TAKE DAT WIT YOU 11/4

[michaeltex]

I seems to me that Luka is inclined to show frustration when he has to make or accept a move or play design that results in not making the best basketball decision in the moment. He has to pass to a guy who has a worse shot than he does, or a less talented facilitator brings up the ball and can't do anything with it, for example. He hates it when it happens, even though he probably knows that the long-term hopes are that his teammates become competent at their supporting roles, and that there will be no such gains without accompanying pains. 

So there has to be a reason why (almost) everyone is shooting a crappy percentage. Maybe it's something in common (new ball?) or maybe it's something individually that just happen to occur at the same time. 


Until it/they get fixed then we, and Luka, are going to have frustration with the lack of results.

JB has been an early season bright spot, as most would agree. But even Luka has been off on productivity. However, my perception ( I don't have data to support) is that Luka is trying to be a team player in the first half of the game and increases in aggressiveness after the break. 

Having said that, I just looked at the scoring by quarter with the following averages:
1st - 23.8
2nd - 27.6
3rd - 25.1
4th - 24.6

So there is nothing apparent from scoring that the team functions better as the game goes on. Looking at deltas, however;
1st - -2.0
2nd - -1.6
3rd - -2.8
4th - +1.3

So, on the face of it, the 4th appears the only positive. However, if we take out the -15 and -21 3rd quarters from ATL and DEN which could be considered outliers, then both 2nd half results are positive (+1.8 and +1.3, respectively). 

Before you dump on my stats, I know this is short on data, which limits its validity, but it supports the eye test of slow starts and early game inefficiencies. Not enough to draw conclusions, but interesting to watch and see if there is a change in the trends.

Also, the delta values show each of the 3 losses had one bad quarter of >-10. I think this means that avoiding a big run by the opponent is key to staying competitive for the game. Sometimes there is nothing you can do and sometimes you have to Hack-a-Shaq. Hopefully, the defensive focus will improve the team effort and eliminate these situations.