GAME 58: DAL (34-24) @ MIA (37-21): 107-99 WIN!

[DanSchwartzgan]

 
The biggest benefit of the trade is we now have a bench.  Promoting Brunson and Bullock (and tonight Green) has just crushed the bench we started the year with.   We went on two 10-2 runs in the late third and early fourth which is what won the game for us.   

NBA.com tracks bench data and shows a net rating of 6.8 for the bench last night.  That is a good number, but single game data is very noisy.  

For the season, we have the sixth rated bench with a net rating of 1.7.  I'm not sure how they define "bench", but it accounts for about 36% of our minutes this season.  Sixth is good, but we are also sixth during our hot streak since the first of the year.  So, the team is playing dramatically better, but the bench isn't showing improvement.  As I've said, this is largely because we've had to drag good bench guys into the starting lineup.

The reason this is important is the leading benches in the league belong to Phoenix and Golden State.  Their net ratings are twice our net rating.  Utah and Memphis are also up there.  Our starters aren't strong enough to overcome bad bench performances.  But, if the bench can be additive on a consistent basis then we have a fighting chance in every game.  Something to keep an eye on.  When you don't have a second star, you have to make up for it by not having holes elsewhere.