What is the Lenovo Stat?
The Lenovo Stat shows the power of teamwork. It's a way of showing the best-engineered/best combination of players on the court. The Lenovo Stat is a plus/minus statistic that looks at the point differential when players are both in and out of the game, to see how the team performs with various combinations. The Lenovo Stat can look at a variety of combinations – including the best two-player, three-player and even five-player combinations for each game.

Here is a look at the top Lenovo performers through the second week of the 2006-07 NBA season:

	+ 48	T. McGrady, R. Alston, S. Battier, Yao, C. Hayes
	+ 31	K.Thomas, S. Nash, S. Marion, R. Bell, L. Barbosa
	+ 27	C. Webber, A. Iverson, K. Ollie, S. Dalembert, A. Iguodala
	+ 27	C. Atkins, M. Miller, H. Warrick, R. Gay, K. Lowry

Houston has blasted out of nowhere to take a commanding lead with the best five-player combo. McGrady, Yao and Alston have performed well together in the past; but Battier, who was brought in via trade in the offseason, and Hayes, who spent time in the D-League last season, are key contributors to this group as well. Last week's leaders, Phoenix and Philadelphia, are still in the top three and youth is serving Memphis as second-year forward Warrick, and rookies Lowry and Gay, comprise their top five.

	+ 54	T. McGrady, R. Alston, S. Battier, C. Hayes
	+ 52	T. McGrady, R. Alston, S. Battier, Yao
	+ 52	D. Jones, L. James, A. Pavlovic, A. Varejao
	+ 50	K.Thomas, S. Nash, S. Marion, L. Barbosa

The Rockets dominate the four-player groups, as five of the top 10 four-player combos are Houston teammates. Surprisingly, the set with Hayes is slightly better than the one with Yao. Speaking of surprising combos, you would expect LeBron James to be flanked by Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas as his top teammates but a sporadically-used shooter in Damon Jones, and two young Europeans in Aleksandar Pavlovic and Anderson Varejao make up the Cavs' four. The Suns drop Bell from their five to complete their foursome.

	+ 67	T. McGrady, R. Alston, C. Hayes
	+ 61	S. Nash, S. Marion, L. Barbosa
	+ 58	R. Alston, S. Battier, Yao
	+ 58	L. James, A. Pavlovic, A. Varejao

Houston still has two squads in the top three trios with Alston teaming with Hayes and McGrady, and also with Yao and Battier. The Suns sport the athletic ensemble of Nash, Marion and Barbosa, while the Cavs have the uniquely-named LeBron, Aleksandar and Anderson performing well for coach Mike Brown. Out of these groups, the Suns' and Rockets' triple threats have played seven games together, while Cleveland's has only played four as a unit.

	+ 72	R. Alston, C. Hayes
	+ 67	S. Nash, L. Barbosa
	+ 65	R. Alston, Yao

Rafer Alston is one heck of a teammate when it comes to the Lenovo Stat. He has contributed big to the Rockets' success while teamed with Hayes and Yao. Meanwhile, speed kills for Phoenix as Nash and Barbosa and the organized chaos that makes up their games puts them as the second-best duo.

	+ 67	C. Hayes
	+ 64	Yao
	+ 57	R. Alston

No wonder the Rockets are 5-2. Houston claims the top three individuals through two weeks. Last week's No. 1 performer, Chicago's Andres Nocioni, is now in fourth at + 54.