bledredwine wrote:Well, Chauncey was .397 from the field!
Melo was the better offensive force quite handily.
So, no. As usual, you're off-base.
Billups shot 42% FG in Denver to begin with; he was a rim-or-3 kind of guy with elite draw rate for fouls. So it wasn't a large difference compared to his baseline. He led the league with 66.4% TS that postseason, and in that particular series, he posted a 57.9% TS, which was notably superior to Melo's.
And if you want the efficiency stats, do look up the PER
I, and many others, have been trying to explain to you for years that PER doesn't actually describe efficiency. It has it in the name, but it is a box score aggregate, not a measure of scoring efficiency.
Please find PER if you can. Melo was the better and more dominant player, though Chauncey certainly helped to function as the glue... there's no denying that.
There's no denying that PER loves scoring volume more than it loves scoring efficiency or assists. Melo produced more raw points and rebounded better, which is why his PER was higher, even if Chauncey was the better offensive player.
Without Chauncey, they at least would have been somewhat competitive.
They'd have been run into the ground without Billups.
I'd be willing to bet that if we posted this on the Nuggets forum, they'd be near unanimous choosing Melo in that series and even that season.
Doubt that. Nuggets fans had to deal with him his entire career and a lot of them are very clear on his deficiencies (as well as his strengths, of course).