First, a minor hiccup in the cumulative stats for the Kings. Because, I live in LA and tried to TIVO the Kings-Clippers game off of league pass, I recorded a blacked out game. Hopefully, I can find the archives on NBA League Pass, but for now, we move on to Sacramento-Utah.
This game Utah was able to beat us with a number of off the ball screens. We were slow to recover and often just switched, which is very lazy for an off the ball screen. Ironically, Utah probably could have won this game easier with more post ups (they scored on 10 of 18 post ups) or pick and rolls. We were horrendous stopping both, but the Jazz were content to pass the ball around the perimeter while setting off the ball screens.
For a quick recap, I will be tracking Heavily Contest Shots (HC), Lightly Contested Shots (LC), Altered/Blocked Shots (ABS), Forced Turnovers (FTO), times a player was beaten 1 on 1 into the lane (BL), times a players gets posted up and scored on (PSO), times a player gets posted and the other team gets a clear advantage like a double team (PA), times a player gets posted up and gets a stop (PST) and uncontested shots allowed by the team (TU). Also, four pick and roll categories scored tandemly (both the on the ball defender and screener are graded the same) – Pick and Roll Scored On (PRSO) if the two offensive players executing the pick and roll score directly, Pick and Roll Switch (PRSW) if the two players simply switch, Pick and Roll Advantage (PRA) if the offense gains a clear offensive advantage such as a third defender having to come over which leaves another player wide open, and Pick and Roll Stop (PRS) if the players show and recover and completely nullify the play.
Let’s start with our defensive players of the game.
Jason Thompson – This wasn’t a complete effort by JT, as his pick and roll numbers were fairly poor. Out of the 6 times the Jazz involved him in a pick and roll, they gained a clear advantage on 5 and we just switched defenders on 1. Basically, we were left at a big disadvantage every time. However, JT did everything else well. Against a team with 3 bigs who can play in the post, JT stopped 5 of the 8 post ups they Jazz tried on him (versus 3 stops on 10 tries for the rest of the Kings). JT also altered/blocked 4 shots (1-4), heavily contested 1 more (0-1) and lightly contested 9 more (3-9). On top of that JT wasn’t beaten off the dribble or into the lane once, but did record 1 Hold. He also forced 3 turnovers. Overall, this was a much more impactful game for the rookie.
And our defensive goat of the game:
Will Solomon – Will managed to play 17 minutes against the Jazz and did not manage to contest a single shot. That’s right, 0 ABS, 0 HC, and 0 LC. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Will got beaten off the dribble twice, giving the Jazz an easy 4 point and did not manage to get a single hold. Will did record 1 pick and roll stop and force 1 turnover; however, this is an embarrassing display for playing over 1/3 of the game.
Other notes:
- Outside of Jason Thompson we had no answer for the Jazz in the paint. We were scored on 7 out of the 10 times the Jazz posted up someone other than JT. Rashard McCants was our worst offender recording 0 stops and getting scored on 4 times in the post. This is an annoying side effect of Kenny Natt’s obsession with small ball.
- Speaking of Rashad McCants, this was and up and down game for him. As I previously noted, McCants got abused in the post (scored on all 4 times he was posted), gave up an advantage the one time he was involved in the pick and roll, and got beaten into the lane twice. However, he was able to alter/block 1 shot, recorded 2 holds, and he forced 2 turnovers. It was mostly disturbing though that Matt Harpring could destroy him in the post the way he did. McCants may prove to be a solid perimeter defender who can force some turnovers, but if the opposing team has SG/SF who can play in the post, then we really can’t play McCants and Martin together, which is too bad because they would give us some offensive punch.
- Andres Nocioni would have had a solid game if he hadn’t gotten beaten off the dribble/into the lane 4 times. He recorded 3 HC (1-3) and 1 LC (1-1), forced a turnover and was able to stop 3 of the 6 pick and rolls the Jazz ran against him, making him our best pick and roll defender tonight.
- Spencer Hawes continues to struggle against the pick and roll. Tonight the Jazz ran it against him 7 times. They scored outright once, gained an advantage on 3 and we switched 3 more (actually a big advantage for the Jazz since it left Hawes on Deron and Bobby Jackson on Okur or another big. Hawes is already showing at age 20 that he can be a special scorer in this league. He has displayed some pretty polished post moves with both hands in the post and can shoot from the outside. However, if he wants to be more than a scoring big off the bench for a team, his defensive acumen has to improve. He will need to add bulk to hold his spot in the post without losing his speed and learn how to negotiate the pick and roll more effectively.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Kings - Bobcats - Defensive Statistics and Analysis
Overall, this was a tale of two halves defensively. We came out sluggish and slow in the first half (gave up 55 points) and then actually defended pretty well in the second half (gave up 43 points). Unfortunately, our offense was out of synch and this game was uglier than the final score.
For a quick recap, I will be tracking Heavily Contest Shots (HC), Lightly Contested Shots (LC), Altered/Blocked Shots (ABS), Forced Turnovers (FTO), times a player was beaten 1 on 1 into the lane (BL), times a players gets posted up and scored on (PSO), times a player gets posted and the other team gets a clear advantage like a double team (PA), times a player gets posted up and gets a stop (PST) and uncontested shots allowed by the team (TU).
This game I also started tracking pick and roll statistics, although I am not yet convinced that I am doing it effectively. However, I did use three categories Pick and Roll Scored On (PRSO) if the screener or roller scored directly off the pick and roll, Pick and Roll Advantage if the offense gained an advantage on the defense either because the defense had to bring over a third defender or they just switched on D, and finally Pick and Roll Stop (PRS) if they stopped the pick and roll and got back to their men. Pick and Rolls were graded as a tandem event, so both the on the ball defender and the screener’s defender notched a positive or negative stat based on the outcome of the play.
Let’s start with our defensive players of the game.
This was a pretty flawed defensive effort by us. A few of the rotation players nearly warranted the DPG award; however, their performances all had major flaws. So instead I am honoring two players who played a combined 10 minutes, but still played our best defense.
Rashad McCants – Rashad only played 6 minutes, but he was very effective on both sides of the court (we were +13 when he played). Defensively, he altered/blocked 1 shot (Bobcats shot 0-1). The Bobcats tried to drive on him twice with no success as he recorded 2 holds. On top of that McCants was able to force 1 turnover and successfully stopped the Bobcats the one time they tried to post him up. McCants has a reputation for inconsistent defensive efforts, so this may be an aberration, but for one night he was magnificent.
Donte Greene - Last night Donte only played 4 minutes, yet he heavily contested a shot the Bobcats missed, came over on help D and stopped a shot at the hoop that would have been a sure layup, did not get beaten off the dribble once, forced a turnover, successfully defended the post the one time he got posted up and they tried to pick and roll against him twice and both times he showed and got back to his man in time to prevent any advantage from being gained.
He has performed like this in all four games I have tracked. He has a very good combination of length, foot speed, athleticism, fluidity and hops. I know people tend to get fixated on his offensive potential, but I think he has the potential to be a very good defender.
And our defensive goat of the game:
Jason Thompson - A sad two goat awards in a row for one of my favorite Kings. Jason’s effort was there and he was actively trying to contest shots. He altered/blocked 1 shot (0-1), heavily contested 1 more (0-1) and lightly contested 4 more (2-4). Unfortunatley, he also tried to contest 3 more shots and picked up shooting fouls. Also, Jason was our most vulnerable big man on the pick and roll. The Bobcats ran 11 against him and JT was only able to stop 4, while allowing the Bobcats to gain an advantage 5 times and allowing a direct score 2 times. JT also struggled in the post as Boris Diaw repeatedly posted him up and Cats scored in 4 of their 9 post ups against JT, versus 3-13 against the entire rest of the team.
Other notes:
- Our defensive as you might guess was largely predicated on how we were able to pressure the Bobcats shooters. They set a lot of off the ball screens and in the first half we allowed 8 unintentionally, uncontested shots and only altered/blocked 1 and heavily contested 2-3 more. This means the Bobcats were getting a series of lightly contested jumpers and layup, which team’s appear to be hitting at a 55-60% clip against the Lakers and us. In the second half, our defense picked up as we only allowed 6 unintentionally, uncontested shot and we altered/blocked 6 shots and heavily contested 9 shots as a team. If we had hustled like that defensively in the first half, we might have been able to win this game.
- In the pregame, the Kings announcers mentioned that Drew Gooden said before the game he was going to try to play even though he was having trouble moving laterally and had little explosion. Needless to say the stat reflected that. To start with the one positive, Drew did record 2 PST (Stopped both post ups against him) and he forced one turnover. However, the rest is pretty bad. He did not alter/block a single shot, heavily contested one shot (0-1) and lightly contested four others (0-4). Outside of 0 ABS, those are not terrible. Where Gooden really was vulnerable was on the perimeter. Gooden did not record a single hold, yet got beaten off of the dribble 4 times. He was mildly effective against the pick and roll though – out of 13 attempts he stopped 5, allowed an advantage on 7 and only allowed 1 direct score.
- Francisco Garcia had a very mixed game. He was very active and altered/blocked 2 shots (0-2), heavily contested 3 more (0-3) and lightly contested 5 more (3-5). He also forced a turnover. However, he had trouble with Gerald Wallace and was beaten off the dribble/into the lane 3 times (versus only 1 hold) and was scored on 2 of the 5 times he was posted up.
- Spencer Hawes was fairly active but only mildly successful tonight. He altered/blocked 3 shots (0-3), heavily contested 1 (1-1), and lightly contested 3 (2-3). This has been a theme for Hawes. Players seem to be scoring against his contests more than with other players. This may simply be an aberration as I have only been tracking these statistics for four games. However, it will be interesting to see if these number regress to the mean or if there is something about Hawes or how he contests shots that make him less effective at distracting shooters.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Lakers - Thunder - Defensive Statistics and Analysis - Boxscore to come later
Tonight’s look at a championship caliber defense was a lot more productive. After having a disappointing defensive game against the Wolves, the Lakers were considerably better against the Thunder. There were still some weaknesses they can work on, but this was not another 108 point embarrassment.
For a quick recap, I will be tracking Heavily Contest Shots (HC), Lightly Contested Shots (LC), Altered/Blocked Shots (ABS), Forced Turnovers (FTO), times a player was beaten 1 on 1 off the dribble or into the lane (BDL), Holds (H) where a player is attacked off the dribble but prevents penetration, times a players gets posted up and scored on (PSO), times a player gets posted and the other team gets a clear advantage like a double team (PA), times a player gets posted up and gets a stop (PST) and uncontested shots allowed by the team (TU).
Let’s start with our defensive players of the game.
Lamar Odom – Another fantastic effort by Odom. I am starting to become convinced he is one of the most valuable defensive players in the league. His combination of size, length, speed and toughness allow him to help inside and outside. In this game he was able to alter/block 2 shots (Thunder shot 0-2), heavily contest 4 more (1-4), and lightly contest 4 more (2-4). He also was able to record 3 holds and force 2 turnovers while only getting beaten off the dribble twice. The only drawback to his game tonight was that he was scored on the one time he was posted up. However, he actually defended the play very well and Nick Collison sunk a shot that I believe he would miss 9 times out of 10.
Pau Gasol – Pau was relatively mediocre in the Lakers game against the Wolves, but redeemed himself last night. He was able to alter/block 3 shots (0-3), heavily contest another (0-1) and lightly contest 6 (3-6). He also was able to record 1 hold versus 1 BDL (not bad for a big man) and he forced a turnover. Finally, the Thunder posted up Pau twice and both times he was able to stop them from scoring.
And our defensive goats of the game:
Jordan Farmar – Another hit or miss game for Farmar. He gambles way too much and while he gets away with it versus the bad teams, I am concerned this will come back to hurt the Lakers (or at least reduce Farmar’s playing time) during the playoffs. Tonight Farmar did force two more turnovers. However, because he is overaggressive, he also got beaten off the dribble 4 times and did not record a single hold. Farmar would be better off in the long run just trying to stay in front of his man, instead of trying to hit a “home run” on every defensive possession.
Sasha Vujacic – This was a rather ineffective game for Sasha. He was able to alter one shot (which the Thunder still made, 1-1), had 0 heavy or light contests and was beaten off the dribble twice while only recording one hold. Considering that Sasha did not contribute much offensively, the lack of positive defensive activity explains why the Lakers were a -3 with him in the game. And this would have been a -7 if not for two great plays by Trevor Ariza at the end of the third quarter.
Other notes:
- One defensive key for the Lakers tonight was avoiding unintentional, uncontested shots. Against the Wolves, the Lakers gave up 29 uncontested shots (I believe all unintentionally). Last night, their cumulative number of uncontested shots was still 22. However, the Lakers were also backing off of Thabo Sefolosha outside of 20 feet and Kristic outside of 17 and daring them to shoot. As a result, the Lakers intentionally gave up 7 uncontested shots. This means that the Thunder were only able to create 15 completely open shots all night. Considering a few of those were fast break lay ups that were more a result of offensive mistakes than poor defense and you have a great team defense by the Lakers last night.
- Josh Powell recovered from a disastrous outing against the Wolves, to have a quietly efficient defensive outing. Tonight he altered/blocked 2 shots (0-2), lightly contested 2 more (1-2), forced 1 turnover and was able to record a Post Stop the one time he was posted up.
- Kobe was also a more active defender last night. He heavily contested 3 shots (0-3), lightly contested 3 more (2-3), forced 1 turnover and recorded 2 holds without getting beaten off the dribble once. Subtract a few kudos since he was guarding Thabo for most of the night instead of Durant or Green, but it was still a nice performance.
- I wonder if Trevor Ariza is running out of gas. Even before I started the charting, I noticed he was looking less impactful on both sides of the ball. Offensively, part of this might just be Ariza settling for his improved jumper instead of pursuing offensive rebounds and dunks aggressively like he did earlier in the year. However, defensively he only recorded 1 altered/blocked shot (0-1) and 1 lightly contested shot (0-1). He was also beaten into the lane once without recording a hold. He did force two turnovers though, which is where he provides a lot of value. Outside of these stats, he did try to guard Durant for a stretch in the fourth, but quickly picked up two fouls and was removed.
- I am interested in seeing the Lakers play a team with a good post presence. After there were only 3 total post ups against the Wolves, there were only 5 more tonight. And those were mostly done by Kristic and Collison. Overall, the Lakers performed well getting scored on once, giving up an advantage once (hard double that left another player open for a shot which was missed), and stopped the posts ups cleanly
- Again for anyone doubting the importance of having active players who contest shots, the shooting percentages for each grade of pressure were for altered blocked shots the Thunder were 1-8 (12.5%), on heavily contested they were 2-13 (15.4%), on lightly contested they were 16-28 (57.1%), and on unintentionally, uncontested shots they were 8-15 (53%). So keep up the good work Odom.
I will have to post the total statistics later. Will get those up tomorrow along with the Kings-Bobcats recap. For now, I need to start charting that game.
For a quick recap, I will be tracking Heavily Contest Shots (HC), Lightly Contested Shots (LC), Altered/Blocked Shots (ABS), Forced Turnovers (FTO), times a player was beaten 1 on 1 off the dribble or into the lane (BDL), Holds (H) where a player is attacked off the dribble but prevents penetration, times a players gets posted up and scored on (PSO), times a player gets posted and the other team gets a clear advantage like a double team (PA), times a player gets posted up and gets a stop (PST) and uncontested shots allowed by the team (TU).
Let’s start with our defensive players of the game.
Lamar Odom – Another fantastic effort by Odom. I am starting to become convinced he is one of the most valuable defensive players in the league. His combination of size, length, speed and toughness allow him to help inside and outside. In this game he was able to alter/block 2 shots (Thunder shot 0-2), heavily contest 4 more (1-4), and lightly contest 4 more (2-4). He also was able to record 3 holds and force 2 turnovers while only getting beaten off the dribble twice. The only drawback to his game tonight was that he was scored on the one time he was posted up. However, he actually defended the play very well and Nick Collison sunk a shot that I believe he would miss 9 times out of 10.
Pau Gasol – Pau was relatively mediocre in the Lakers game against the Wolves, but redeemed himself last night. He was able to alter/block 3 shots (0-3), heavily contest another (0-1) and lightly contest 6 (3-6). He also was able to record 1 hold versus 1 BDL (not bad for a big man) and he forced a turnover. Finally, the Thunder posted up Pau twice and both times he was able to stop them from scoring.
And our defensive goats of the game:
Jordan Farmar – Another hit or miss game for Farmar. He gambles way too much and while he gets away with it versus the bad teams, I am concerned this will come back to hurt the Lakers (or at least reduce Farmar’s playing time) during the playoffs. Tonight Farmar did force two more turnovers. However, because he is overaggressive, he also got beaten off the dribble 4 times and did not record a single hold. Farmar would be better off in the long run just trying to stay in front of his man, instead of trying to hit a “home run” on every defensive possession.
Sasha Vujacic – This was a rather ineffective game for Sasha. He was able to alter one shot (which the Thunder still made, 1-1), had 0 heavy or light contests and was beaten off the dribble twice while only recording one hold. Considering that Sasha did not contribute much offensively, the lack of positive defensive activity explains why the Lakers were a -3 with him in the game. And this would have been a -7 if not for two great plays by Trevor Ariza at the end of the third quarter.
Other notes:
- One defensive key for the Lakers tonight was avoiding unintentional, uncontested shots. Against the Wolves, the Lakers gave up 29 uncontested shots (I believe all unintentionally). Last night, their cumulative number of uncontested shots was still 22. However, the Lakers were also backing off of Thabo Sefolosha outside of 20 feet and Kristic outside of 17 and daring them to shoot. As a result, the Lakers intentionally gave up 7 uncontested shots. This means that the Thunder were only able to create 15 completely open shots all night. Considering a few of those were fast break lay ups that were more a result of offensive mistakes than poor defense and you have a great team defense by the Lakers last night.
- Josh Powell recovered from a disastrous outing against the Wolves, to have a quietly efficient defensive outing. Tonight he altered/blocked 2 shots (0-2), lightly contested 2 more (1-2), forced 1 turnover and was able to record a Post Stop the one time he was posted up.
- Kobe was also a more active defender last night. He heavily contested 3 shots (0-3), lightly contested 3 more (2-3), forced 1 turnover and recorded 2 holds without getting beaten off the dribble once. Subtract a few kudos since he was guarding Thabo for most of the night instead of Durant or Green, but it was still a nice performance.
- I wonder if Trevor Ariza is running out of gas. Even before I started the charting, I noticed he was looking less impactful on both sides of the ball. Offensively, part of this might just be Ariza settling for his improved jumper instead of pursuing offensive rebounds and dunks aggressively like he did earlier in the year. However, defensively he only recorded 1 altered/blocked shot (0-1) and 1 lightly contested shot (0-1). He was also beaten into the lane once without recording a hold. He did force two turnovers though, which is where he provides a lot of value. Outside of these stats, he did try to guard Durant for a stretch in the fourth, but quickly picked up two fouls and was removed.
- I am interested in seeing the Lakers play a team with a good post presence. After there were only 3 total post ups against the Wolves, there were only 5 more tonight. And those were mostly done by Kristic and Collison. Overall, the Lakers performed well getting scored on once, giving up an advantage once (hard double that left another player open for a shot which was missed), and stopped the posts ups cleanly
- Again for anyone doubting the importance of having active players who contest shots, the shooting percentages for each grade of pressure were for altered blocked shots the Thunder were 1-8 (12.5%), on heavily contested they were 2-13 (15.4%), on lightly contested they were 16-28 (57.1%), and on unintentionally, uncontested shots they were 8-15 (53%). So keep up the good work Odom.
I will have to post the total statistics later. Will get those up tomorrow along with the Kings-Bobcats recap. For now, I need to start charting that game.
Statistics Update - BDL and scoring the pick and roll
Before posting the Lakers Analysis, a couple of quick changes and additions to the statistics:
1 - BL is now BDL for beaten off the dribble or into the lane. After watching a number of players (most notably Jordan Farmar) make boneheaded gambles 28 feel from the basket and having their men dribble right past them for a virtual fast break, it became clear that this needed to be noted statistically. Ditto for someone gambling for a steal on the pass and having their man back cut them into the lane for a layup. Even thought they were not dribbled around in the second example, they clearly got beaten for a basket 1 on 1.
2 - Also, during the next Kings I will be tracking the pick and roll for the first time. Based off of recommendations from some people I respect at the APBR metrics forums and the kingsfan.com forums, I will be tracking them on a tandem basis. That is, assigning equal fault to the player originally guarding the ball handler and the screener. This has some potential faults, as it could actually punish a very good pick and roll defender for being paired with a weak one. However, it will give us something to start examining and if changes need to be made down the line, so be it.
1 - BL is now BDL for beaten off the dribble or into the lane. After watching a number of players (most notably Jordan Farmar) make boneheaded gambles 28 feel from the basket and having their men dribble right past them for a virtual fast break, it became clear that this needed to be noted statistically. Ditto for someone gambling for a steal on the pass and having their man back cut them into the lane for a layup. Even thought they were not dribbled around in the second example, they clearly got beaten for a basket 1 on 1.
2 - Also, during the next Kings I will be tracking the pick and roll for the first time. Based off of recommendations from some people I respect at the APBR metrics forums and the kingsfan.com forums, I will be tracking them on a tandem basis. That is, assigning equal fault to the player originally guarding the ball handler and the screener. This has some potential faults, as it could actually punish a very good pick and roll defender for being paired with a weak one. However, it will give us something to start examining and if changes need to be made down the line, so be it.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Kings-Hornets - Defensive Analysis and Statistics
Tonight was actually a great effort by a team still getting familiar with a number of new players. Offensively, this team has a lot more flow and overall they are playing with a lot more heart. For anyone wondering what “addition by subtraction” means, the Kings giving up Miller and Salmons at the deadline is a classic example.
For a quick recap, I will be tracking Heavily Contest Shots (HC), Lightly Contested Shots (LC), Altered/Blocked Shots (ABS), Forced Turnovers (FTO), times a player was beaten 1 on 1 into the lane (BL), times a players gets posted up and scored on (PSO), times a player gets posted and the other team gets a clear advantage like a double team (PA), times a player gets posted up and gets a stop (PST) and uncontested shots allowed by the team (TU).
Let’s start with our defensive players of the game.
Andres Nocioni – This makes two straight for Noc. Before we even get to the statistics, I can tell you that Andres handled the pick and roll better than any of our other big men to the point that the Hornets stopped running it with his man. Nocioni was not the most active player helping to contest shots, but still had 2 heavy contests (Hornets shot 0-2) and 3 light contests (Hornets shot 2-3). However, Nocioni also forced 4 turnovers and while the Hornets tried to post him up 9 times, they only scored twice and were stopped 5 times. Even one of the two makes was a goaltend by another player that might not have gone in.
Spencer Hawes – Call this an honorable mention with a caveat. To start with the bad, Spencer got lost and abused on the pick and roll. Not that there are many big men in the league who can stay with CP3 on this, but Spence was constantly getting lost. This led to a number of the team’s uncontested shots. With that said, I did want to recognize Hawes’ activeness. Visually, you could see he was hustling a lot tonight on D and it shows in the stats. Hawes altered/blocked 5 different shots (Hornets shot 0-5), heavily contested 4 shots (Hornets shot 2-4) and lightly contested 7 more (Hornets shot 5-7). He also forced two turnovers. He probably also welcomed a facing two centers (Chandler and Marks) with 0 post game, which helped him as well.
And our defensive goat of the game:
Jason Thompson – Played limited minutes because of foul trouble, but sent the Hornets to the line plenty of times in the first half. As it turned out, fouling was his only attempt at defense too. Jason was beaten into the lane once and only lightly contested one shot. We would have been better off with him just cherry picking.
Other notes:
- Interesting break down of how the Hornets shot against different levels of pressure. With shots the Kings altered/blocked shots they shot 0-8 (0%), heavily contested shots 5-15 (33%), and on lightly contested shots 16-26 (61.54%). Next game I’ll track makes and misses on uncontested shots as well. I know this is partially using stats to prove the obvious, but hustling to the perimeter and protecting the rim is obviously very very important.
- Francisco Garcia did not have a lot of activity in this game (1ABS, 2 HC, 1 LC, 1 FTO); however, that was because he spent a large chunk of the game glued to Peja holding him to 2-7 shooting from three, so he gets a pass.
- Kevin Martin did manage to get his first heavy contest in three games since I started tracking the stat; however, he still frustrates me with his weak closeouts on the perimeter.
- Beno actually deserved kudos for his one on one defence against Chris Paul tonight. He actually did a better job than Bobby Jackson against him. He still got burned a lot on pick and rolls, but those were not all on Beno. He only got burned twice one on one all game and he was very active heavily contesting 4 shots (Hornets 2-4), and lightly contesting 8 more (Hornets 4-8)
- As a team we allowed the Hornets too many uncontested shots again. They got 27 total for the game (quarter breakdown 9-4-7-7). During our big comeback to start the fourth we gave up zero uncontested shots, but in the final 9 minutes with Paul back in the game we gave up 7 and the Hornets put the game away.
Player Min ABS HC LC BL FTO PSO PST PA
Beno Udrih 31 0 4 8 2 0 1 0 1
Kevin Martin 32 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0
Jason Thompson 12 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Francisco Garcia 43 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 0
Spencer Hawes 42 5 4 7 0 2 1 0 0
Bobby Jackson 22 0 1 2 2 2 0 0 0
Donte Greene 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Andres Nocioni 32 0 2 3 0 4 2 5 2
Rashad McCants 10 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0
Cedric Simmons 6 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
For a quick recap, I will be tracking Heavily Contest Shots (HC), Lightly Contested Shots (LC), Altered/Blocked Shots (ABS), Forced Turnovers (FTO), times a player was beaten 1 on 1 into the lane (BL), times a players gets posted up and scored on (PSO), times a player gets posted and the other team gets a clear advantage like a double team (PA), times a player gets posted up and gets a stop (PST) and uncontested shots allowed by the team (TU).
Let’s start with our defensive players of the game.
Andres Nocioni – This makes two straight for Noc. Before we even get to the statistics, I can tell you that Andres handled the pick and roll better than any of our other big men to the point that the Hornets stopped running it with his man. Nocioni was not the most active player helping to contest shots, but still had 2 heavy contests (Hornets shot 0-2) and 3 light contests (Hornets shot 2-3). However, Nocioni also forced 4 turnovers and while the Hornets tried to post him up 9 times, they only scored twice and were stopped 5 times. Even one of the two makes was a goaltend by another player that might not have gone in.
Spencer Hawes – Call this an honorable mention with a caveat. To start with the bad, Spencer got lost and abused on the pick and roll. Not that there are many big men in the league who can stay with CP3 on this, but Spence was constantly getting lost. This led to a number of the team’s uncontested shots. With that said, I did want to recognize Hawes’ activeness. Visually, you could see he was hustling a lot tonight on D and it shows in the stats. Hawes altered/blocked 5 different shots (Hornets shot 0-5), heavily contested 4 shots (Hornets shot 2-4) and lightly contested 7 more (Hornets shot 5-7). He also forced two turnovers. He probably also welcomed a facing two centers (Chandler and Marks) with 0 post game, which helped him as well.
And our defensive goat of the game:
Jason Thompson – Played limited minutes because of foul trouble, but sent the Hornets to the line plenty of times in the first half. As it turned out, fouling was his only attempt at defense too. Jason was beaten into the lane once and only lightly contested one shot. We would have been better off with him just cherry picking.
Other notes:
- Interesting break down of how the Hornets shot against different levels of pressure. With shots the Kings altered/blocked shots they shot 0-8 (0%), heavily contested shots 5-15 (33%), and on lightly contested shots 16-26 (61.54%). Next game I’ll track makes and misses on uncontested shots as well. I know this is partially using stats to prove the obvious, but hustling to the perimeter and protecting the rim is obviously very very important.
- Francisco Garcia did not have a lot of activity in this game (1ABS, 2 HC, 1 LC, 1 FTO); however, that was because he spent a large chunk of the game glued to Peja holding him to 2-7 shooting from three, so he gets a pass.
- Kevin Martin did manage to get his first heavy contest in three games since I started tracking the stat; however, he still frustrates me with his weak closeouts on the perimeter.
- Beno actually deserved kudos for his one on one defence against Chris Paul tonight. He actually did a better job than Bobby Jackson against him. He still got burned a lot on pick and rolls, but those were not all on Beno. He only got burned twice one on one all game and he was very active heavily contesting 4 shots (Hornets 2-4), and lightly contesting 8 more (Hornets 4-8)
- As a team we allowed the Hornets too many uncontested shots again. They got 27 total for the game (quarter breakdown 9-4-7-7). During our big comeback to start the fourth we gave up zero uncontested shots, but in the final 9 minutes with Paul back in the game we gave up 7 and the Hornets put the game away.
Player Min ABS HC LC BL FTO PSO PST PA
Beno Udrih 31 0 4 8 2 0 1 0 1
Kevin Martin 32 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0
Jason Thompson 12 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Francisco Garcia 43 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 0
Spencer Hawes 42 5 4 7 0 2 1 0 0
Bobby Jackson 22 0 1 2 2 2 0 0 0
Donte Greene 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Andres Nocioni 32 0 2 3 0 4 2 5 2
Rashad McCants 10 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0
Cedric Simmons 6 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
Updated Explanation of Defensive Statistics
Ok, before posting the analysis for last nights game against the Hornets, here’s an updated version of the stats definitions. The newest stats are at the top. I will have a post soon about challenges with keeping these stats where I could use some help. However, for anyone reading this, my biggest problem so far is figuring out a way to “score” pick-and-roll plays. Please let me know any suggestions you might have.
Post Scored On (PSO) – A negative statistic tracking every time a player gets posted up on and the offensive player scores on them. You can also call it the Spencer Hawes memorial statistic for now. Committing a shooting foul on a player posting you up does count as a PSO.
Post Advantage (PA) – Tracks when a defensive player is posted up and the offensive player gains an advantage for their team off it, even though they do not score. The most common example would be if the defense is forced to double team and the offensive player is able to find the open man. This often leads to a layup or uncontested shot for the offense. This does not count a post player simply getting an assist out of the post though off of a cut or off the ball screen.
Post Stop (PST) – If the defensive player is posted up but stops the offensive player from scoring. This does not require that the offensive player actually shoots the ball. However, they must make an aggressive or offensive move for a stat to be registered. So if Chris Paul throws the ball inside to Tyson Chandler and he hands it right back to CP3, then the defender does not get credited with a PST.
Team Uncontested Shot (TU) – Counts every uncontested shot the offense gets against the team’s defense.
Hold (H) – I haven’t actually tracked this stat yet. However, it is the equivalent of the Post Stop, but for a player trying to drive. Like the Post Stop, in order for a defensive player to get credit for a Hold, the offensive player needs to make an aggressive/offensive move towards the hoop. So if a team throws the ball around the perimeter, that counts for nothing. However, if Kobe tries to drive and then has to kick the ball back outside, the defender is credited with a hold.
Altered/Blocked shots (ABS) – I assume everyone already knows what a blocked shot it. However, I am counting an altered shot every time a defensive player is able to make the offensive players greatly change the way he is shooting the ball or have to make a noticeable adjustment to a layup or other types of shot.
Heavily contested shot (HC) – To get credit for a heavily contested shot a player needs to have a hand up within inches of the offensive player.
Lightly contested shot (LC) – A player gets credited for a lightly contesting a shot if they are able to get a hand up and possibly distract a shooter, but is further away from the offensive player. These can still cause a player to miss a shot, but are much less distracting to a shooter.
Blown-by into the lane (BL) – This just tracks the number of times an offensive players 1 on 1 to get into the key, where they can cause havoc. Again, for now this is only 1 on 1, this does not count screen and rolls or a help defender jumping at a shooter to chase them off of the tree point line. This does count getting back cut. Gambling for a steal and having the offensive player get past you, etc.
Forced Turnovers (FTO) – This is credited to a player who forces a turnover. This can be by grabbing a steal, poking the ball loose (even if another player technically gets the steal), pressuring a passer who throws the ball away or any other action that clearly causes the other team to turn the ball over. It’s important to mention that credit only goes to the player who actually forces a turnover. So in the Kings-Grizzlies game, Kevin Martin ran behind Rudy Gay and tapped the ball out of his hand to Francisco Garcia. On this play Martin is the player who gets credit for the FTO, even if the box score credits Garcia with the steal.
A couple of other notes:
- A player does not get credit for any positive defensive statistic if they foul a player. So hacking a shooter does not get someone an ABS or HC or LC.
- While there is some judgment applied to these stats (such as who gets credit for the FTO), I do not overrule the officials. So if Jason Thompson hacks David West’s arm and he turns it over, Jason gets credit for a FTO. Similarly, if David West posts up JT and JT gets called for a phantom shooting foul, he still gets credited for a PSO.
Post Scored On (PSO) – A negative statistic tracking every time a player gets posted up on and the offensive player scores on them. You can also call it the Spencer Hawes memorial statistic for now. Committing a shooting foul on a player posting you up does count as a PSO.
Post Advantage (PA) – Tracks when a defensive player is posted up and the offensive player gains an advantage for their team off it, even though they do not score. The most common example would be if the defense is forced to double team and the offensive player is able to find the open man. This often leads to a layup or uncontested shot for the offense. This does not count a post player simply getting an assist out of the post though off of a cut or off the ball screen.
Post Stop (PST) – If the defensive player is posted up but stops the offensive player from scoring. This does not require that the offensive player actually shoots the ball. However, they must make an aggressive or offensive move for a stat to be registered. So if Chris Paul throws the ball inside to Tyson Chandler and he hands it right back to CP3, then the defender does not get credited with a PST.
Team Uncontested Shot (TU) – Counts every uncontested shot the offense gets against the team’s defense.
Hold (H) – I haven’t actually tracked this stat yet. However, it is the equivalent of the Post Stop, but for a player trying to drive. Like the Post Stop, in order for a defensive player to get credit for a Hold, the offensive player needs to make an aggressive/offensive move towards the hoop. So if a team throws the ball around the perimeter, that counts for nothing. However, if Kobe tries to drive and then has to kick the ball back outside, the defender is credited with a hold.
Altered/Blocked shots (ABS) – I assume everyone already knows what a blocked shot it. However, I am counting an altered shot every time a defensive player is able to make the offensive players greatly change the way he is shooting the ball or have to make a noticeable adjustment to a layup or other types of shot.
Heavily contested shot (HC) – To get credit for a heavily contested shot a player needs to have a hand up within inches of the offensive player.
Lightly contested shot (LC) – A player gets credited for a lightly contesting a shot if they are able to get a hand up and possibly distract a shooter, but is further away from the offensive player. These can still cause a player to miss a shot, but are much less distracting to a shooter.
Blown-by into the lane (BL) – This just tracks the number of times an offensive players 1 on 1 to get into the key, where they can cause havoc. Again, for now this is only 1 on 1, this does not count screen and rolls or a help defender jumping at a shooter to chase them off of the tree point line. This does count getting back cut. Gambling for a steal and having the offensive player get past you, etc.
Forced Turnovers (FTO) – This is credited to a player who forces a turnover. This can be by grabbing a steal, poking the ball loose (even if another player technically gets the steal), pressuring a passer who throws the ball away or any other action that clearly causes the other team to turn the ball over. It’s important to mention that credit only goes to the player who actually forces a turnover. So in the Kings-Grizzlies game, Kevin Martin ran behind Rudy Gay and tapped the ball out of his hand to Francisco Garcia. On this play Martin is the player who gets credit for the FTO, even if the box score credits Garcia with the steal.
A couple of other notes:
- A player does not get credit for any positive defensive statistic if they foul a player. So hacking a shooter does not get someone an ABS or HC or LC.
- While there is some judgment applied to these stats (such as who gets credit for the FTO), I do not overrule the officials. So if Jason Thompson hacks David West’s arm and he turns it over, Jason gets credit for a FTO. Similarly, if David West posts up JT and JT gets called for a phantom shooting foul, he still gets credited for a PSO.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Lakers - Wolves benchmarking the competition - Defensive Analysis and Statistics
It would be pointless to only look at defensive statistics for the Kings. You really need a point of comparison to understand what these statistics mean and how our players are actually performing. With that said, I will be doing this same defensive tracking for a number of other games as well. I will mostly be looking at Lakers games for two pretty simple reasons. First, most of my friends are Lakers fans. And second, they are at the pinnacle of the league. We are trying to replicate their level of success, so it makes sense to understand what constitutes a championship level.
Ironically, the Lakers game against the Wolves was actually a terrible defensive game for them. They did not contest nearly enough shots. They were slow on rotations, gambled for steals and gave up 108 points in a nail biter against a mediocre offensive team. Interestingly enough, the Wolves only tried to post up 3 times this game and scored once (Kevin Love over Josh Powell).
For a quick recap, I will be tracking Heavily Contest Shots (HC), Lightly Contested Shots (LC), Altered/Blocked Shots (ABS), Forced Turnovers (FTO), and times a player was beaten 1 on 1 into the lane (BL).
I ditched the post stats for this game, because there were only 3 post ups period. Most of the Wolves attack was perimeter oriented.
Let’s start with our defensive player of the game.
Lamar Odom – This wasn’t even close. I’ll be honest, I have not always been a big LO fan, but have really come to appreciate his defense this season. He is a force and it showed in the stats. Lamar was able to alter/block 3 shots, heavily contest 11 shots and lightly contest 8 more. On top of that he forced 3 turnovers and did not get beaten into the lane once. He was the one Laker consistently challenging drives and closing out on shooters. Without LO’s heroic defense, the Lakers probably give up over 120 points and are facing an embarrassing loss.
And our defensive goat of the game:
Josh Powell – This was probably his worst game of the season on both sides of the ball. Without even looking at the stats, I can tell you he missed several rotations and was part of the reason the Lakers gave up over 7 uncontested shots a quarter. The statistics back up these observations as Powell only heavily contested one shot, lightly contested one more and forced a turnover. He was also the only Laker to get scored on in the post.
Other notes:
- Jordan Farmar was very hit or miss. He likes to gamble a lot and gives up on plays too easily. As a result he was able to force 5 turnovers, which is outstanding, but also was beaten 1 on 1 into the lane four times (very bad for 21 minutes of play). As a contrast Fisher was beaten twice in 27 minutes. Also, before someone points out that Farmar had 6 steals in the box score, yet I only attributed 5 forced turnovers to him I just want to remind everyone that FTOs are credited to the person who creates the turnover, which is often the person who knocks the ball away from the ball handler or who tips the pass, not the person who just picks the ball up.
- Kobe was not as active on defence as I have seen him in other games. He altered/blocked on shot technically (in reality he hacked Foye but there was no foul call), heavily contested two shots and lightly contest two more. He was actually beaten by his man into the lane twice. Kobe’s concentration might have been off with his milestone of cracking the top 20 scorers in NBA history.
- As a team the Lakers gave up too many uncontested looks with 29 over the course of the game. This was not the tenacious Lakers defense that I have seen smoother teams this season.
Statistics – Min – ABS – HC – LC – BL – FTO-PSU-PST
D. Fisher – 27 – 1 - 3 – 3 – 2 – 1
Kobe Bryant – 37 – 1 - 2 – 3 – 2 – 1
Lamar Odom – 41 – 3 – 11 – 8 – 0 – 3
Pau Gasol – 39 – 2 – 3 – 0 – 4 – 0
Luke Walton – 30 – 0 – 2 – 4 – 2 – 2
Jordon Farmar – 21 - 0 – 0 – 1 – 4 – 5
Trevor Ariza – 18 – 0 – 1 – 2 – 1 – 2
Sasha Vujacic – 11 – 0 – 0 – 1 – 1 – 1
Josh Powell – 13 – 0 – 1 – 1 – 0 – 1
DJ Mbenga – 3 – 1 – 0 – 0 – 0 - 0
Ironically, the Lakers game against the Wolves was actually a terrible defensive game for them. They did not contest nearly enough shots. They were slow on rotations, gambled for steals and gave up 108 points in a nail biter against a mediocre offensive team. Interestingly enough, the Wolves only tried to post up 3 times this game and scored once (Kevin Love over Josh Powell).
For a quick recap, I will be tracking Heavily Contest Shots (HC), Lightly Contested Shots (LC), Altered/Blocked Shots (ABS), Forced Turnovers (FTO), and times a player was beaten 1 on 1 into the lane (BL).
I ditched the post stats for this game, because there were only 3 post ups period. Most of the Wolves attack was perimeter oriented.
Let’s start with our defensive player of the game.
Lamar Odom – This wasn’t even close. I’ll be honest, I have not always been a big LO fan, but have really come to appreciate his defense this season. He is a force and it showed in the stats. Lamar was able to alter/block 3 shots, heavily contest 11 shots and lightly contest 8 more. On top of that he forced 3 turnovers and did not get beaten into the lane once. He was the one Laker consistently challenging drives and closing out on shooters. Without LO’s heroic defense, the Lakers probably give up over 120 points and are facing an embarrassing loss.
And our defensive goat of the game:
Josh Powell – This was probably his worst game of the season on both sides of the ball. Without even looking at the stats, I can tell you he missed several rotations and was part of the reason the Lakers gave up over 7 uncontested shots a quarter. The statistics back up these observations as Powell only heavily contested one shot, lightly contested one more and forced a turnover. He was also the only Laker to get scored on in the post.
Other notes:
- Jordan Farmar was very hit or miss. He likes to gamble a lot and gives up on plays too easily. As a result he was able to force 5 turnovers, which is outstanding, but also was beaten 1 on 1 into the lane four times (very bad for 21 minutes of play). As a contrast Fisher was beaten twice in 27 minutes. Also, before someone points out that Farmar had 6 steals in the box score, yet I only attributed 5 forced turnovers to him I just want to remind everyone that FTOs are credited to the person who creates the turnover, which is often the person who knocks the ball away from the ball handler or who tips the pass, not the person who just picks the ball up.
- Kobe was not as active on defence as I have seen him in other games. He altered/blocked on shot technically (in reality he hacked Foye but there was no foul call), heavily contested two shots and lightly contest two more. He was actually beaten by his man into the lane twice. Kobe’s concentration might have been off with his milestone of cracking the top 20 scorers in NBA history.
- As a team the Lakers gave up too many uncontested looks with 29 over the course of the game. This was not the tenacious Lakers defense that I have seen smoother teams this season.
Statistics – Min – ABS – HC – LC – BL – FTO-PSU-PST
D. Fisher – 27 – 1 - 3 – 3 – 2 – 1
Kobe Bryant – 37 – 1 - 2 – 3 – 2 – 1
Lamar Odom – 41 – 3 – 11 – 8 – 0 – 3
Pau Gasol – 39 – 2 – 3 – 0 – 4 – 0
Luke Walton – 30 – 0 – 2 – 4 – 2 – 2
Jordon Farmar – 21 - 0 – 0 – 1 – 4 – 5
Trevor Ariza – 18 – 0 – 1 – 2 – 1 – 2
Sasha Vujacic – 11 – 0 – 0 – 1 – 1 – 1
Josh Powell – 13 – 0 – 1 – 1 – 0 – 1
DJ Mbenga – 3 – 1 – 0 – 0 – 0 - 0
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