Stat Chat - Round 11, NBL24 (What's hot and what's not)

Statistics ... whether you love them or hate them, stats play a huge part in sport. 

Whether it's when recruiting a player, how teams prepare, how a starting five is set up, or just about any facet of the game, numbers are crunched and relied upon as fact. 

This year, 2018 NBL Champion and expert commentator Pete Hooley will once again be our resident stats man on NBL.com.au to provide a rundown of all the key numbers heading into a new round of games.  

Keep an eye out after every round for the latest edition of 'Stat Chat'. 

What’s hot – 15
When the game is on the line, you want your stars to step up. We have seen that a few times with Adelaide and although it hasn’t always translated to a win, DJ Vasiljevic’s second halves have been promising. Vasiljevic scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half, including 10 in the last quarter and did all he could to try and upset the championship favourites.

What’s not – 1
If you want to beat the best team in the competition then you have to make the most of every extra opportunity. The 36ers did well to pull down nine offensive rebounds but they finished with just one second-chance point in the entire game. However, if you looked at their shooting numbers you wouldn’t believe it since they shot 64 per cent from three in the loss.

DJ Vasiljevic.

What’s hot – 4
When Brisbane was down 22 points to Cairns in the third quarter, things were looking ugly for the Bullets, and they were staring down the barrel of a very poor loss on their home floor. Justin Schueller inserted the young Next Star, Rocco Zikarsky, into the game and the momentum shifted in Brisbane's favour off the back of four big blocks in just a few minutes. All of a sudden there was a rejuvenated energy and the Bullets had a life.

What’s not – 12
Whilst the ‘fast break point’ statistic only measures actual fast break opportunities, the 12 points Cairns had was really almost triple that number when you looked at the poor transition defense from Brisbane. Even when the Bullets scored, they still struggled to stay in front of the ball in the first eight seconds of the shot clock as the Taipans consistently breezed past them for an easy layup.

Rocco Zikarsky.

What’s hot – 60
I said it on the call, but there is something about Bul Kuol and playing against Brisbane. Kuol had 19 points at 64 per cent from the field and set the tone early with eight points in the first five minutes. Throughout his short career against the Bullets, Kuol has shot an astonishing 60% from the three whenever he faces the Taipans' state rivals.

What’s not – 111
Adam Forde will be hoping that the egg his team laid against the Breakers was an anomaly. Up until a couple of weeks ago, Cairns was the second-highest defensively rated team in the competition. Since then they have given up over 100 points four times, and the game was over after the first quarter against New Zealand.

Bul Kuol.

What’s hot – 26
It was all Tyler Harvey in the first half of Illawarra's win over South East Melbourne, but the second half belonged to the inside presence of Gary Clark and Sam Froling. Combined they scored 26 in the final twenty minutes of action and put this game away for the Hawks, who have found new life under Justin Tatum.

What’s not – 4:15
With 4:15 on the clock in the second quarter Tyler Harvey was sitting on 22 points, and we thought we might see this season’s first 40-point night. It wasn’t to be as he picked up an offensive foul shooting a three and had to sit down. If you go back and watch the way he came off the handoff, I think it was a tough call considering his body movement was fading that way, and it's no surprise the extended time on the bench cooled him right down.

Sam Froling.

What’s hot – 14
The best team in the competition had two big wins in Round 11, and the one part of the weekend that would have pleased Vickerman more than anything was the contribution from everyone. Across the two games, United had 14 players score in double figures. They're just a ridiculously deep team that continues to flex their muscles on the rest of the league.

What’s not – 19
The 12 turnovers against Adelaide came at a cost for United as they led to 19 points for the 36ers and kept them hanging around. They’re not usually a high turnover team but credit to Adelaide for taking advantage of the opportunities they got in this one.

Tanner Krebs.

What’s hot – 21
Everyone knows about the two headed monster for New Zealand in Anthony Lamb and Parker Jackson-Cartwright, but could their be a third scoring threat emerging? Next Star Mantas Rubstavicius was thrown into the starting lineup against Cairns and looked every bit of a top NBA prospect on his way to 21 points in efficient fashion.

What’s not – 9
There weren't many negatives to come out of the big win in Cairns, but if we had to pick something, the Breakers left nine free points at the line. Mangok Mathiang was just 2/7 from the stripe whilst Anthony Lamb also shot just 3/6 himself as the two main contributors.

Mantas Rubstavicius.

What’s hot – 0
Bryce Cotton was up to his usual tricks late in this huge clutch win against Tasmania, but it was a team effort in the fourth quarter to get the job done. Throughout the entire last 10 minutes the Wildcats committed zero turnovers. That’s a team that was locked in late and refused to beat themselves.

What’s not – 23
Call it clutch, call it an escape, call it whatever you like for the Wildcats. When they look at what hurt them and kept this game close, it’s hard to go past the 23 offensive rebounds they gave up to Tasmania. That is just way too many second-chance opportunities and it almost cost them the win.

Bryce Cotton.

What’s hot – 9
The bright spark for South East Melbourne in their ugly loss to the Hawks was new recruit Abdel Nader showing glimpses of how good he could be for the Phoenix. Nader had nine points and made two tough transition layups as he returned for his first game of basketball in over two years.

What’s not – 56
It was not a good weekend for the Phoenix, and they have a lot of major concerns in going forward without Mitch Creek. The Phoenix lost both games this round by a combined 56 points as their defence looked non-existent. It’s been a common factor throughout the last few years with this team that whenever they lose a piece or two, they can’t get enough stops to compete and win games.

Abdel Nader.

What’s hot – 22
Don’t look now but Jaylin Galloway is back, and it’s no surprise that this Kings team looked good with him back in the lineup. Galloway was a key piece in the strong start to the season for Sydney and his 22 points in 21 minutes against Tasmania was a promising sign that he’s dusted off the rust from his shoulder injury and ready to shine. He’s one of the brightest young talents in the league and is destined for bigger things sooner rather than later.

What’s not – 8                                                                           
The Kings struggled on the glass in Round 11. They lost the rebound count by nine to Tasmania and that was largely due to the eight combined boards between Jordan Hunter and Jonah Bolden. Denzel Valentine is usually strong rebounding from the wing but when you come up against two powerful big men, it’s important your own bigs set the tone.

Jaylin Galloway.

What’s hot – 17, 10 and 4
It might be time for more Will Magnay at this point. If his conditioning allows it, Magnay needs to get some more minutes because his production is off the charts. Magnay had 17 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks in just 19 minutes against Perth.

What’s not – 2
However you want to look at it, the JackJumpers had two major tests this round and came up short in both. They’re still one of the championship contenders, no doubt, but that loss at home to Sydney would sting a whole lot more than the one over in Perth.  How they respond from here will be interesting to keep an eye on.

Will Magnay.