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The Downbeat #1296 - No More Witty Names Edition

I wish I could give these a coherent theme.

Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Everyone knows Zach Lowe, now of Grantland. Before that, he was the editor of Sports Illustrated's Point Forward Blog. Now it is run by Rob Mahoney and Ben Golliver, and they do a great job.

Most recently, Rob Mahoney took a look back at some of the tightest MVP races in the NBA. He pulled the number from Basketball Reference and then took a look at the voting. Our beloved Mailman is featured in two of those finishes. First, Mahoney references the 1998-99 year, in which Malone won a tight vote against Alonzo Mourning and Tim Duncan.

The three power players were separated by less than 90 total voting points....

There were seemingly no right or wrong answers between the three, all of whom were highly productive two-way players on high-achieving teams.

Next, Mahoney talks about "the most infamous MVP race in American sport," the 1996-97 race between Malone and Michael Jordan. Karl won by a 2.5% margin over Jordan, in what was his best season ever (28.9 PER!!), but there will always be those that question the outcome, because Michael Jordan (27.8 PER).

...but all it took was an outstanding season from another exceptional player, coupled with a bit of burnout from the media firestorm of a post-comeback Jordan.

FOILED BY HIS OWN HYPE MACHINE!

Go check out the post. It's a fun read.

Spurred by this tweet:

Here are some interesting Home/Away splits:

Trey's FT%- 94% Away / 87% Home

Alec's 3P%- 39% Away / 34%Home

Marvin's 3P%- 35% Away / 43% Home

Diante's FG%- 37% Away / 49% Home

Lucas 3P%- 40% Away / 18% Home?

Presented without comment:

Utah Jazz: Boos for Paul Millsap? Ex-Jazzman's preparing for worst in Utah return

-via Jody Gennessy (Deseret News)

Look for more on Trillsap's return in today's game preview.

David Aldridge of NBA.com posted a Q&A with Trey Burke:

Q&A with Trey Burke

**Scroll down to the very bottom

Oh, and

While You Were Sleeping, March 9th:

Thunder 110 / Lakers 114: Jodie Meeks went H.A.M. Lakers now even with the Jazz in the W column

Pistons 111 / Celtics 118: Celts' record now tied with Jazz, Lakers, and Kings.

Kings 89 / Nets 104: Kings drop into 4 way tie (record wise) with Celtics, Jazz, and Lakers.

Suns 107 / Warriors 113: The Dubs are not 8-2 in their last 10 and would pick 23rd if the Draft was today.