Stat Chat - Round 5, 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 – 13
The tide seems to have turned in Adelaide and the good vibes are flowing. The 36ers' huge road win in New Zealand came off the back of an incredibly strong fourth quarter. The magic number was 13 in that last 10 minutes - Adelaide both outscored and outrebounded the Breakers by the same number in that final quarter.

What’s Not – 13
Strangely enough, 13 is also the number they wished they could forget when they look back at the second half in its entirety. The 36ers had 13 second-half turnovers, including nine in the last quarter, that could have potentially undone all their hard work.

Jacob Wiley.

What’s Hot – 22
It was a huge weekend for the Bullets who picked up two wins after dropping four straight. Nathan Sobey has been on fire this entire season but perhaps never looked better than the second half of the game against Tasmania. Sobey had 22 points in 17 minutes of second half action after he played just seven minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. Sobey lifted his team to a big home win with a superbly efficient night out.

What’s Not – 7
In the fourth quarter against Perth, the Bullets gave up seven offensive rebounds to the Wildcats who are one of the worst rebounding teams in the competition. It was a 27-point final 10 minutes for the home team that nearly snatched away a win from Brisbane who had been terrific in the three quarters prior.

Nathan Sobey.

What’s Hot – 40
Do you think Bul Kuol is important to Cairns? Rhetorical question. Kuol played all 40 minutes in their win against the Kings and not only did a tremendous job on defence, but he also put up 24 points. Kuol’s evolution on the offensive end is one of the main reasons he chose to go back to the Taipans for another season under Adam Forde.

What’s Not – 19
No surprise here, but the Snakes gave up 19 offensive rebounds in their loss to Illawarra. Granted, the Hawks are the best in the league at crashing the glass, but it was ultimately a leading factor in them not getting over the line. Those boards led to 21 second chance points and when you lose on a buzzer-beating three, it’s hard not to look past this stat.

Bul Kuol.

What’s Hot – 44
It may have come in a loss to the title favourites but the 44 combined points to new imports Gary Clark and Justin Robinson, should fill Hawks fans with optimism about their future. These two were brought in to have a huge impact and when they’re firing together, the Hawks look legit.

What’s Not – 27
On the flip side to the above, the Hawks got demolished on the glass in the same game to Melbourne. Illawarra was outrebounded by 27 in the loss and for all the good they showed on the offensive end, just couldn’t get enough stops and secure the ball when it mattered most.

Justin Robinson.

What’s Hot – 7
That man Chris Goulding was up to his old tricks on Sunday, draining seven threes on his way to 33 points. It’s the seventh time in his career that he’s hit seven threes. He’s probably feeling like he left a few more out there, after he knocked down five of those early in the first half.

What’s Not – 16
This United team looks like the real deal in NBL24 and at times it seems like the only thing that will hold them back is themselves. They went 2-0 on the weekend but averaged 16 turnovers across those games and would be glad it didn’t bite them too badly in the end.

Chris Goulding.

What’s Hot – 26
The number 26 probably doesn’t belong in the hot category, but it needs to be highlighted. With three minutes to go in the third the Breakers were down a whopping 26 to the Phoenix and the game looked over. However, credit to an undermanned New Zealand who found a way to get some stops and score the ball to get within a bucket at the end of the game. It would have been one of the more improbable wins, but it might just give Mody Maor some new life.

What’s Not – 100
Mody Maor took over the New Zealand top job and wanted to create a culture built on being elite defensively. In their two losses over Round 5 they gave up an average of 100 points to Adelaide and the Phoenix which unfortunately just won’t get it done when the league is filled with offensive threats everywhere.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright.

What’s Hot – 10,481
There aren’t a whole lot of positives coming from Perth right now, so big credit to the 10,481 fans who showed up in force to try and spur their team on to a much needed win. It would be easy for everyone to feel hopeless, but it’s still very early in the season and this team has too much talent to stay this way for very long. They started the season slow last season until a line-up change, and then they went on a run all the way to the play-in game.

What’s Not – -55
Right now I’m at the point where this number will just be adding onto Perth's rebounding discrepancy over the season, because that is once again cause for concern out west. The Wildcats lost that count by seven to a Bullets team who was missing their franchise big man in Aron Baynes. There’s no sugarcoating it, it’s just got to change.

Tai Webster.

What’s Hot – 212
The Phoenix are flying of late but perhaps have never looked better than they did in that first half against the Breakers. 212 was their combined first half shooting percentage, which highlights how damaging they have been looking.  They shot 65% from the field, 57% from deep and 90% from the FT line in the first 20 minutes… en fuego!

What’s Not – 3
The Phoenix need some others to help take the pressure off Alan Williams when it comes to ripping down rebounds. Craig Moller and Mitch Creek have been solid, but Williams had 13 of the 36 rebounds against the Breakers on Saturday and they lost the count by three. The Breakers had six players record three or more boards, compared to just four from SEM.

Alan Williams.

What’s Hot – 18
One positive about this deep Kings roster is that whoever has been thrown into the starting five, seems to produce when they need to. This time is was Kouat Noi who had 18 points on the night in just 25 minutes. We have seen Jaylin Galloway and Alex Toohey both step up when their number has been called and it’s a luxury for the Kings to know everyone is ready.

What’s Not – 25.6
The Kings' big three of Adams, Valentine and Hogg, played their first game together on Saturday night and each struggled to be efficient. They shot 25.6% from the field combined in a game where they scored just 80 points as a team. This is a Sydney team who were scoring for fun at the beginning of the season. It’ll take some time, no doubt, but they need to find a way to put up winning scores whilst they’re still working it all out.

Kouat Noi.

What’s Hot - 19
Both United and Brisbane seemed to have been locked in on Milton Doyle this weekend, which meant someone else had to step up for the JackJumpers. That someone else was Jack McVeigh, who averaged 19 points across the weekend and was doing everything he could to spark things for his team. They have enough offensive talent to cause issues this year, but they need to find some wrinkles to help take pressure off Doyle and Crawford when defences lock in.

What’s Not – 36
In Tasmania's double loss weekend Marcus Lee played just 36 minutes across both games due to foul trouble. It’s becoming a big problem to Tasmania, with Magnay still out injured, because they look like two completely different teams when Lee is out there compared to when he’s not. When he fouled out late against the Bullets, they gave up offensive rebounds and easy layups that ended up costing them the game. Right now, Lee is too important to this team to be sitting down so much.

Marcus Lee.