CHICAGO -- From the tough defence to the rugged rebounding and passing big men, the Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls are practically mirror images. Air Max 97/1 For Sale . Give this one to Marc Gasol and the Grizzlies, who clamped down on Joakim Noah and the Bulls in the final minutes. Gasol had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Memphis used its stout defence to beat Chicago 85-77 Friday night. "Our defence was pretty steady," Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger said. "Thirty-nine in the first half, 38 in the second half. That was just solid for us. We kept them off the glass and theyre a good offensive rebounding team. We contested shots and we pressured guys." Mike Miller made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points as the Grizzlies closed out a three-game road trip with their third victory in four games. Zach Randolph added 10 points and 11 rebounds after missing Wednesdays 103-94 loss at Brooklyn with the flu. Taj Gibsons rebound basket with 3:15 to go was Chicagos only score in the final 5:53 of the game. Mike Conley made two free throws to make it 83-77 with 2:14 remaining and Gasol closed out the scoring with a putback with 21.9 seconds left. "At times it was tough to score on both ends of the court, but they got second-chance shots and hustle plays and that won the game for them, I think," Gibson said. Gasol missed the Grizzlies 95-91 loss to the Bulls in Memphis on Dec. 30 due to a sprained left knee. But the leagues reigning Defensive Player of the Year made a difference in this one, blocking three shots and helping hold Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer in check. "I think especially in the second half we did a much better job of coming back and playing two sides of the floor and balancing when they swung the ball to the weak side, everybody moved," Gasol said. Gibson had 18 points for Chicago, which had won 10 of 12. Playing with a sprained right thumb, Noah finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but also had six of the Bulls 13 turnovers. The Bulls shot 41.3 per cent (31 for 75), compared to 44.9 per cent (35 for 78) for the Grizzlies. Gasol and Randolph also led Memphis to a 45-38 rebounding advantage. "The rebounding was the name of the game," Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau said. Memphis (35-26) and Chicago (34-28) have used similar approaches to contend for the playoffs despite some injury issues. Heading into the weekend, the Bulls were the NBAs second-best defensive team at 92.3 points per game, followed by the Grizzlies at 95.2. Memphis was averaging 95.7 points, good for 25th in the 30-team NBA, with Chicago last in the league at 93.3 per game. The Grizzlies and Bulls even had nearly identical records coming into the night. But due to the strength of their respective conferences, the Grizzlies were ninth in the West, one game out of a playoff spot, while the Bulls were fourth in the East. True to form, there were few open shots and the paint resembled a bumper-car ride for much of the night. "We came in with the mindset understanding that that team was going to be physical," Memphis guard Tony Allen said. "We knew that those guys were going to push, grab, scratch and claw. "We kind have got a similar game to that team so we just had the intensity, that playing hard, playing together mentality." Memphis led 15-12 after one, holding Chicago to 22 per cent shooting, but the Bulls started to heat up in the second quarter. D.J. Augustin scored 12 in the period and Noah had a late layup to help Chicago take a 39-35 advantage at the break. Augustin finished with 14 points, but Memphis reserves outscored their counterparts 39-32. Kosta Koufos had 12 points and six rebounds for the Grizzlies. NOTES: Asked at the morning shootaround about an ESPN.com report that he talked to New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony during the All-Star break about coming to Chicago, Noah responded: "You want me to address that? I dont feel like addressing it. I really have nothing to say about it." ... There was a pregame moment of silence for David Reinsdorf, the son of Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf who died Monday at age 51. The Bulls will wear a patch on their jerseys with David Reinsdorfs initials for the rest of the regular season. ... Conley finished with 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting. He also had seven assists and two steals. Cheap Air Max 97 Wholesale . His stated reason for abruptly resigning as head coach of Canadas Olympic womens hockey team was he felt there were doubts about his ability to coach the team to Olympic gold in February. Nike Vapormax 97 Metallic Gold . Patton told The Baltimore Sun that he took an Adderall pill four days before the season finished, trying to improve his short-term focus. "I took one because I was stupid," Patton told The Sun. http://www.outletairmax97.com/air-max-97-shanghai.html . -- Jaye Marie Green shot a course-record 10-under 62 on Wednesday to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament.From Jack Johnson to David Bolland and from Jakub Voracek to Mikael Backlund, they are the punching bags and poster boys of analytics. TSN.cas Travis Yost provides his lists of the top 10 in each category and why, in particular, Andrew MacDonald, Ryan Callahan, Chris Tanev and Jimmy Howard deserve to be singled out. Analytic Poster Boys: Players whose actual value exceeds perceived value 1. F Jakub Voracek, Phi: Excellent scorer, quietly a massive positive possession player at even-strength. 2. D Marc-Edouard Vlasic, SJ: Blueline rock has morphed into reliable first-pairing type at reasonable cost. 3. F Max Pacioretty, Mon: Only Ovechkin, Kane & Neal had more shot attempts than Pacioretty last 3 years. 4. F Patrice Bergeron, Bos: Almost certainly the best two-way forward in the sport. Enough said. 5. D Mark Giordano, Cgy: Giordano led Calgary to respectable offensive zone time numbers in Norris-calibre 2013-2014. 6. F Benoit Pouliot, Edm: Among 16 forwards to have Goal% in excess of 60% over last 3 years. Same class as Toews & Crosby. 7. G Jimmy Howard, Det: Excellent even-strength goaltender who looks like lock to bounce back in 2014-2015. 8. D Chris Tanev, Van: Numbers suggest reliable, effective (and underrated) top-four defender. 9. F Mathieu Perreault, Wpg: Quality possession player with gift for generating shot attempts in home plate scoring area. 10. F Mikael Backlund, Cgy: Only 1000-plus minute forward on Flames to record better-than-even Corsi% (51.4%) last 3 years. Analytic Punching Bags: Players whose perceived value exceeds actual value. 1. D Jack Johnson, CBJ: Columbus significantly better team with JJ off the ice since assuming top-four role. 2. D Andrew MacDonald, Phi: A magnet for consistently negative shot and goal differentials. 3. G Jonathan Quick, LA: Cup- and Conn Smythe-winning goalie just 14th in EVSV% last 3 years. 4. F Tyler Bozak, Tor: A passenger who has earned first-line role as by-product of Kessels success. 5. G Marc-Andre Fleury, Pit: EVSV% last 3 years sits behind Neuvirth, Garon, Budaj & Bryzgaolov. 6. D. Brooks Orpik, Was: Defensive defenseman ineffective at deterring scoring chances or zone time against. 7. F Ryan Callahan, NYR: Decent, hard-working second-line winger paid to contribute like a top-tier goal-scorer. 8. F Milan Lucic, Bos: Negative possession player in Bruins even-strength machine. 9. F Chris Stewart, Buf: Weak 5-on-5 player whose only discernible value is raw shooting talent. 10. F David Bolland, Fla: A third or fourth line center being paid to log first or second line minutes. Anlaytic Punching Bag: F Ryan Callahan, Tampa Bay Lightning Ryan Callahan seems to be the player that every hockey executive likes. He gives fantastic effort, he plays physical, hea€?s got a decent skill set, and you sense hea€?d rather die than lose a hockey game. These all, of course, are desirable qualities. And yet, many of them are intangible in nature. It doesna€?t render any of the above meaningless. But, if a playera€?s effort and physicality and will to win are so prominent, theya€?d likely factor into his underlying numbers. Therein lies the problem with Ryan Callahan. His underlying numbers scream mediocrity, particularly so for a player who the Tampa Bay Lightning decided to give a six-year, $34.8 million contract to this summer. Thata€?s first-line winger commitment, though Ia€?m extremely skeptical Callahan will ever produce to the level commensurate to his pay. Leta€?s really isolate on the forwards from 2011-2014 who compare closely to Ryan Callahana€?s level of production. I circled a bunch of forwards with similar Corsi%, Goal%, and per-sixty scoring rates, along with individual per-sixty shot-attempt rates. This is where Callahan sits: Anlaytic Punching Bag: Callahan Player Corsi% Goal% Points/60 Indiv. Attempts/60 Jason Chimera 48.3% 49.5% 1.7 14.1 Erik Cole 49.4% 49.5% 1.6 14.8 Jamie McGinn 48% 47.1% 1.6 14.5 Mason Raymond 47.3% 48.7% 1.6 13.2 Ales Hemsky 48.9% 46.7% 1.5 12.5 Ryan Callahan 49.6% 50.5% 1.5 15.5 Michael Frolik 53.1% 49.7% 1.5 17.0 Lauri Korpikoski 46.7% 48.4% 1.5 13.6 Antoine Vermette 49.7% 50.5% 1.5 10.0 Daniel Winnik 50.3% 49.7% 1.4 13.1 T.J. Galiardi 50.0% 42.9% 1.2 13.4 Tomas Kopecky 49.3% 43.4% 1.1 13.2 I think this is a decent crop of comparables for Callahan. As you can see, therea€?s no real difference in any of these players a€“ well, except for salary. Other than maybe Shane Doan and Erik Cole, most of these guys are signed to fairly reasonable contracts. None compare to Callahana€?s individually, of course. Naturally, ita€?s tough to figure out how Callahan took Tampa Bay for so much money. If the intangible aspect of Callahana€?s game was so impactful, wea€?d likely see something better than more or less breaking even in the shot and goal department for three years a€“ on good hockey teams, too. Analytic Punching Bag: D Andrew MacDonald, Philadelphia I thought about not even including MacDonald in this piece, because hea€?s a player the analytics community has been sort of hounding with a relentless fury that only Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson probably knows. The problem with MacDonald is simple: his team is exceptionally better with him off of the ice than on. This is, as youa€?d anticipate, abnormal for well-paid, big-minute defenders. We can illustrate this in the most basic of graphs, a Corsi On v. Corsi Off comparison for Andrew MacDonald over the last three seasons. Reeading this is pretty simple: MacDonalda€?s teams at even-strength were significantly better with him off of the ice, and significantly worse with him on the ice. Air Max 97 Plus Cheap. MacDonald was basically a magnet for opposition territorial domination. What makes this particularly concerning is that ita€?s hard to come with a legitimate defence for why MacDonald was so bad. He started over 48% of his shifts in the offensive zone over this stretch, a higher number than fellow defenders Marc-Edouard Vlasic, P.K Subban, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. His competition level (a weighted metric that takes into consideration the Corsi% of all opposition faced) was higher than average, but failed to crack the top-forty, and ranked lower than names like Duncan Keith, Victor Hedman, and Drew Doughty. I think therea€?s a fascinating discussion to be had about how to optimize Andrew MacDonald going forward, but Ia€?m almost certain it doesna€?t involve playing first-pairing minutes through the 2020 season. Analytic Poster Boy: D Chris Tanev, Vancouver Canucks Chris Taneva€?s an interesting player in that his underlying numbers scream full-time, top-four NHL defender, and yet the Vancouver Canucks appear a bit reluctant to commit to him long-term. I think part of it is due to the fact that he only has one full year of NHL experience, and the other part of it is probably tied into him sitting behind names like Alex Edler, Kevin Bieksa, and Dan Hamhuis. All three of those are household names. Chris Tanev, on the other hand, went undrafted and has logged all of 156 games at the NHL-level. The last three years of Tanev have been quietly excellent, though. Leta€?s go ahead and grab a quick list of defenders who have played at least 2000-minutes at even-strength over the last three years. We will set three parameters: the defender must have enjoyed better than break-even possession (i.e., a Corsi% above 50%), the defender must have enjoyed better than break-even goal-scoring (i.e., a Goal% above 50%), and the defender must have been a decent point-producer -- the average NHL defender from 2011-2014 averaged about 0.70 points per sixty minutes, so we will set our floor there. If we isolate for defensemen who only meet the above criteria, who are we left with? Poster Boy: Tanev Player Corsi% Goal% Points/60 Zdeno Chara 56.4% 60.5% 1.0 Erik Karlsson 55.1% 52.1% 1.5 Slava Voynov 55.1% 55.7% 0.9 Nick Leddy 54.9% 52.3% 0.9 Kevin Shattenkirk 54.8% 57.1% 1.0 Brent Seabrook 54.5% 55.1% 1.0 Alex Pietrangelo 54.3% 56.4% 1.0 Matt Niskanen 54.1% 59.8% 1.0 Duncan Keith 54% 54.7% 1.1 Kimmo Timonen 54% 52.5% 0.9 Dan Hamhuis 53.4% 58.7% 0.9 Jakub Kindl 53.3% 59% 0.9 Niklas Hjalmarsson 53.1% 53.9% 0.8 Dan Boyle 53.1% 53.2% 0.8 Joe Corvo 53% 52.7% 0.9 Niklas Kronwall 52.9% 51.2% 0.8 Paul Martin 52.6% 51.3% 0.8 Kris Letang 52.5% 58% 1.4 Kevin Bieksa 52.5% 51.7% 0.9 Jason Demers 52.4% 50.3% 0.8 Alex Goligoski 52% 53.6% 1 Christopher Tanev 52% 57.9% 0.7 Keith Yandle 51.8% 51.7% 1.1 P.K. Subban 51.2% 55.1% 0.9 Ryan McDonagh 51% 55% 0.9 Oliver Ekman-Larsson 50.5% 52.9% 0.9 Victor Hedman 50.3% 52% 1.2 This is where Tanev shines. With Tanev on the ice over those 2000-minutes, Vancouver earned 52% territorial control and nearly 58% of the goals. And, the decent scoring rate further suggests hea€?s positively involved in the run of play. Now, look at his comparables based on the parameters established. Ita€?s a group of first-pairing defenders and/or first-pairing defenders who have won a Norris Trophy. Any bets on whether or not Vancouvera€?s going to have to pay a lot more next summer, when they are back at the negotiating table with Taneva€?s agent? Analytic Poster Boy: G Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings Jimmy Howarda€?s been recognized as a respectable starting goaltender for years now, but I think some ignore just how impactful hea€?s been for the Detroit Red Wings over the years. The teama€?s aging process hasna€?t been kind to some of their star players over the years, and I anticipate that they are going to have to rely a bit more on their goaltending prowess until they get back to where things once were at five-on-five. Howard, like Tanev above, compares extremely well to his peers over the last few seasons. In fact, other than the venerable Tuukka Rask and Henrik Lundqvist, no active goaltender with at least 2,400 minutes logged over the last three seasons has enjoyed a better even-strength save percentage than Jimmy Howard. For quick comparisons, note that Howarda€?s .936 fellow Team USA goaltenders Ryan Miller (.926) and Jonathan Quick (.931) both trail the Red Wings netminder. Now, Howard did experience a bit of a drop in performance in 2013-2014 by raw SV%, chiefly due to his .866 penalty kill SV% burying a very respectable .931 EVSV%. But, knowing what we know about the volatility of special teams and goaltendersa€? regular regression to the averages on the penalty kill, we can assume that Howarda€?s middling 2013-2014 SV% will likely return to his 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 numbers -- primarily because hea€?s still such a rock at even-strength. ' ' '