
25.5/12.9/3.9/0.9/2.9 at 55/40(.1 attempt per game)/82('13)
He doesn't shoot 3's. He's hit 28 in 154 tries, that's 18%. (Dirk hit 151 in one year). He's also a shaky free throw shooter, only this last year crossing the mythical 80% line and for the most part hovering around 70%. To compare to other great power forwards:
Garnett: 79%
Barkley: 74%
Sheed: 72%
Webber: 65%
So while not as bad as C-Webb, he falls on the low side of the great PFs, Dirk's 88% is top 20 all-time.
Duncan has pulled 13,219 boards, good enough for 13th all-time and 2nd among active players. He lead the league, as I mentioned, in '01 and has been top 5 in the league 11 times. On the offensive glass he sits at 15th all-time and yanked down 200+ 12 times in his career. Now, let's compare the guys pulling boards with him. For his first 6 seasons he played with Hall-of-Fame Center David "The Admiral" Robinson. A beast, who pulled 300+ OBrds 3 times, led the league in total rebounding twice, and was still banging inside when Duncan came along. The following catalogs the litany of centers and power forwards that have rotated through Pop's front court
Robinson pulled 1143 offensive boards while they played together (6 seasons) 191.5 per season
Nesterovic 556 in 3 yrs 185 per
Blair 635 in 4 years 159 per
Perdue 210 in 2 yrs 155 per
McDyess 271 in 2 yrs 135 per
Rose 788 in 6 yrs 131 per
Mohammed 241 in 2 yrs 120 per
Splitter 309 in 3 years 103 per
Elson 81 in 1 yr
Kurt Thomas 160 in 2 yrs 80 per
Horry 378 in 5 years 76 per
Oberto 433 in 6 yrs 72 per
Walker 144 in 2 yrs 72 per
Willis 120 in 2 yrs 60 per
Bonner 380 in 7 years 54 per
Nobody else played more than 1 year with more than 50 offensive boards per year
(I couldn't help but notice the production level of Splitter vs Bonner)
Why did gather this data you ask? For the same reason I showed Bradley and Dampier's numbers. Notice that Shawn and Erik would be #2 and #3 on this list. In reality, Nesterovic, Mohammed and Perdue are the only players not named Robinson on this list that had any type of career at the center position. Horry, Willis, Thomas and McDyess were all decent power forwards. The rest were a bunch of scrubs. Duncan was the rebounder, it was his job, it is no surprise he pulled 4000 more boards then Dirk, other than the first 6 seasons, Duncan was the only rebounder on his team. That is not saying Tim's bad at it. His career 9.9% OReb% is 67th all-time (Dirk does not place in the top 300). In fact, Duncan is a great rebounder, but his advantage over Dirk is less than the average fan believes.
Now to his Defense. My esteemed father believes Duncan to be a top 5 defensive player all-time. Let's see.
He blocked 200 shots 3 times and less than 100 only once in his 16 year career. His 2652 have him 1st among active players and 8th all-time, he trails Shaq by 80, so an average Duncan season would have him within 50 of Patrick Ewing and the top 6. He never led the league in blocks but finished top 5 in 6 different seasons, including '13. This is amazing, but is it "good defense." Yes. In Defensive Win Shares, he has led the league 5 times, is the active leader and stands 5th all-time. However, I went ahead and checked the aforementioned contemporaries which I dug up on Dirk, to see if anybody had his number. Results below:
Garnett vs SAS '97-'13: Reg Season: W-L for Garnett (24-25); <10(2); 11-20(24); 21-30(18); 31-40(5)
Playoffs: W-L for Garnett (2-6); <10(0); 11-20(3); 21-30(5); 31-40(0)
Webber vs SAS '97-13: Reg Season: W-L for Webber (9-17); <10(2); 11-20(11); 21-30(9); 31-40(4)
Playoffs: W-L for Webber (0-0); <10(0); 11-20(0); 21-30(0); 31-40(0)
Rasheed vs SAS '97-13: Reg Season: W-L for Sheed (17-19); <10(11); 11-20(14); 21-30(11); 31-40(0)
Playoffs: W-L for Sheed (3-8); <10(3); 11-20(6); 21-30(2); 31-40(0)
Wow. He definitely dominated Sheed according to these numbers. 14 of the 47 match-ups Wallace managed only 10 or fewer points. Dirk allowed 14 30+ point games to these 3, Duncan allowed 9, none of which were in the playoffs. Garnett was slightly more successful against Duncan, but faced him a whopping 49 times so there was a certain amount of inevitability that a player like KG would get his.
In short, Duncan is, as my Dad says, one of the top 5 greatest defensive forwards ever. (Kareem, Hakeem, Garnett, Russell and Duncan) Does that make him better than Dirk? In my opinion, no. Garnett is on that list, higher than Duncan, and maybe another day I can demonstrate that Duncan is better than Garnett.
How about Duncan's offense? We already noticed he has no 3 pt shot and was below average from the free throw line, however he's got skills. In many cases, a Duncan endorser would post a series of videos of him turning and banking a 15 footer with the defender falling down or closing too late. As far as I can tell, according to these videos, no one has ever contested Duncan, ever. This of course is not true, however, Duncan has no tricky moves. He has no McHale-like arsenal or Garnett-like athleticism. He doesn't have range, he never muscled down anybody bigger than him (in fact, Shaq pushed him around quite a bit), and the few times he "took over a game" you'd have to be personally taking stats to notice. You add those things up and you'd never expect to get an offensive win shares which is 25th all-time and 9th among active players. He led the league in 2001 (only other top 10 finish was in 2002). Here are in my opinion, his best 10 regular season and best 5 playoff games.
'01 53-11-5
'00 42-11-5-4bl
'02 38-16-9-4bl
'99 33-20-3-3bl
'13 31-18-6-5bl
'03 36-20-7
'07 34-18-5
'13 22-21-1-6bl
'11 21-16-8-5bl
'09 21-27-6
'05 41-15-6-4bl
'02 40-15-7
'02 32-20-6-7bl
'02 34-24-6-6bl
'01 34-25-4
This was pretty tough. I didn't include his title clinching games, partly because he had 4 of them and partly because none of them were all that impressive (not that Dirk's was either). He had his one 50 point explosion and had several pretty dominant performances in the playoffs. However, if all you saw were Duncan's and Dirk's best 10 stacked up against each other it would be less of an argument. If you add the playoff games things get more interesting.
So, two things left to determine our winner. Who they played with and how they played against each other.
Who has Dirk played with? *on the title team
Each player listed finished in the 10 ten in minutes played for Dallas at least once during Dirk's career.
Hall of Famers:
Steve Nash
Jason Kidd* (for 1 year)
Peja Stojakovic* (for part of 1 year)
Tim Hardaway (for 1 year)
Vince Carter
All-Pro:
Jason Terry*
Shawn Marion*
Tyson Chandler*
Josh Howard
Michael Finley
Elton Brand
Danny Manning
Antoine Walker
Jerry Stackhouse
All-Star:
Devin Harris
Shawn Bradley
OJ Mayo
Nick VanExel
Cedric Ceballos
Raef LaFrentz
Avery Johnson
Antawn Jamison
Rest:
Erik Dampier
Chris Kaman
Nick Collison
JJ Barea*
Caron Butler* (Shut up Clint)
Eduardo Najera
Popeye Jones
Walt Williams
Marquis Daniels
Brandon Bass
Brendan Haywood*
Drew Gooden
DeShawn Stephenson*
Not a particular amazing list of ballplayers. The championship squad was pretty nice, I'll admit, but in terms of support...Dirk has had 2 Hall of Famers for any length of time and one of those is named Vince Carter who didn't join Dirk till well beyond the twilight of his career (and only the last two years at that). Terry and Marion have backdoor shots at Hall of Fame votes, the rest of these guys are either flash-in-the-pan stars (Barea, VanExel, JHoward) or strong career grinders (Stackhouse, Finley, LaFrentz). Obviously each statement I make regarding these guys' careers opens up another debate, however, bear with me. Lets look at the Spurs.
Hall of Famers:
David Robinson**
Tony Parker***
Manu Ginobili***
All-Pro:
Sean Elliot*
Michael Finley*
Steve Smith*
Bruce Bowen***(I'm curious what the HoF voters might say here)
Hedo Turkogclu
Robert Horry**(Another one with an outside chance)
Antonio McDyess
Stephen Jackson*
All-Star:
Avery Johnson*
Jaren Jackson*
Mario Elie*
Derek Anderson
Richard Jefferson
Danny Green
Boris Diaw
Devin Brown***
Rest:
Malik Rose**
Rasho Nesterovic
Will Perdue*
Vinny Del-Negro
Steve Kerr**
Antonio Daniels*
Terry Porter
Danny Ferry*
Brent Barry**
Nazr Mohammed
Francisco Elson*
Fabricio Oberto*
Jacque Vaughn*
Matt Bonner*
Kurt Thomas
DeJuan Blair
Kawhi Leonard
Beno Udrih**
I think that's a stronger list. Albeit only 3 other shoe-in HoFers but he played with each of them for several years. Bowen, Horry, McDyess, Steve Smith and Stephen Jackson are as good a group of almost superstars as you're going to find. However, its not like he played with Dwayne Wade or Kobe Bryant. The twin towers team with Robinson and Duncan, sidekicks Elliot and Elie and the boss himself Avery Johnson, that was a team. The rest of his titles were the big 3 of Parker, Ginobili and himself, a combo which should be included with Bird/McHale/Parish and Kareem/Magic/Worthy.
Conclusion - Duncan had better teams. Seems short, but this is already a book and that would require a movie and two sequels to finish up.
Finally, how did they match-up against each other? First the regular season:
03/4/98 Dirk 11-6 Duncan 26-12
03/27/98 Dirk 2-0 (13 min) Duncan 21-15
04/13/98 Dirk 12-13-4 Duncan 21-11
04/22/98 Dirk 8-5 Duncan 14-10-4
Year 1: Duncan dominated with a year under his belt against the rookie
11/20/99 Dirk 16-12 Duncan 14-17
12/14/99 Dirk 12-2 Duncan 29-12-4
03/16-00 Dirk 19-4 Duncan 10-2
03/21/00 Dirk 13-7 Duncan 26-12-5 (Mavs won)
Year 2: Duncan still in command, but Dirk catching up
11/10/00 Dirk 18-10 Duncan 11-14-4
02/13/01 Dirk 30-10 Duncan 28-15-6-6bl (Spurs won)
02-24-01 Dirk 16-9-4 Duncan 31-13
04-10-01 Dirk 20-7 Duncan 25-10-6
Year 3: One epic duel, and each with a pounding, Duncan still with the edge
12/26/01 Dirk 26-11-3-4st Duncan 53-11-4 (Mavs won in Duncan's only 50 point game)
01/05/02 Dirk 28-14-4 Duncan 29-17-2
03/21/02 Dirk 29-14-4 Duncan 32-14-5
04/06/02 Dirk 26-21-3 Duncan 33-16-5
Year 4: One thing is for sure, they show up to face each other, Duncan's greatest game is ruined by Dirk but otherwise, still seeing Duncan one up his German counterpart.
Dirk missed the first meeting
02/20/03 Dirk 20-6 Duncan 11-6
03/20/03 Dirk 34-12-2 Duncan 25-18-4-4bl
Duncan missed the last meeting
Year 5: Dirk was boss this year, both teams losing when their superstar wasn't present.
Duncan missed the first meeting
11/20/03 Dirk 26-6 Duncan 30-17-5-4bl (Mavs won)
02/26/04 Dirk 23-6-5 Duncan 22-17 (Spurs won)
Duncan missed the last meeting
Year 6: Duncan dealing with injuries has a big game spoiled but gets it back. Much more even competition.
11/24/04 Dirk 23-11 Duncan 27-13
11/30/04 Dirk 21-13-4 Duncan 20-13-2-5bl
01/14/05 Dirk 36-14 Duncan 25-6
Duncan missed their last meeting (Mavs won by 36)
Year 7: Dirk dominates once and matches him step-for-step the other 2. Without Duncan, the Spurs can't handle Nowitzki as he drops 15 in just 21 min in the blowout.
11/05/05 Dirk 34-8 Duncan 18-12-5
01/12/06 Dirk 14-9-6 Duncan 13-14 (Spurs won...weird game)
03/02/06 Dirk 23-11 Duncan 15-6
04/07/06 Dirk 40-10 Duncan 13-9
Year 8: Dirk is in full swing, Duncan can't hand him, and as we'll see later the tide finally turns in the postseason as well.
11/02/06 Dirk 21-11 Duncan 13-10-4
11/24/06 Dirk 31-10 Duncan 29-6
01/05/07 Dirk 36-8 Duncan 18-7-4
04/15/07 Dirk 21-4 Duncan 16-7-6
Year 9: During Dirk's MVP run, Duncan is all but out-classed and if not for the series of Baron Davis' life another epic postseason battle was on the horizon. Blast you Baron Davis!
11/15/07 Dirk 17-8-5 Duncan 24-5
Duncan missed the 2nd meeting
02/28/08 Dirk 28-6 Duncan 31-15
03/23/08 Dirk 11-7-4 Duncan 19-13
Year 10: Duncan comes back with a vengeance and returns the previous year's drumming. Chris Paul prevents another postseason duel between our heroes and then the infamous Robert Horry injury run...
11/04/08 Dirk 30-7 Duncan 19-15
12/09/08 Dirk 30-10 Duncan 32-14-4
Duncan misses the 3rd meeting (His 6th time being out versus Dirk's 1 in the regular season)
03/04/09 Dirk 24-12-5 Duncan 19-12-5
Year 11: Pretty even with a slight advantage to Dirk and then a 1st round meeting in the playoffs.
Duncan missed the first meeting
11/18/09 Dirk 41-12 Duncan 22-14-6
01/08/10 Dirk 26-5 Duncan 31-12-5
Duncan missed the last meeting (8 misses now)
Year 12: Duncan continues nursing injuries and then dropping double doubles but Dirk has the edge. Another first round match-up with a little revenge in the postseason.
11/26/10 Dirk 26-8-5 Duncan 15-8-4
Dirk missed the 2nd
and 3rd meetings
03/18/11 Dirk 23-9 Duncan 22-8
Year 13: On his way to his title, Dirk maintained his recent regular season dominance over Duncan, and even took a page out of his book missing two of their head-to-heads. Memphis' shocker prevented a 3rd straight meeting between these two in the playoffs, what a pity.
01/05/12 Dirk 6-6 (in 23 min) Duncan 10-5 (Spurs win by 22)
01/29/12 Dirk 10-13 Duncan 12-6
03/17/12 Dirk 27-6-4 Duncan 17-4
03-23-12 Dirk 16-2 Duncan 15-12
Year 14: Both superstars look their age in these match-ups. Dirk gets the slight edge again, by my count that's 9 out of the last 10 to Dirk. Both lose tough ones to Durant in the playoffs.
12/23/12 Dirk 8-6 Duncan 15-5-4
12/30/12 Dirk 8-5 Duncan 18-10
Duncan misses again
01/25/13 Dirk 21-11 Duncan 28-19
Year 15: Duncan experiences a renaissance, despite missing yet another match-up, and completely dominates the less-than healthy and old-looking Dirk.
Ok, I have Dirk 9 Duncan 6. By games its Dirk 25 Duncan 26, Dirk with 3 misses while Duncan missed 9.
Here's the playoffs. (If you weren't bouncing down here you're a stronger man than I.
2001 Western Conference Semis (Spurs in 5)
05/05/01 Dirk 9-7 Duncan 31-13
05/07/01 Dirk 19-6 Duncan 25-22-6
05/09/01 Dirk 15-3 Duncan 18-14-3
05/12/01 Dirk 30-9 Duncan 29-18-5
05/14/01 Dirk 42-18-2-6st Duncan 32-20-3-5bl (Spurs won)
Dirk showed up but Duncan was too much.
2003 Western Conference Finals (Spurs in 6)
05/19/03 Dirk 38-15-2 Duncan 40-15-7 (Mavs won)
05/22/03 Dirk 23-10-2 Duncan 32-15-5
05/23/03 Dirk 15-9 Duncan 34-24-6-6bl
Dirk missed the last 3
Dirk's injury ended the Mavs hopes (though they did steal one game after he went down)
2006 Western Conference Semis (Mavs in 7)
05/07/06 Dirk 20-14 Duncan 31-13-4
05/09/06 Dirk 21-9 Duncan 28-9-3-4bl
05/13/06 Dirk 27-15 Duncan 35-12
05/15/06 Dirk 28-9 Duncan 31-13-6
05/17/06 Dirk 31-10-4 Duncan 36-12-4
05/19/06 Dirk 26-21-5 Duncan 24-8
05/22/06 Dirk 37-15 Duncan 41-15-6 (Mavs won)
Epic. Both immortals running on all cylinders. Dirk was just a little better.
2009 Western Conference 1st Round (Mavs in 5)
04/18/09 Dirk 19-8 Duncan 27-9
04/20/09 Dirk 14-6 Duncan 13-11-5
04/23/09 Dirk 20-7 Duncan 4-2 (in 15 min)
04/25/09 Dirk 12-13 Duncan 25-10-7
04/28/09 Dirk 31-9 Duncan 30-8
Dirk makes the statement here, he is the master now.
2010 Western Conference 1st Round (Spurs in 6)
04/18/09 Dirk 31-7 Duncan 27-8
04/21/09 Dirk 26-10-4 Duncan 25-17
04/23/09 Dirk 35-7 Duncan 25-5-4
04/25/09 Dirk 17-11-4 Duncan 4-11 (Spurs won)
04/27/09 Dirk 15-9 Duncan 11-6 (Mavs won by 22)
04/29/09 Dirk 33-5-4 Duncan 17-10-5-3st-3bl
Duncan comes back and is aided by a vanishing Josh Howard.
In playoff series its Duncan 3 Dirk 2. In MVPs its Dirk 1 Duncan 0. In titles its Duncan 4 Dirk 1. In names that start with D its Duncan and Dirk 1 Me also 1. It's as close as any comparison of so diametrically opposite players could possibly be. The fading, one-foot hang-in-the-air tongue-wagging 3-point-jacking white dude from Wurzburg versus the rock-solid, perfect-footwork, bank-shot drilling, bug-eyed staring, bounce pass throwing Virgin Islander. I am leaving off one argument point. It is accepted that Dirk Nowitzki is a power forward, that is he plays the 4th position in a classic basketball lineup. Duncan on the other hand is a power forward/center, meaning he plays both the 4th and the 5th spots. Karl Malone is of the opinion Duncan should not be included in the all-time power forward ranks. I am conceding this point because it is completely opinion and is impossible to suggest authoritatively one way or the other except to say the Spurs list him at PF so he kinda has to be.
So, in conclusion I say DIRK NOWITZKI is a better basketball player than Tim Duncan. hands down. (and the 3rd greatest PF, if Larry is a SF which is a whole 'nother ball of wax)
As much as I'm convinced Dirk is/was/will be better there is no right answer here. Absorb the data, go watch them play, make your own choice. And be ready to argue about it, cuz I'm ready.
Here's a couple videos to dwell on as you make your choice:
Dirk - Game 2 2011 Finals, "With the left hand"
Dirk - BIG commercial
Duncan - Game 7 2013 Finals, "Mario Chalmers stopped Tim Duncan"
Duncan- Bill Simmons: Tim Duncan appreciation video
I will compare Duncan and Nowitzki in these 3 areas and then present my answer. All stats taken from Basketball-Reference.com and Wikipedia (shut up)
Dirk stands in at 7'0" weighing a trim 237. He was selected 9th overall by Milwaukee in '98 and then traded to Dallas with Pat Garrity for Robert Traylor (Top 10 worst trade in sports history)
He has logged 3000+ minutes 6 of his 15 seasons, dipping below 2000 only in his first and most recent year (2013 due to a knee injury). Even this last year he kept up a streak of 14 years in a row of 31 or better minutes per game.
He made 151 3 pointers in 2005 and has 1340 for his career at a 38% clip, this is very good - compare with sharpshooter Mike Miller: 1420 40%. Especially for a 7 footer! Let's compare with several others 6'10" or better...
Name: Height Career Total 3P%
Robert Horry 6'10" 795 34%
Chris Bosh: 6'10" 87 29%
Shaquille O'Neal: 7'1" 1 5%
Marc Gasol: 7'0" 34 24%
Mehmet Okur 6'11" 598 38%
Brad Miller: 6'11" 200 33%
Rasheed Wallace: 6'10" 1086 34%
As you can see, there's never been a shooter his size. Okur shot much fewer and Wallace much less efficiently. Kevin Durant is listed at 6'9" on BBallRef but he's shooting 3's at a 37% clip, virtually identical to Dirk's career average a full 3 inches shorter.
He pulled 791 boards in 2002, 120 on the offensive glass in '01, and has 9096 for his career. This is low for a power forward, but let's consider two factors. First of all, he plays on the perimeter, let's look at other perimeter forwards' offensive board numbers:
Kevin Durant (6 years): 395
Dirk (First 6 years): 553
Peja Stojakovic (13 years): 747
Dirk (First 13 years) 1199
Secondly, he played with good offensive rebounders:
Shawn (the Stormin' Mormon) Bradley [while playing with Dirk]: 796 offensive boards
Erik Dampier [While with Dirk]: 1224 (and he lead the NBA with 334 the year before joining the Mavs)
Compared to era centers:
Marcus Camby: 2480 (while contemporary with Dirk, only leaving out his rookie season) only 400 more than Bradley and Dampier
Yao Ming: 1233 (direct contemporary to Dampier's career with Dirk, only 9 more!)
Andrew Bogut: 1216 (ditto but with 8 less)
So, no I didn't put Shaq or Dwight Howard up there, but obviously if Dirk had played with them he'd have less offensive boards but more offensive chances. Compared to average centers (and Yao, Camby and Bogut are usually considered a bit above average) Bradley and Dampier were good rebounders.
Defensively he was nicknamed "Irk" because he had no "D" early in his career. Is this fair? Let's take a look.
His peak at defensive win shares was in 2002 at 5.3, career total at 50.9 (that's 3.4 a year)
Other similar players with a similar build or defensive responsibilities:
Kevin Durant (who is the best comparison physically I know of) is at 21.9 thru 6 seasons (3.65)
Mike Miller: 19.4 for his career
Mehmet Okur: 21.3 for his career
Chris Bosh: 30.1 (3 per season, most would have Chris as a better defender than Dirk but not the numbers)
Kevin Garnett: 87.4 (4.85 arguably the best defensive PF ever)
This, in my opinion, shows Dirk is possibly a below average defender but actually contributes more than people give him credit for. Was he ever a 1st team all-D candidate? No, but he wan't somebody you could pick on either, which was his reputation. But why did he get this reputation? Let's try to dig deeper...going through the game logs I found each instance these premier power forwards faced Dirk and the results (I am leaving Duncan off till the conclusion).
Garnett vs DAL '98-'13: Reg Season: W-L for Garnett (17-22); <10(1); 11-20(12); 21-30(22); 31-40(4)
Playoffs: W-L for Garnett (0-3); <10(0); 11-20(1); 21-30(1); 31-40(1)
Webber vs DAL '98-13: Reg Season: W-L for Webber (11-10); <10(2); 11-20(10); 21-30(7); 31-40(2)
Playoffs: W-L for Webber (9-3); <10(0); 11-20(3); 21-30(6); 31-40(3)
Rasheed vs DAL '98-13: Reg Season: W-L for Sheed (16-15); <10(6); 11-20(15); 21-30(6); 31-40(4)
Playoffs: W-L for Sheed (3-4); <10(0); 11-20(5); 21-30(2); 31-40(0)
I could show more, but I think this is sufficient. I didn't confirm Dirk played in every one of these games, so it's possible some of the numbers don't apply, but here's what I see in these games. Webber killed Dirk in the playoffs, but on the whole Dirk kept him at or below his averages. Garnett got his 20 a majority of the time but Dirk crushed him in the playoffs when it mattered most. Sheed was characteristically streaky, but again, never was able to bust out against Dirk in their two playoff match-ups. What this doesn't show, but if you were to look at the game logs you would notice, Dirk (and Dallas' D) got stronger as he got older. Granted, Webber and Sheed aged fast, but even Garnett didn't score more than 28 after the first 5 seasons. All this to say, Dirk was/is an average defender, and coupled with his elite offense is better than Duncan. Need more? Let's continue.
His career highs are 26.6/9.9/3.5/1.4/1.5 at 52/42/92
(those are pts/rbs/ast/stl/blk at fg%/3p%/ft%).
His peak season was was 26.6/9.0/2.8/0.7/1.0 at 48/40/90.
(Sheed: 19.3/8.2/1.9/1.3/1.3 at 47/36/73)
His career averages are 22.6/8.2/2.6/0.9/0.9 at 48/38/88.
(Webber: 20.7/9.8/1.4/1.4/2.8 at 48/30/65)
His 10 best games:
Regular Season: brutally difficult to select 10
'04 53-16-2-3st-4bl
'03 43-4-8 3's
'05 51-9-5
'07 34-10-10-4 3's
'01 33-23-8-4bl
'01 40-11-6 3's
'02 34-18-4-6 3's
'01 38-17-3st
'06 43-12-2
'07 42-12
5 best in the Playoffs: even more challenging to pick these
'06 50-12-3-5 3's
'00 42-18-2-6st
'02 46-10-4 3's
'08 44-13-3
'01 39-17-3st
His finest moment:
'11 21-11-1-2st (Game 7 clincher)
He led the league in PER (Player efficiency rating) '05-06 and finished top 10 in 10 of his 15 seasons. He's 6th among active players and 18th all-time.
He dished out 200+ dimes 8 straight seasons from '02-'10 minus '09 when he only had 197. He topped out at 266 in '07. 2923 total for his career, 196th all-time. If he hits 3000 he'll pass the following: Greg Anthony, Johnny Dawkins, Doug Christie, Rolando Blackman, Anthony Mason, Tom Gola, Kendall Gill, Howard Komives, Antonio Daniels and Bob Weiss. He also trails former teammate Devin Harris by 3. He's 103 behind Shaq and 32 more to Hakeem. (Garnett is at 51st all-time with 5224) (Sheed: 1 200 ast season, 1994 in 16 yr career)
He swiped over 100 passes in '02 and blocked more than 100 shots 3 different times in his career. He sits 75th all-time in blocks and 158th in steals.
He won the MVP in '06-07 and finished in the top 12 in voting 11 times, 3 times in the top 3. He is 7th among active players in MVP vote shares and 22nd all-time. He went to 11 straight all-star games, has been 1st team all-NBA 4 times, 2nd team 5 times and 3rd team 3 other times. That's all-NBA 12 of his 15 seasons!
He's 3rd in points scored among active players, 17th all-time (top 20!) 13th in career FT%. He's 6th among active rebounders and 4th in free throw attempts. In '06-07 he logged a 50/40/90 which has only been done by 6 players, Steve Nash (his teammate), Larry Bird, Mark Price, Reggie Miller and recently Kevin Durant. Add in Ray Allen, and you have the greatest shooters of all time (with the possible addition of Steph Curry sometime soon). That's right, Dirk Nowitzki, a seven-footer with over 9000 rebounds is one of the greatest shooters ever.
I mentioned defensive win shares. Dirk was average in that category. Now let's talk offensive win shares.
Dirk stands at 11th all-time, above names like Shaquille O'Neal, Moses Malone, Magic Johnson, LeBron James (for now), and someone to be named later. The 10 names above him hold really only one surprise:
1. Kareem
2. Wilt
3. Oscar
4. MJ
5. Stockton
6. Karl
7. Reggie Miller (?????)
8. West
9. Bryant
10. Barkley
11. DIRK
That's a great list.
When offensive and defensive are combined you get total win shares, Dirk is currently 13th all-time, 3rd among active, and just ahead of Kobe Bean Bryant. Because the stat can be compiled there's also WinShares/48 min (essentially per game). Dirk is 14th, 5th among active, and just ahead of Shaq and John Stockton. Basketball reference creates a similarity comparison chart with 10 other players and shows their win shares across their careers (and the duration of the player being compared). The players rated as similar to Dirk are: LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Dr J, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Larry Bird, Bob Pettit, Dolph Schayes and Adrian Dantley. THAT's a list. What is...the greatest forwards in NBA history?
Interestingly, and of course conveniently, Dirk scores quite well.
Year 1: 5th.......(Duncan 3rd)
Year 2: 6th.......(Duncan 4th)
Year 3: 4th.......(Duncan 8th)
Year 4: 2nd.......(Duncan 8th)
Year 5: 3rd.......(Duncan 7th)
Year 6: 4th.......(Duncan 6th)
Year 7: 3rd.......(Duncan 4th)
Year 8: 3rd.......(Duncan 7th)
Year 9: 3rd.......(Duncan 4th)
Year 10: 2nd.......(Duncan 3rd)
Year 11: 2nd.......(Duncan 3rd)
Year 12: 6th.......(Duncan 2nd)
Year 13: 5th.......(Duncan 2nd)
Year 14: 6th.......(Duncan 1st)
Year 15: 6th.......(Duncan 2nd)
In 9 of his 15 seasons (9 straight) he contributed more to the wins of his teams than Tim Duncan did to his. Year 3, 5 and 8 he contributed much more.
Ok, so you've got an idea on how good Dirk is. It's time to shift gears and present the case for the Big Fundamental.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timmy is 6'11" 248 lbs according to BBall Ref
He lead the league in games played his first two seasons (50 in the strike shortened '98) . He entered the league one year before Dirk. Tim was selected 1st overall by San Antonio in '97 and hasn't moved since.
He's logged 3000 min only 4 times in his career, but has only come off the bench twice in his 1180 game career.
In 2001 he led the league in field goals made, free throws made, defensive rebounds and total rebounds. It was his peak season which slashed out to 25.5/12.7/3.7/0.7/2.5 at a 51/10/80 clip. That's awesome numbers (its not Dirk's 27 and 9 while shooting 38 from 3) but its still awesome, I mean 4 assists and 2 1/2 blocks a game? Nasty.
His career average
20.2/11.2/3.1/0.7/2.2 at 50/18/70
(22.6/8.2/2.6/0.9/0.9 at 48/38/88 Dirk, in case you forgot)
His peak #s
25.5/12.9/3.9/0.9/2.9 at 55/40(.1 attempt per game)/82('13)
He doesn't shoot 3's. He's hit 28 in 154 tries, that's 18%. (Dirk hit 151 in one year). He's also a shaky free throw shooter, only this last year crossing the mythical 80% line and for the most part hovering around 70%. To compare to other great power forwards:
Garnett: 79%
Barkley: 74%
Sheed: 72%
Webber: 65%
So while not as bad as C-Webb, he falls on the low side of the great PFs, Dirk's 88% is top 20 all-time.
Duncan has pulled 13,219 boards, good enough for 13th all-time and 2nd among active players. He lead the league, as I mentioned, in '01 and has been top 5 in the league 11 times. On the offensive glass he sits at 15th all-time and yanked down 200+ 12 times in his career. Now, let's compare the guys pulling boards with him. For his first 6 seasons he played with Hall-of-Fame Center David "The Admiral" Robinson. A beast, who pulled 300+ OBrds 3 times, led the league in total rebounding twice, and was still banging inside when Duncan came along. The following catalogs the litany of centers and power forwards that have rotated through Pop's front court
Robinson pulled 1143 offensive boards while they played together (6 seasons) 191.5 per season
Nesterovic 556 in 3 yrs 185 per
Blair 635 in 4 years 159 per
Perdue 210 in 2 yrs 155 per
McDyess 271 in 2 yrs 135 per
Rose 788 in 6 yrs 131 per
Mohammed 241 in 2 yrs 120 per
Splitter 309 in 3 years 103 per
Elson 81 in 1 yr
Kurt Thomas 160 in 2 yrs 80 per
Horry 378 in 5 years 76 per
Oberto 433 in 6 yrs 72 per
Walker 144 in 2 yrs 72 per
Willis 120 in 2 yrs 60 per
Bonner 380 in 7 years 54 per
Nobody else played more than 1 year with more than 50 offensive boards per year
(I couldn't help but notice the production level of Splitter vs Bonner)
Why did gather this data you ask? For the same reason I showed Bradley and Dampier's numbers. Notice that Shawn and Erik would be #2 and #3 on this list. In reality, Nesterovic, Mohammed and Perdue are the only players not named Robinson on this list that had any type of career at the center position. Horry, Willis, Thomas and McDyess were all decent power forwards. The rest were a bunch of scrubs. Duncan was the rebounder, it was his job, it is no surprise he pulled 4000 more boards then Dirk, other than the first 6 seasons, Duncan was the only rebounder on his team. That is not saying Tim's bad at it. His career 9.9% OReb% is 67th all-time (Dirk does not place in the top 300). In fact, Duncan is a great rebounder, but his advantage over Dirk is less than the average fan believes.
Now to his Defense. My esteemed father believes Duncan to be a top 5 defensive player all-time. Let's see.
He blocked 200 shots 3 times and less than 100 only once in his 16 year career. His 2652 have him 1st among active players and 8th all-time, he trails Shaq by 80, so an average Duncan season would have him within 50 of Patrick Ewing and the top 6. He never led the league in blocks but finished top 5 in 6 different seasons, including '13. This is amazing, but is it "good defense." Yes. In Defensive Win Shares, he has led the league 5 times, is the active leader and stands 5th all-time. However, I went ahead and checked the aforementioned contemporaries which I dug up on Dirk, to see if anybody had his number. Results below:
Garnett vs SAS '97-'13: Reg Season: W-L for Garnett (24-25); <10(2); 11-20(24); 21-30(18); 31-40(5)
Playoffs: W-L for Garnett (2-6); <10(0); 11-20(3); 21-30(5); 31-40(0)
Webber vs SAS '97-13: Reg Season: W-L for Webber (9-17); <10(2); 11-20(11); 21-30(9); 31-40(4)
Playoffs: W-L for Webber (0-0); <10(0); 11-20(0); 21-30(0); 31-40(0)
Rasheed vs SAS '97-13: Reg Season: W-L for Sheed (17-19); <10(11); 11-20(14); 21-30(11); 31-40(0)
Playoffs: W-L for Sheed (3-8); <10(3); 11-20(6); 21-30(2); 31-40(0)
Wow. He definitely dominated Sheed according to these numbers. 14 of the 47 match-ups Wallace managed only 10 or fewer points. Dirk allowed 14 30+ point games to these 3, Duncan allowed 9, none of which were in the playoffs. Garnett was slightly more successful against Duncan, but faced him a whopping 49 times so there was a certain amount of inevitability that a player like KG would get his.
In short, Duncan is, as my Dad says, one of the top 5 greatest defensive forwards ever. (Kareem, Hakeem, Garnett, Russell and Duncan) Does that make him better than Dirk? In my opinion, no. Garnett is on that list, higher than Duncan, and maybe another day I can demonstrate that Duncan is better than Garnett.
How about Duncan's offense? We already noticed he has no 3 pt shot and was below average from the free throw line, however he's got skills. In many cases, a Duncan endorser would post a series of videos of him turning and banking a 15 footer with the defender falling down or closing too late. As far as I can tell, according to these videos, no one has ever contested Duncan, ever. This of course is not true, however, Duncan has no tricky moves. He has no McHale-like arsenal or Garnett-like athleticism. He doesn't have range, he never muscled down anybody bigger than him (in fact, Shaq pushed him around quite a bit), and the few times he "took over a game" you'd have to be personally taking stats to notice. You add those things up and you'd never expect to get an offensive win shares which is 25th all-time and 9th among active players. He led the league in 2001 (only other top 10 finish was in 2002). Here are in my opinion, his best 10 regular season and best 5 playoff games.
'01 53-11-5
'00 42-11-5-4bl
'02 38-16-9-4bl
'99 33-20-3-3bl
'13 31-18-6-5bl
'03 36-20-7
'07 34-18-5
'13 22-21-1-6bl
'11 21-16-8-5bl
'09 21-27-6
'05 41-15-6-4bl
'02 40-15-7
'02 32-20-6-7bl
'02 34-24-6-6bl
'01 34-25-4
This was pretty tough. I didn't include his title clinching games, partly because he had 4 of them and partly because none of them were all that impressive (not that Dirk's was either). He had his one 50 point explosion and had several pretty dominant performances in the playoffs. However, if all you saw were Duncan's and Dirk's best 10 stacked up against each other it would be less of an argument. If you add the playoff games things get more interesting.
So, two things left to determine our winner. Who they played with and how they played against each other.
Who has Dirk played with? *on the title team
Each player listed finished in the 10 ten in minutes played for Dallas at least once during Dirk's career.
Hall of Famers:
Steve Nash
Jason Kidd* (for 1 year)
Peja Stojakovic* (for part of 1 year)
Tim Hardaway (for 1 year)
Vince Carter
All-Pro:
Jason Terry*
Shawn Marion*
Tyson Chandler*
Josh Howard
Michael Finley
Elton Brand
Danny Manning
Antoine Walker
Jerry Stackhouse
All-Star:
Devin Harris
Shawn Bradley
OJ Mayo
Nick VanExel
Cedric Ceballos
Raef LaFrentz
Avery Johnson
Antawn Jamison
Rest:
Erik Dampier
Chris Kaman
Nick Collison
JJ Barea*
Caron Butler* (Shut up Clint)
Eduardo Najera
Popeye Jones
Walt Williams
Marquis Daniels
Brandon Bass
Brendan Haywood*
Drew Gooden
DeShawn Stephenson*
Not a particular amazing list of ballplayers. The championship squad was pretty nice, I'll admit, but in terms of support...Dirk has had 2 Hall of Famers for any length of time and one of those is named Vince Carter who didn't join Dirk till well beyond the twilight of his career (and only the last two years at that). Terry and Marion have backdoor shots at Hall of Fame votes, the rest of these guys are either flash-in-the-pan stars (Barea, VanExel, JHoward) or strong career grinders (Stackhouse, Finley, LaFrentz). Obviously each statement I make regarding these guys' careers opens up another debate, however, bear with me. Lets look at the Spurs.
Hall of Famers:
David Robinson**
Tony Parker***
Manu Ginobili***
All-Pro:
Sean Elliot*
Michael Finley*
Steve Smith*
Bruce Bowen***(I'm curious what the HoF voters might say here)
Hedo Turkogclu
Robert Horry**(Another one with an outside chance)
Antonio McDyess
Stephen Jackson*
All-Star:
Avery Johnson*
Jaren Jackson*
Mario Elie*
Derek Anderson
Richard Jefferson
Danny Green
Boris Diaw
Devin Brown***
Rest:
Malik Rose**
Rasho Nesterovic
Will Perdue*
Vinny Del-Negro
Steve Kerr**
Antonio Daniels*
Terry Porter
Danny Ferry*
Brent Barry**
Nazr Mohammed
Francisco Elson*
Fabricio Oberto*
Jacque Vaughn*
Matt Bonner*
Kurt Thomas
DeJuan Blair
Kawhi Leonard
Beno Udrih**
I think that's a stronger list. Albeit only 3 other shoe-in HoFers but he played with each of them for several years. Bowen, Horry, McDyess, Steve Smith and Stephen Jackson are as good a group of almost superstars as you're going to find. However, its not like he played with Dwayne Wade or Kobe Bryant. The twin towers team with Robinson and Duncan, sidekicks Elliot and Elie and the boss himself Avery Johnson, that was a team. The rest of his titles were the big 3 of Parker, Ginobili and himself, a combo which should be included with Bird/McHale/Parish and Kareem/Magic/Worthy.
Conclusion - Duncan had better teams. Seems short, but this is already a book and that would require a movie and two sequels to finish up.
Finally, how did they match-up against each other? First the regular season:
03/4/98 Dirk 11-6 Duncan 26-12
03/27/98 Dirk 2-0 (13 min) Duncan 21-15
04/13/98 Dirk 12-13-4 Duncan 21-11
04/22/98 Dirk 8-5 Duncan 14-10-4
Year 1: Duncan dominated with a year under his belt against the rookie
11/20/99 Dirk 16-12 Duncan 14-17
12/14/99 Dirk 12-2 Duncan 29-12-4
03/16-00 Dirk 19-4 Duncan 10-2
03/21/00 Dirk 13-7 Duncan 26-12-5 (Mavs won)
Year 2: Duncan still in command, but Dirk catching up
11/10/00 Dirk 18-10 Duncan 11-14-4
02/13/01 Dirk 30-10 Duncan 28-15-6-6bl (Spurs won)
02-24-01 Dirk 16-9-4 Duncan 31-13
04-10-01 Dirk 20-7 Duncan 25-10-6
Year 3: One epic duel, and each with a pounding, Duncan still with the edge
12/26/01 Dirk 26-11-3-4st Duncan 53-11-4 (Mavs won in Duncan's only 50 point game)
01/05/02 Dirk 28-14-4 Duncan 29-17-2
03/21/02 Dirk 29-14-4 Duncan 32-14-5
04/06/02 Dirk 26-21-3 Duncan 33-16-5
Year 4: One thing is for sure, they show up to face each other, Duncan's greatest game is ruined by Dirk but otherwise, still seeing Duncan one up his German counterpart.
Dirk missed the first meeting
02/20/03 Dirk 20-6 Duncan 11-6
03/20/03 Dirk 34-12-2 Duncan 25-18-4-4bl
Duncan missed the last meeting
Year 5: Dirk was boss this year, both teams losing when their superstar wasn't present.
Duncan missed the first meeting
11/20/03 Dirk 26-6 Duncan 30-17-5-4bl (Mavs won)
02/26/04 Dirk 23-6-5 Duncan 22-17 (Spurs won)
Duncan missed the last meeting
Year 6: Duncan dealing with injuries has a big game spoiled but gets it back. Much more even competition.
11/24/04 Dirk 23-11 Duncan 27-13
11/30/04 Dirk 21-13-4 Duncan 20-13-2-5bl
01/14/05 Dirk 36-14 Duncan 25-6
Duncan missed their last meeting (Mavs won by 36)
Year 7: Dirk dominates once and matches him step-for-step the other 2. Without Duncan, the Spurs can't handle Nowitzki as he drops 15 in just 21 min in the blowout.
11/05/05 Dirk 34-8 Duncan 18-12-5
01/12/06 Dirk 14-9-6 Duncan 13-14 (Spurs won...weird game)
03/02/06 Dirk 23-11 Duncan 15-6
04/07/06 Dirk 40-10 Duncan 13-9
Year 8: Dirk is in full swing, Duncan can't hand him, and as we'll see later the tide finally turns in the postseason as well.
11/02/06 Dirk 21-11 Duncan 13-10-4
11/24/06 Dirk 31-10 Duncan 29-6
01/05/07 Dirk 36-8 Duncan 18-7-4
04/15/07 Dirk 21-4 Duncan 16-7-6
Year 9: During Dirk's MVP run, Duncan is all but out-classed and if not for the series of Baron Davis' life another epic postseason battle was on the horizon. Blast you Baron Davis!
11/15/07 Dirk 17-8-5 Duncan 24-5
Duncan missed the 2nd meeting
02/28/08 Dirk 28-6 Duncan 31-15
03/23/08 Dirk 11-7-4 Duncan 19-13
Year 10: Duncan comes back with a vengeance and returns the previous year's drumming. Chris Paul prevents another postseason duel between our heroes and then the infamous Robert Horry injury run...
11/04/08 Dirk 30-7 Duncan 19-15
12/09/08 Dirk 30-10 Duncan 32-14-4
Duncan misses the 3rd meeting (His 6th time being out versus Dirk's 1 in the regular season)
03/04/09 Dirk 24-12-5 Duncan 19-12-5
Year 11: Pretty even with a slight advantage to Dirk and then a 1st round meeting in the playoffs.
Duncan missed the first meeting
11/18/09 Dirk 41-12 Duncan 22-14-6
01/08/10 Dirk 26-5 Duncan 31-12-5
Duncan missed the last meeting (8 misses now)
Year 12: Duncan continues nursing injuries and then dropping double doubles but Dirk has the edge. Another first round match-up with a little revenge in the postseason.
11/26/10 Dirk 26-8-5 Duncan 15-8-4
Dirk missed the 2nd
and 3rd meetings
03/18/11 Dirk 23-9 Duncan 22-8
Year 13: On his way to his title, Dirk maintained his recent regular season dominance over Duncan, and even took a page out of his book missing two of their head-to-heads. Memphis' shocker prevented a 3rd straight meeting between these two in the playoffs, what a pity.
01/05/12 Dirk 6-6 (in 23 min) Duncan 10-5 (Spurs win by 22)
01/29/12 Dirk 10-13 Duncan 12-6
03/17/12 Dirk 27-6-4 Duncan 17-4
03-23-12 Dirk 16-2 Duncan 15-12
Year 14: Both superstars look their age in these match-ups. Dirk gets the slight edge again, by my count that's 9 out of the last 10 to Dirk. Both lose tough ones to Durant in the playoffs.
12/23/12 Dirk 8-6 Duncan 15-5-4
12/30/12 Dirk 8-5 Duncan 18-10
Duncan misses again
01/25/13 Dirk 21-11 Duncan 28-19
Year 15: Duncan experiences a renaissance, despite missing yet another match-up, and completely dominates the less-than healthy and old-looking Dirk.
Ok, I have Dirk 9 Duncan 6. By games its Dirk 25 Duncan 26, Dirk with 3 misses while Duncan missed 9.
Here's the playoffs. (If you weren't bouncing down here you're a stronger man than I.
2001 Western Conference Semis (Spurs in 5)
05/05/01 Dirk 9-7 Duncan 31-13
05/07/01 Dirk 19-6 Duncan 25-22-6
05/09/01 Dirk 15-3 Duncan 18-14-3
05/12/01 Dirk 30-9 Duncan 29-18-5
05/14/01 Dirk 42-18-2-6st Duncan 32-20-3-5bl (Spurs won)
Dirk showed up but Duncan was too much.
2003 Western Conference Finals (Spurs in 6)
05/19/03 Dirk 38-15-2 Duncan 40-15-7 (Mavs won)
05/22/03 Dirk 23-10-2 Duncan 32-15-5
05/23/03 Dirk 15-9 Duncan 34-24-6-6bl
Dirk missed the last 3
Dirk's injury ended the Mavs hopes (though they did steal one game after he went down)
2006 Western Conference Semis (Mavs in 7)
05/07/06 Dirk 20-14 Duncan 31-13-4
05/09/06 Dirk 21-9 Duncan 28-9-3-4bl
05/13/06 Dirk 27-15 Duncan 35-12
05/15/06 Dirk 28-9 Duncan 31-13-6
05/17/06 Dirk 31-10-4 Duncan 36-12-4
05/19/06 Dirk 26-21-5 Duncan 24-8
05/22/06 Dirk 37-15 Duncan 41-15-6 (Mavs won)
Epic. Both immortals running on all cylinders. Dirk was just a little better.
2009 Western Conference 1st Round (Mavs in 5)
04/18/09 Dirk 19-8 Duncan 27-9
04/20/09 Dirk 14-6 Duncan 13-11-5
04/23/09 Dirk 20-7 Duncan 4-2 (in 15 min)
04/25/09 Dirk 12-13 Duncan 25-10-7
04/28/09 Dirk 31-9 Duncan 30-8
Dirk makes the statement here, he is the master now.
2010 Western Conference 1st Round (Spurs in 6)
04/18/09 Dirk 31-7 Duncan 27-8
04/21/09 Dirk 26-10-4 Duncan 25-17
04/23/09 Dirk 35-7 Duncan 25-5-4
04/25/09 Dirk 17-11-4 Duncan 4-11 (Spurs won)
04/27/09 Dirk 15-9 Duncan 11-6 (Mavs won by 22)
04/29/09 Dirk 33-5-4 Duncan 17-10-5-3st-3bl
Duncan comes back and is aided by a vanishing Josh Howard.
In playoff series its Duncan 3 Dirk 2. In MVPs its Dirk 1 Duncan 0. In titles its Duncan 4 Dirk 1. In names that start with D its Duncan and Dirk 1 Me also 1. It's as close as any comparison of so diametrically opposite players could possibly be. The fading, one-foot hang-in-the-air tongue-wagging 3-point-jacking white dude from Wurzburg versus the rock-solid, perfect-footwork, bank-shot drilling, bug-eyed staring, bounce pass throwing Virgin Islander. I am leaving off one argument point. It is accepted that Dirk Nowitzki is a power forward, that is he plays the 4th position in a classic basketball lineup. Duncan on the other hand is a power forward/center, meaning he plays both the 4th and the 5th spots. Karl Malone is of the opinion Duncan should not be included in the all-time power forward ranks. I am conceding this point because it is completely opinion and is impossible to suggest authoritatively one way or the other except to say the Spurs list him at PF so he kinda has to be.
So, in conclusion I say DIRK NOWITZKI is a better basketball player than Tim Duncan. hands down. (and the 3rd greatest PF, if Larry is a SF which is a whole 'nother ball of wax)
As much as I'm convinced Dirk is/was/will be better there is no right answer here. Absorb the data, go watch them play, make your own choice. And be ready to argue about it, cuz I'm ready.
Here's a couple videos to dwell on as you make your choice:
Dirk - Game 2 2011 Finals, "With the left hand"
Dirk - BIG commercial
Duncan - Game 7 2013 Finals, "Mario Chalmers stopped Tim Duncan"
Duncan- Bill Simmons: Tim Duncan appreciation video
Monday, June 24, 2013
BONUS POST: Braves @ Brewers 7/21-23 weekend series
For the last 5 years or so, I've been attending every game the Atlanta Braves play in Milwaukee. So far I'm 2-13 in those games. Meaning, the Braves have won 2 and lost 13. This is not fun. Everything else about going to see the Braves each year is very fun. I remember seeing the outfield of Diaz-McClouth-Franceour. And then Anderson-Schafer-Diaz, Cabrera-Bourn-Heyward and finally the current Upton-Upton-Heyward this weekend. I've seen Chipper Jones, Tim Hudson and Brian McCann several times. I saw Martin Prado drill a 2-strike homerun 3 years ago and Javy Vazquez throw 6 scoreless. I've seen Derek Lowe and Paul Maholm, Cory Gearrin and Johnny Venters. In short, I've been in Braves-heaven. Usually I sit in the nosebleed-400s, but once I had seats right down the left field line (Garret Anderson could hear me I'm sure) and Jenni and I were right by the visiting dugout during Chipper's final series (we were really close for his final Milwaukee at bat, struck out by Kameron Loe). I look forward to the series every year and they're usually good games, despite the Braves' struggles. One year, Chipper launched a 2-run homer into the right field bleachers to tie the game in the 7th or 8th just to see it slip away. Another year, Heyward crushed a 3 run bomb but we were down 5 and couldn't get the last two (Hoffman shut us down). This year was extra special.
My little man was going to his first baseball game(s). Friday we were joined by Marc and Rachel Tanis (Marc is a Yankees fan, grrrr) and we sat in the 428 section. Chipper wasn't so sure about the whole baseball thing at first. As we were going up the escalator the sound system exploded into a rather loud song and little Chipper gave me one pouty look which said "You brought me here to die." and began whimpering. After some soothing hugs and a little mommy time, he recovered and seemed to enjoy the remainder of the game. Which was more than I could say, Wily Peralta was dealing and the Bravos mustered 2 hits en route to a 2-0 shut-out. Huddy took the tough-luck loss while the Brewers got a solo shot from Jean Segura (the dude can play) and a run(s)-saving catch from Aoki.
Game 2 & 3 were just Jenni and I. Saturday Chipper was lovin it. He yelled, gleefully, along with the crowd a few times, got lots of compliments on his sweet sunglasses and took a nap. The Braves however, weren't any better. Hand-Gozelanny-Badenhop-Gonzalez-Axford-Rodriguez combined to shut us out on 4 hits (2 hit games from BJ Upton and Andrelton Simmons). K-Rod notched his 300th save, which he then comically thanked his "family for this award" in the post-game interview. Once again the Brewers got enough offense to beat a team that didn't score and won 3-0.
Sunday was so much better. Unfortunately, I think we're cursed. We were heading out the door in a bit of a rush, kinda typical with a 3 month old, and I managed to forget the tickets. I didn't remember them till we were 20 min from the park, almost an hour along the way. Back we went, guaranteeing we'd miss the first 3 innings. Of course, I turn on the radio and the Braves are in business in the first. Schafer doubles, Simmons singles, Heyward K's, Freeman K's, Upton BB's and McCann launches an opposite field GRAND SLAM! With one swing all of the offensive troubles from the weekend had vanished. We had also scored all but one of the runs our pitching had given up in the last two games. I was ecstatic, and ticked, but at least we were winning. By the time we got to our seats, Chris Johnson and Jordan Schafer had added solo shots and Maholm had thrown 4 strong innings. We didn't see any of the home runs. In the 6th, as I expected, the Brewers staged a rally, Aoki and Segura got on (they were on all series) and Logan Schafer (no relation to Jordan) who had come on when Carlos Gomez left with a shoulder injury on a spectacular catch (we of course missed) singled up the middle for 2 runs. Then Jonathan Lucroy (easily my favorite Brewer) blasted a fastball to dead center about half-way between the scoreboard and the top of the wall to make it 6-4. I was convinced my arrival meant now only the Brewers could score and we would lose the game. However, Maholm settled and didn't give up anything else and departed with a 2 run lead after the 5th. Avila threw a strong 6th while the Braves scuffled against the Brewers pen yet again. In the 7th things got hairy. Cory Gearrin came in and couldn't throw strikes. After a couple walks and a really strong at bat from Logan Schafer again (ugh) the bases were loaded. Fredi went and got Jordan Walden and a confrontation was brewing. With two outs and the bases loaded Roenicke sent Juan Francisco up to face Walden and try to drive in the 2 runs they needed. Francisco blasted a Grand Slam in one of his last games with Atlanta, so I was not calm. However, Walden throws 98+ and Francisco popped one straight up which McCann caught and the threat was averted. "Thanks Huey" I yelled, something only a nearby Braves fan would've appreciated. The Brewers sent out Henderson to try and hold it at a 2 run game, but wouldn't you know it, the Braves CAN score while I'm watching. Uggla, of all people, slapped a 2-strike right-side rbi single through a shifted infield to plate our 7th run. Brewers fans streamed out of the ballpark as Kimbrel set down the Brewers in order to close out the 7-4 win. VICTORY!
So Chipper's got his first game and his first Braves win. Also managed to get our first diaper change at a ballpark and drink approx 30 ounces of milk (which is a lot). Can't wait to do it again next year!
My little man was going to his first baseball game(s). Friday we were joined by Marc and Rachel Tanis (Marc is a Yankees fan, grrrr) and we sat in the 428 section. Chipper wasn't so sure about the whole baseball thing at first. As we were going up the escalator the sound system exploded into a rather loud song and little Chipper gave me one pouty look which said "You brought me here to die." and began whimpering. After some soothing hugs and a little mommy time, he recovered and seemed to enjoy the remainder of the game. Which was more than I could say, Wily Peralta was dealing and the Bravos mustered 2 hits en route to a 2-0 shut-out. Huddy took the tough-luck loss while the Brewers got a solo shot from Jean Segura (the dude can play) and a run(s)-saving catch from Aoki.
Game 2 & 3 were just Jenni and I. Saturday Chipper was lovin it. He yelled, gleefully, along with the crowd a few times, got lots of compliments on his sweet sunglasses and took a nap. The Braves however, weren't any better. Hand-Gozelanny-Badenhop-Gonzalez-Axford-Rodriguez combined to shut us out on 4 hits (2 hit games from BJ Upton and Andrelton Simmons). K-Rod notched his 300th save, which he then comically thanked his "family for this award" in the post-game interview. Once again the Brewers got enough offense to beat a team that didn't score and won 3-0.
Sunday was so much better. Unfortunately, I think we're cursed. We were heading out the door in a bit of a rush, kinda typical with a 3 month old, and I managed to forget the tickets. I didn't remember them till we were 20 min from the park, almost an hour along the way. Back we went, guaranteeing we'd miss the first 3 innings. Of course, I turn on the radio and the Braves are in business in the first. Schafer doubles, Simmons singles, Heyward K's, Freeman K's, Upton BB's and McCann launches an opposite field GRAND SLAM! With one swing all of the offensive troubles from the weekend had vanished. We had also scored all but one of the runs our pitching had given up in the last two games. I was ecstatic, and ticked, but at least we were winning. By the time we got to our seats, Chris Johnson and Jordan Schafer had added solo shots and Maholm had thrown 4 strong innings. We didn't see any of the home runs. In the 6th, as I expected, the Brewers staged a rally, Aoki and Segura got on (they were on all series) and Logan Schafer (no relation to Jordan) who had come on when Carlos Gomez left with a shoulder injury on a spectacular catch (we of course missed) singled up the middle for 2 runs. Then Jonathan Lucroy (easily my favorite Brewer) blasted a fastball to dead center about half-way between the scoreboard and the top of the wall to make it 6-4. I was convinced my arrival meant now only the Brewers could score and we would lose the game. However, Maholm settled and didn't give up anything else and departed with a 2 run lead after the 5th. Avila threw a strong 6th while the Braves scuffled against the Brewers pen yet again. In the 7th things got hairy. Cory Gearrin came in and couldn't throw strikes. After a couple walks and a really strong at bat from Logan Schafer again (ugh) the bases were loaded. Fredi went and got Jordan Walden and a confrontation was brewing. With two outs and the bases loaded Roenicke sent Juan Francisco up to face Walden and try to drive in the 2 runs they needed. Francisco blasted a Grand Slam in one of his last games with Atlanta, so I was not calm. However, Walden throws 98+ and Francisco popped one straight up which McCann caught and the threat was averted. "Thanks Huey" I yelled, something only a nearby Braves fan would've appreciated. The Brewers sent out Henderson to try and hold it at a 2 run game, but wouldn't you know it, the Braves CAN score while I'm watching. Uggla, of all people, slapped a 2-strike right-side rbi single through a shifted infield to plate our 7th run. Brewers fans streamed out of the ballpark as Kimbrel set down the Brewers in order to close out the 7-4 win. VICTORY!
So Chipper's got his first game and his first Braves win. Also managed to get our first diaper change at a ballpark and drink approx 30 ounces of milk (which is a lot). Can't wait to do it again next year!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
The NBA, Dirk better than Duncan and other tidbits
I love sports. I love them in a "fanatical" sense, a true fan. I am an Atlanta Braves (but you already knew that), Minnesota Vikings, Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Cincinnati Reds, Andy Roddick (may he be retired in peace), USA fan. I love baseball first, basketball next and the NFL close behind. I will sit and watch Tennis, Lacrosse and Soccer without complaint. I have digested more stats in the MLB and NBA then most people will ever care to even hear. So, if you are not a Sports person, this and the following several posts will probably not interest you. However, I challenge you to broaden your horizons, these are multi-billion dollar industries, there's no shame in knowing about how they work. And besides that, they're fun.
These are general thoughts I've come to while watching and becoming a fan of the NBA, my second favorite sports league.
First of all, it's better than college basketball. That's right. WAY better. There is no college basketball program more "fundamental" than the San Antonio Spurs, so you can take your "they play iso-crap" argument and stuff it. Every single professional basketball player played in a college, minus the few high school jumpers, so every single one of them is at least that good, so I'm not listening to a "they don't play as high a level ball" argument either. Besides, the offensive sets being run by even the least productive teams (say the Hornets, formerly Bobcats, or the Pelicans, formerly Hornets) are still more complex and more ingenious than the most prestigious college programs can afford to attempt. Izzo, Boeheim, Kryzewski, Williams and any other coach you care to mention all have or do hope to coach in the pros not vice versa. In fact, they jump at the chance to coach in the Olympics. In short, anyone who thinks the NCAA Men's Basketball Association is possibly better than the NBA is flat wrong and needs to watch more basketball.
Secondly, the greatest player in the history of the game is Michael Jordan. I am 100% on the MJ train. I understand the arguments for Wilt and Kareem and don't understand but realize insanity can be persuasive in regards to Russell. Mike did everything, he scored 30+ a game for several seasons, he produced in the playoffs, he is the 3rd all-time scorer, he won 6 rings, he retired 3 times, he's a first ballot HOFer and I'm lucky I got to see part of his career. My first clear memories of the NBA are of the '97 title between Jordan and Malone. I'm a Jazz fan, mainly because of that team with Stockton, Hornacek, Russel, Malone and Ostertag but I'll always be a Jordan fan too. This leads me to give my top 10 players all-time, something which is argued about among the men in my family probably twice a month.
1. Michael Jordan
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lou Alcinder)
3. Wilt Chamberlain
4. Shaquille O'Neal
5. Kobe Bryant
6. Erving Magic Johnson
7. Larry Bird
8. LeBron James
9. Bill Russell
10. Karl Malone
Shaq above Kobe and Karl on the list instead of Duncan usually draws the most criticism, but I stand on my 10.
Thirdly, I have irrational dislike for certain teams and players. Sometimes there is a rationality on the surface, but really there's just this negative sense when they succeed and a positive sense when they fail. Reggie Miller, LeBron James, Tony Parker, Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce are the best examples. Hence I'm forcing myself to root for San Antonio to pull out Game 7 tonight and believe that Ginobili and Green were both fouled. (The Spurs would be an organization that I irrationally dislike as well)
Finally, I have an equally strong and possibly irrational man crush on some players. When I first started watching it was Bryon Russell, then it was Scottie Pippen, Jerry Stackhouse, Michael Redd, David Lee and Wesley Matthews. Most dominantly though, is my fanatic support of Dirk Nowitski. I honestly believe, and think I can prove, Dirk is a more talented and more accomplished player than Tim Duncan. That had Dirk been teamed up with David Robinson, Steve Smith, Stephen Jackson, Michael Finley, Ginobili and Parker, the Spurs would have won 6 straight titles. However, this could probably be stored in the "crazy" file.
In any case, if you're ever itching to talk basketball I can go 10 rounds with the best of them and would love it.
The Braves split a 4 gamer with the Mets, a couple rough ones on Tuesday bookmarked by good wins Monday and yesterday. Alex Wood looked real solid starting Tues and adds one more young arm to Atlanta's already insane future. Medlen, Minor, Beachy, Teheran, Sean Gilmartin, JR Graham, Wood and Lucas Sims all are or project to be top of the rotation starters. Not to mention 2013 1st round pick Justin Hursh. Tony DeMacio and company are real good at what they do, and they scout pitching.
These are general thoughts I've come to while watching and becoming a fan of the NBA, my second favorite sports league.
First of all, it's better than college basketball. That's right. WAY better. There is no college basketball program more "fundamental" than the San Antonio Spurs, so you can take your "they play iso-crap" argument and stuff it. Every single professional basketball player played in a college, minus the few high school jumpers, so every single one of them is at least that good, so I'm not listening to a "they don't play as high a level ball" argument either. Besides, the offensive sets being run by even the least productive teams (say the Hornets, formerly Bobcats, or the Pelicans, formerly Hornets) are still more complex and more ingenious than the most prestigious college programs can afford to attempt. Izzo, Boeheim, Kryzewski, Williams and any other coach you care to mention all have or do hope to coach in the pros not vice versa. In fact, they jump at the chance to coach in the Olympics. In short, anyone who thinks the NCAA Men's Basketball Association is possibly better than the NBA is flat wrong and needs to watch more basketball.
Secondly, the greatest player in the history of the game is Michael Jordan. I am 100% on the MJ train. I understand the arguments for Wilt and Kareem and don't understand but realize insanity can be persuasive in regards to Russell. Mike did everything, he scored 30+ a game for several seasons, he produced in the playoffs, he is the 3rd all-time scorer, he won 6 rings, he retired 3 times, he's a first ballot HOFer and I'm lucky I got to see part of his career. My first clear memories of the NBA are of the '97 title between Jordan and Malone. I'm a Jazz fan, mainly because of that team with Stockton, Hornacek, Russel, Malone and Ostertag but I'll always be a Jordan fan too. This leads me to give my top 10 players all-time, something which is argued about among the men in my family probably twice a month.
1. Michael Jordan
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lou Alcinder)
3. Wilt Chamberlain
4. Shaquille O'Neal
5. Kobe Bryant
6. Erving Magic Johnson
7. Larry Bird
8. LeBron James
9. Bill Russell
10. Karl Malone
Shaq above Kobe and Karl on the list instead of Duncan usually draws the most criticism, but I stand on my 10.
Thirdly, I have irrational dislike for certain teams and players. Sometimes there is a rationality on the surface, but really there's just this negative sense when they succeed and a positive sense when they fail. Reggie Miller, LeBron James, Tony Parker, Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce are the best examples. Hence I'm forcing myself to root for San Antonio to pull out Game 7 tonight and believe that Ginobili and Green were both fouled. (The Spurs would be an organization that I irrationally dislike as well)
Finally, I have an equally strong and possibly irrational man crush on some players. When I first started watching it was Bryon Russell, then it was Scottie Pippen, Jerry Stackhouse, Michael Redd, David Lee and Wesley Matthews. Most dominantly though, is my fanatic support of Dirk Nowitski. I honestly believe, and think I can prove, Dirk is a more talented and more accomplished player than Tim Duncan. That had Dirk been teamed up with David Robinson, Steve Smith, Stephen Jackson, Michael Finley, Ginobili and Parker, the Spurs would have won 6 straight titles. However, this could probably be stored in the "crazy" file.
In any case, if you're ever itching to talk basketball I can go 10 rounds with the best of them and would love it.
The Braves split a 4 gamer with the Mets, a couple rough ones on Tuesday bookmarked by good wins Monday and yesterday. Alex Wood looked real solid starting Tues and adds one more young arm to Atlanta's already insane future. Medlen, Minor, Beachy, Teheran, Sean Gilmartin, JR Graham, Wood and Lucas Sims all are or project to be top of the rotation starters. Not to mention 2013 1st round pick Justin Hursh. Tony DeMacio and company are real good at what they do, and they scout pitching.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Father's Day Thoughts
Had my first father's day. It was nice, went out to eat at Red Robin. Going to grill out with my dad on Thursday. Several people asked me what it was like to be having my first father's day. Didn't really feel different or weird, but their questions got me thinking, what do I want father's day to mean to me? The answer centers around my dad. I decided that if nothing else, I want to have the same friendship with my son as I have with my dad.
How do I get that? I don't know. If I did I'd be a billionaire public speaker and author. But I'm going to suggest some things here. Just a few, another short one.
First of all, I'm going to play with my son. My dad has always played with me. He still beats me in basketball, boggle, ping pong and chess on occasion. He and I have spent untold hours doing nerdy things with spreadsheets and baseball stats. Before just recently he was always good for a game of catch, recently he can only sustain one cycle of 2-on-2 a week without shattering into a million pieces...just kidding. kind of.
Secondly, I want to teach him stuff. I like to think I'm pretty smart, I've learned every ounce of what I know (and how to know it) from my parents. With no disrespect to my college-graduate high school teacher mother, mostly from my dad. I love history, philosophy and sports. So does he. I want to get a Master's Degree and maybe a Doctorate, he has both. Am I a daddy's boy? I don't know, you'd have to ask him. We've had our disagreements. Which leads to my third and final point.
Third, I want him to argue with me. I respect my dad a million times more than another father I'm associated with because of one key point, I can disagree with my dad and discuss it without repercussion. We have tussled on topics ranging from NBA history to epistemology and back. No one, and I mean no one, can go head to head with me in a game of debate except my dad. That may be arrogant, but I dare you, bring it. However, my dad owns my respect, not only because he's smart, but he is Always willing to participate in a discourse and often takes me to the cleaners.
So, that's my goal as a father. Be who my dad was to me. As I close, I cannot express how extraordinarily lucky (which means blessed) I am to have a dad like mine. I'll be lucky (again, blessed) if my son feels even remotely similarly.
Braves getting a major surge from "Fredo" Freeman. Last night he launched a 1 out, 2 run walk off homer breaking up a shut out in the process. Pretty awesome. Evan Gattis has hit the DL, strained oblique, so that may allow for Beachy to slide into the 25 man easier, but still leaves questions as to who the 5 starters will be. Friday will Teheran vs Peralta, will be awesome.
How do I get that? I don't know. If I did I'd be a billionaire public speaker and author. But I'm going to suggest some things here. Just a few, another short one.
First of all, I'm going to play with my son. My dad has always played with me. He still beats me in basketball, boggle, ping pong and chess on occasion. He and I have spent untold hours doing nerdy things with spreadsheets and baseball stats. Before just recently he was always good for a game of catch, recently he can only sustain one cycle of 2-on-2 a week without shattering into a million pieces...just kidding. kind of.
Secondly, I want to teach him stuff. I like to think I'm pretty smart, I've learned every ounce of what I know (and how to know it) from my parents. With no disrespect to my college-graduate high school teacher mother, mostly from my dad. I love history, philosophy and sports. So does he. I want to get a Master's Degree and maybe a Doctorate, he has both. Am I a daddy's boy? I don't know, you'd have to ask him. We've had our disagreements. Which leads to my third and final point.
Third, I want him to argue with me. I respect my dad a million times more than another father I'm associated with because of one key point, I can disagree with my dad and discuss it without repercussion. We have tussled on topics ranging from NBA history to epistemology and back. No one, and I mean no one, can go head to head with me in a game of debate except my dad. That may be arrogant, but I dare you, bring it. However, my dad owns my respect, not only because he's smart, but he is Always willing to participate in a discourse and often takes me to the cleaners.
So, that's my goal as a father. Be who my dad was to me. As I close, I cannot express how extraordinarily lucky (which means blessed) I am to have a dad like mine. I'll be lucky (again, blessed) if my son feels even remotely similarly.
Braves getting a major surge from "Fredo" Freeman. Last night he launched a 1 out, 2 run walk off homer breaking up a shut out in the process. Pretty awesome. Evan Gattis has hit the DL, strained oblique, so that may allow for Beachy to slide into the 25 man easier, but still leaves questions as to who the 5 starters will be. Friday will Teheran vs Peralta, will be awesome.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
A Theology of Regret
My wife would not hesitate to tell you that she and I come from very different backgrounds. One of the areas that has moved to the forefront of our relationship is our mindset towards decisions. On one hand, I make decisions with irrational confidence. I launch myself towards a door, even if its only open a crack, merely based on a "gut feeling" or "seems like God is orchestrating this." I have no fear of failing, failure is inevitable and the mortar with which we build our lives. Jenni has lived with a different mindset for most of her life. A caution to the extreme which is more concerned with one thing above all else: regret.
Every decision is painstakingly slow if the primary thought is, "I really don't want to pick the wrong thing, what if I regret it?" There are several logical and theological problems with this mindset, and I've been slowing showing my very teachable wife the wonder a life free from worry can be. So, I'll share some of my thoughts here.
I don't want to call it regret-free because that sounds too much like the YOLO, live life to the fullest crowd. But because I don't have a good name for it yet, I'd love your help by the way, I'll call it just that. To be regret-free you have to have certain presuppositions.
First - God is in control. It all comes down to this, the rest of the thought process revolves around God's sovereign authority over everything. From Creation to Christ to the 2nd Coming and Cosmic Ending (oh yeah) we are taught one thing above all else, God > _____. Regret-Free living is "God > _____" thinking. (Copyright 2013 PrinceofSaxony)
Second - God loves you. His sovereignty would be the most frightening truth possible were it not for His love. However, knowing His love compels us to Trust Him. As Paul says in Romans 8:28-29, Saxon Paraphrase Version (SPV) "God has planned out everything for His children's gain, the ones He handpicked and saved and is perfecting to be like Christ."
--- Side note, I prefer to paraphrase scripture for two reasons, #1 - I try not to fill my writing with quotes, this is supposed to be what I think #2 - You don't truly understand something until you can paraphrase it ---
Third - Sometimes there is no right choice. This may be the toughest one for some people to swallow. But lets face it, Big Mac or Double Quarter Pounder? They're both so good and yet they're both so so bad. Poor example, I know, but the concept should be clear, millions of times each day we make innocuous decisions, why fret over them? This shirt or that shirt? Apple or Banana? Apple or Microsoft? (We both know there's a right answer to that one...Microsoft) The list goes on and on. I have seen people, my beautiful wife in particular, slave over such simple decisions because they're afraid of making the "wrong" one. As Kevin DeYoung so elegantly put it, "Just Do Something" (I have the book, haven't sat down and read all the way through it, too busy just doing something I suppose).
So, there's the foundation to regret-free living. Recognizing when a decision is not right/wrong, acknowledging God's love for me, and keeping "God >" at the front of my mind. This leads to the ultimate question, what if two good people disagree on what's right/wrong? How do I know who to listen to? "If I speak I am condemned, but if I stay silent...I am damned." Catch 22s, "rock and a hard place" situations, strain even the calmest regret-free lifer. However, if God is truly in control then no situation find myself in is the "wrong" one. Also, if God truly loves me, then I will be able to handle any difficulty with His help. I don't have to worry that I lost some chance to serve, or lost some reward somewhere, we can't go back in time. Regret leads to despair and in despair lurks death. I would venture that a sizable majority of suicides stem from regret. Granted, some are spurred by impending consequences but the thought pattern that results in the false-escape of suicide most often is a cesspool of regret and despair.
The Theology of Regret also introduces an enormous amount of stress into your life. I sounds goofy, but living regret-free is healthier. Not YOLO, gonna party like the Epicureans, regret-free. But no-regret, make a choice and live in the confidence that 1 Peter 4:19 is true: (SVP) "We endure this life knowing that our King, the Creator God, who we can trust explicitly, is holding us in His hands." regret-free.
Should we regret sin? No. and yes. But mostly no. Did Christ die on the cross for my sin? Yes. Did He die for my sins already committed, that is past sins? Yes. But didn't He also die for the sins yet to be committed? Of course. Does this mean I should go out and sin? Of course not! But, Romans 8:1 reminds us of the most liberating truth, "For Christ's children, the verdict is not guilty." (SVP) Hey, David wept over his sin. True, and he begged for forgiveness. He didn't write a Psalm that said, "People of Israel, I have massively erred and therefore must remove myself from the ministry God has appointed me to and forever be marked a failure in the Christian Life" although if you look around in today's Evangelical circles, you'd think he did. True repentance releases regret. Let that sink in, cuz its HUGE. Place your sins at the cross and let Christ give you the gift of new life. Let me rephrase, live in the freedom and blessing Christ died to secure for you, not in the bondage of guilt Satan works tirelessly to maintain.
Are you living in regret? Stop it, and don't worry about it if you think you are, cuz that's just more regret about being in regret, and it can cycle for awhile, just ask my wife. Instead, change your thinking altogether, through the renewing of your mind by the power of the Holy Spirit, and focus on "God >" and His undying (and dying but resurrected) love for you.
Braves just dropped 3 straight to San Diego, ugh, but we pitched pretty well, just can't get any consistency from the lineup. Nasty, no good, horrible parallels between this team and late 90s Braves teams are cropping up, but I'll ignore them and maybe they'll go away. Home for 3 with the Mets and 4 with the Giants before coming up here to MILWAUKEE!!!! WHIPEEEEEEE!!!! Already gots my tix for all 3 games, come out and support America's Team - if you don't you're a traitor and should watch out for the NSA cuz they're watching you.
Every decision is painstakingly slow if the primary thought is, "I really don't want to pick the wrong thing, what if I regret it?" There are several logical and theological problems with this mindset, and I've been slowing showing my very teachable wife the wonder a life free from worry can be. So, I'll share some of my thoughts here.
I don't want to call it regret-free because that sounds too much like the YOLO, live life to the fullest crowd. But because I don't have a good name for it yet, I'd love your help by the way, I'll call it just that. To be regret-free you have to have certain presuppositions.
First - God is in control. It all comes down to this, the rest of the thought process revolves around God's sovereign authority over everything. From Creation to Christ to the 2nd Coming and Cosmic Ending (oh yeah) we are taught one thing above all else, God > _____. Regret-Free living is "God > _____" thinking. (Copyright 2013 PrinceofSaxony)
Second - God loves you. His sovereignty would be the most frightening truth possible were it not for His love. However, knowing His love compels us to Trust Him. As Paul says in Romans 8:28-29, Saxon Paraphrase Version (SPV) "God has planned out everything for His children's gain, the ones He handpicked and saved and is perfecting to be like Christ."
--- Side note, I prefer to paraphrase scripture for two reasons, #1 - I try not to fill my writing with quotes, this is supposed to be what I think #2 - You don't truly understand something until you can paraphrase it ---
Third - Sometimes there is no right choice. This may be the toughest one for some people to swallow. But lets face it, Big Mac or Double Quarter Pounder? They're both so good and yet they're both so so bad. Poor example, I know, but the concept should be clear, millions of times each day we make innocuous decisions, why fret over them? This shirt or that shirt? Apple or Banana? Apple or Microsoft? (We both know there's a right answer to that one...Microsoft) The list goes on and on. I have seen people, my beautiful wife in particular, slave over such simple decisions because they're afraid of making the "wrong" one. As Kevin DeYoung so elegantly put it, "Just Do Something" (I have the book, haven't sat down and read all the way through it, too busy just doing something I suppose).
So, there's the foundation to regret-free living. Recognizing when a decision is not right/wrong, acknowledging God's love for me, and keeping "God >" at the front of my mind. This leads to the ultimate question, what if two good people disagree on what's right/wrong? How do I know who to listen to? "If I speak I am condemned, but if I stay silent...I am damned." Catch 22s, "rock and a hard place" situations, strain even the calmest regret-free lifer. However, if God is truly in control then no situation find myself in is the "wrong" one. Also, if God truly loves me, then I will be able to handle any difficulty with His help. I don't have to worry that I lost some chance to serve, or lost some reward somewhere, we can't go back in time. Regret leads to despair and in despair lurks death. I would venture that a sizable majority of suicides stem from regret. Granted, some are spurred by impending consequences but the thought pattern that results in the false-escape of suicide most often is a cesspool of regret and despair.
The Theology of Regret also introduces an enormous amount of stress into your life. I sounds goofy, but living regret-free is healthier. Not YOLO, gonna party like the Epicureans, regret-free. But no-regret, make a choice and live in the confidence that 1 Peter 4:19 is true: (SVP) "We endure this life knowing that our King, the Creator God, who we can trust explicitly, is holding us in His hands." regret-free.
Should we regret sin? No. and yes. But mostly no. Did Christ die on the cross for my sin? Yes. Did He die for my sins already committed, that is past sins? Yes. But didn't He also die for the sins yet to be committed? Of course. Does this mean I should go out and sin? Of course not! But, Romans 8:1 reminds us of the most liberating truth, "For Christ's children, the verdict is not guilty." (SVP) Hey, David wept over his sin. True, and he begged for forgiveness. He didn't write a Psalm that said, "People of Israel, I have massively erred and therefore must remove myself from the ministry God has appointed me to and forever be marked a failure in the Christian Life" although if you look around in today's Evangelical circles, you'd think he did. True repentance releases regret. Let that sink in, cuz its HUGE. Place your sins at the cross and let Christ give you the gift of new life. Let me rephrase, live in the freedom and blessing Christ died to secure for you, not in the bondage of guilt Satan works tirelessly to maintain.
Are you living in regret? Stop it, and don't worry about it if you think you are, cuz that's just more regret about being in regret, and it can cycle for awhile, just ask my wife. Instead, change your thinking altogether, through the renewing of your mind by the power of the Holy Spirit, and focus on "God >" and His undying (and dying but resurrected) love for you.
Braves just dropped 3 straight to San Diego, ugh, but we pitched pretty well, just can't get any consistency from the lineup. Nasty, no good, horrible parallels between this team and late 90s Braves teams are cropping up, but I'll ignore them and maybe they'll go away. Home for 3 with the Mets and 4 with the Giants before coming up here to MILWAUKEE!!!! WHIPEEEEEEE!!!! Already gots my tix for all 3 games, come out and support America's Team - if you don't you're a traitor and should watch out for the NSA cuz they're watching you.
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