Jack Tien-Dana - Basketball Analysis

The Harden-Embiid Rom-Com

by Jack Tien-Dana

Apr 3, 2023 10:30 AM

Here's James Harden: the work-hard, play-hard perma-bachelor who traffics in such excess that he's never made room for the seemingly perfect partners. There's Joel Embiid, the hardened romantic who's learned to rely on only himself after a long-term relationship went sour. Read more »

Tags: James Harden, Joel Embiid, Philadelphia Sixers, NBA

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Milwaukee's Inevitability During The NBA's Age Of Entropy

by Jack Tien-Dana

Mar 23, 2023 9:51 PM

The Bucks are now the NBA's version of Floyd Mayweather or Pete Sampras, excising any surplus artistry in favor of ruthless proficiency. They're annihilating the rest of the league by resisting its prevailing trends. Read more »

Tags: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks, NBA

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Luka Doncic And The Upside And Perils Of Radical Heliocentrism

by Jack Tien-Dana

Nov 15, 2022 2:18 PM

Luka Doncic is playing to the point that he's consumed Dallas' entire universe; at a certain point, he ceased being the Mavs' star and transformed into their entire solar system. Read more »

Tags: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks, NBA

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If The 76ers Lose Ben Simmons, They Become More Conventional With Fewer Possibilities

by Jack Tien-Dana

The Sixers have succeeded because they moved counter to the NBA's prevailing trends. Whereas other teams focused on optimizing their offense until it reached some analytically divined flow state, Philly yucked their opponents' yum. Read more »
The Opening Hours Of NBA Free Agency As Thirty Mission Statements

by Jack Tien-Dana

The advent of protracted trade demands and the play-in tournament and reshuffled lotto odds have conspired to incentivize goodness and punish intentional foulness. The NBA has pushed teams toward respectability. Read more »
Ben Simmons, Collin Sexton Hit The Trade Market As Victims Of Unmet Expectations

by Jack Tien-Dana

Ben Simmons elicits backlash because he's a star who refuses to conform to stardom while Collin Sexton is a non-star who refuses to acknowledge his non-stardom. Read more »
The Narrative-Proof Finals

by Jack Tien-Dana

In the NBA, there is no story beyond the narrative. But these Finals are different. The teams and players have oscillated wildly between extremes from game to game, at once confirming and refuting any prior notions. Read more »
The Bucks Defy Characterization, Game 1 Showed It Yet Again

by Jack Tien-Dana

There will forever be a gap between what the Bucks can achieve (era-defining dynasty) and what they will (something well short of an era-defining dynasty). Read more »
A True Variety Of Styles In This Year's Final Four

by Jack Tien-Dana

Despite all the bellyaching about how the NBA has become a homogenized soup of three-point shooting, this year's playoffs reveal the true variety of the game's best teams. Read more »
The Suns Are Built In The Point God's Image

by Jack Tien-Dana

The Suns have adopted Chris Paul's style, not his sensibility. Unlike nearly every other Chris Paul team, the Suns don't appear universally terrified of and reliant upon Paul. Read more »
The NBA's Scoring Boom, Part 2

by Jack Tien-Dana

The explosion of individual scoring has actually highlighted the importance of lineup cohesion. The surplus of scoring has made the most valuable players those who reconfigure the geometry and geography of the court, opening corridors of space on offense while bolting them shut on defense. Read more »
The NBA's Scoring Boom, Part 1

by Jack Tien-Dana

Offenses have rejiggered their attack to inflict maximum pain, allocating more possessions and touches to their best players. As recently as 2013, only 11 players averaged more than 20 points; today, 43 do. Read more »
Miami Has Found The Blueprint For A Post-Super-Team Future

by Jack Tien-Dana

The Heat make winning look like a matter of practical magic- nothing they do is that remarkable besides how they do it. They have manifested excellence by giving a damn. Read more »