Stat Chat - Round 19, 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 – 21
It wasn’t the result the Adelaide 36ers wanted, but Scott Ninnis would take some minor positives away from Round 19's defeat to Brisbane - in particular, his team’s effort on the offensive glass. Without Tyrell Harrison in the lineup for Bullets, Adelaide punished them on the o-boards, and ripped down 21 of them throughout the game.  

What’s Not – 14
Outside of DJ Vasiljevic, Adelaide doesn’t have a heap of knockdown shooters and this hurt them against Brisbane when they shot just 14 per cent from three. The 36ers made just four of 28 attempts, including just one in the second half when they needed it the most.

DJ Vasiljevic.

What’s Hot – 15
Nathan Sobey came out on fire against Adelaide and he looked unstoppable on his way to 37 points. It was the third quarter where he really took off and scored 15 of the teams 24 in that 10-minute span. It’s crazy to think that he had such a dominant night and didn’t manage to score a single point in the final quarter.

What’s Not – 20
Because Brisbane struggled on the glass they gave up 20 second chance points to Adelaide in the game. Ultimately it didn’t cost them the win, but as they play for their season on Friday night, those self-inflicted wounds could prove incredibly important.

Nathan Sobey.

What’s Hot – 19
What a first half performance from Sam Waardenburg in this game. He’s had his well documented struggles during his second season in the league, but these are the types of games we expect from the young talented big man. Let’s hope we see more 19-point first halves in the future and that his injury is more of a scare rather than anything serious.

What’s Not – 7:48
It’s truly astonishing to think that with 7:48 remaining in this game against Perth, Cairns was down by two points. The Taipans were outscored 35 to six in those final moments and the scoreline ended up looking a lot uglier than it should have, considering how well they played up until that point.

What’s Hot – 6
What Justin Tatum has done for Illawarra is nothing short of remarkable. The total buy-in across the board was once again on full display in this game as the Hawks had six players in double figures and once again went into their big brother’s house and cleaned out the shop. Just how far can this team go?

What’s Not – 9
It was an 11-point margin in the end but the game against Sydney was a lot closer than that until the final moments where the Hawks kept going to the free throw line. Illawarra have had a few games this season where they have struggled from the stripe and the nine missed free-throws in this one, whilst not overly concerning, is something they don’t want to happen too often.

Sam Froling. 

What’s Hot –3
United have proven that they are one of, if not the best, defensive teams in the league this season, and it’s no surprise they’ll finish top largely due to that. The best way to highlight this is by looking at how a team who only has three steals for an entire game, can hold a potent offensive Breakers team to 81 points. Their team defence is led by Shea Ili and when they’re locked in on that end, they look incredibly hard to beat.

What’s Not – 13
United only committed 15 turnovers for the game, which is probably a few too many for Dean Vickerman’s liking. The other concern for Vickerman would be that 13 of those came in the second half alone, including 10 in the final quarter with the game on the line.

Shea Ili.

What’s Hot – 10
New Zealand’s Finals hopes are still very much a possibility after another strong weekend but there’s only one thing to discuss here, and that is the number 10 jersey. One of the NBL's all-time greats, Tom Abercrombie, will hang them up after this season and then soon after find his jersey where it belongs – in the rafters. It’s impossible to think about the Breakers' successful history without thinking of this man, such is the impact he’s had on that club.

What’s Not – 11
This whole piece seems to be around free-throws to this point, and it matters because as the last round nears and then sudden death play-in games, every point matters. The Breakers missed 11 free-throws against United, with every player who went to the stripe missing at least one. They shot just 6-17 in the loss.

Tom Abercrombie.

What’s Hot – 38
That last quarter onslaught against Cairns was nothing short of ridiculous on Saturday night. The offensive output of Bryce Cotton in Perth's recent fixtures has been questioned, but that was silenced on Saturday after nearly every player on the court found a way to score. The Wildcats had three points in the first two minutes of the fourth and then 35 after that to end the game.

What’s Not – 58
The first half of the game was an offensive clinic for both sides, which isn’t how Perth want to be playing as they get towards the finals. The Wildcats allowed Cairns to shoot 58 per cent from the floor in the opening half as they put up 57 points in just twenty minutes.

Bryce Cotton.

What’s Hot – 44
Whilst the final score looked poor, there was a couple of positives to take away for the severely undermanned Phoenix team on Saturday. The fact that this team managed to have 44 rebounds, the same as Tasmania, whilst also beating them on the offensive glass was impressive. That indicates that the effort cannot be questioned from this young team.

What’s Not – 67
It’s stating the obvious but 67 points is just simply not enough to win any games in the NBL. South East Melbourne shot just 34 per cent from the floor compared to 48 per cent that Tasmania shot. Abdel Nadar did all he could with 19 points, but outside of him and Ben Ayre the points were hard to come by.

Abdel Nader.

What’s Hot – 30
It was a very impressive final term on the offensive end for Sydney as they piled on 30 points very efficiently against Illawarra, and it was import duo Denzel Valentine and DJ Hogg who led the charge and tried to bring their team back into the game. Unfortunately, they struggled to get any stops during that same quarter as the Hawks had 27 points themselves.

What’s Not – 20                                                            
The Hawks did what they have been doing ever since Tatum took over and that is punishing teams for their offensive errors. Illawarra had 20 fast break points in this game and took every opportunity to capitalize on a turnover or poor shot from Sydney.

DJ Hogg.

What’s Hot – 7
Any time you can score 94 points as a team and have no on score over 11 is impressive. The JackJumpers shared the load against the Phoenix and took care of business the way a good team should. They had four players finish on 11 points and three on 10, with everyone chipping in to get the job done.

What’s Not – 15
The positive that was for South East Melbourne would have frustrated Scott Roth in this win. There is just no way that a team that has Will Magnay and Marcus Lee should be outrebounded by a team that only has one true center available. It didn’t hurt them at all in the grand scheme of things, but it was uncharacteristic.  

Will Magnay.