Stat Chat: Round 12 (What's Hot & 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 setup, 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 be our resident stats man on NBL.com.au, providing a rundown of all the key numbers from the weekend's games. 

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

What’s hot – 50
They were made to work for it, but Adelaide came up big when it mattered against an undermanned South East Melbourne. Across the game, the 36ers notched up 50 rebounds on the night, compared to the Phoenix’s 33. Of that 50, Adelaide managed to pull down 17 offensive boards that led to 17 extra points in their win. 

What’s not – 6
Adelaide’s two main playmakers, Mitch McCarron and Robert Franks, both had six turnovers on the night. Even with the addition of Ian Clark to the lineup, these two men are vital to the success of this team going forward, and six turnovers a piece won’t get it done in the important games. 

Mitch McCarron.

What’s hot – 30.5
It was a mammoth round for Bullets star Nathan Sobey, who averaged 30.5 points across their double header. Their first game against South East Melbourne was disappointing, but their effort against Perth showed a renewed energy and a much needed win for the men in blue. No matter who is on the floor, Sobey is the heart and soul of that club, and it was good to see him perform at his best when the team needed it the most. 

What’s not – 20
In the big loss to the Phoenix, Brisbane was outrebounded by 20 to a team that was missing their backup center, and Alan Williams was playing on one foot. The Bullets have had their troubles on the glass throughout this season, but efforts like that against an undermanned team, is going to frustrate the coaching staff. 

Nathan Sobey. 

What’s hot – 9
DJ Hogg has proven to really step up in the clutch for Cairns across the whole season. In the Taipans' loss to Melbourne, Hogg had nine of his 20 points in the final quarter, including back-to-back threes in the last 39 seconds to give them some hope of pulling off a comeback win. Keanu Pinder is their star, but it might be time for Hogg to be as aggressive as he is in the fourth quarter all game. 

What’s not – 11:37
It was a tough night for reigning rookie of the year, Bul Kuol, who fouled out in 11:37 without hitting the scoreboard. Whilst a couple of those fouls were unlucky, Kuol is too important to this team to be sitting down with such a limited impact. He plays some of the most physical defence in the league, but it seems the referees aren’t letting him get away with as much as they did early on. 

DJ Hogg. 

What’s hot – 25
The Hawks were undermanned and showed plenty of fight early in their game against Tasmania, then things fell away. With limited positives to come out of the big loss, Jacob Jackomas would have to be happy with the bench production though. 25 points from the bench might not seem like a lot, but when you consider the team only scored 60 total and were missing their two leading scorers, it was a win. 

What’s not – 35.5
They could maybe have got away with missing one of Michael Frazier and Tyler Harvey, but definitely not both. In a game against Tasmania, who make everyone work for every point, the Hawks were missing 35.5 points from their two leading men. The still managed to start strong and score 21 first quarter points. However, they only managed 60 total on the night and struggled to find any rhythm after that.

Mangok Mathiang.

What’s hot – 29
Since the opening few rounds of the season, Rayjon Tucker has seemingly found his groove in this league and is putting up some ridiculous numbers. He averaged 29 points across United’s two games in round 12 and played a sole hand in their iconic Christmas day clash. He is shooting the three at almost 40 per cent, after struggling early on in the season. Against Sydney he took 17 threes, which is the most anyone has taken all season long. Cotton, Goulding and Randall have each attempted 13 threes in a game. 

What’s not – 13
It was always going to be an almighty task to knock off the reigning champs without Goulding. With his absence, others had to step up, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case for United. Of the eight players who lodged more than 15 minutes playing time, five of those combined scored just 14 points on the night. If it wasn’t for Tucker’s 31 points, that game could have looked a lot worse than it did in the end. 

Rayjon Tucker. 

What’s hot – 5
All five of the Breakers' starters hit double-figures in their return game from a COVID break. It wasn’t enough in the end, but considering they were missing their leading playmaker in Will McDowell-White, coach Maor would have been somewhat happy with the balance of scoring on the night. However, it was evident just how important McDowell-White is for this group when it came to handling the ball and breaking pressure. 

What’s not - -16
New Zealand got outrebounded by 16 against Tasmania, which is simply not the team who has been sharing a top two spot with Sydney for the last few weeks. The Breakers are the one of the best defensive teams in the NBL and usually that comes with an emphasis on limiting teams to one shot and controlling the boards. It was expected it might take a game or two for them to get back into game shape, so this was by no means a panic performance.

Mody Maor.

What’s hot – 4/4
The one thing everyone discusses when they talk about Luke Travers making the next leap in his game, is his outside shooting. Travers was a perfect four-of-four from deep and looked very confident every time he stepped into a three. The question has been asked, but where was Travers during the overtime period? He finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds in just 20 minutes of playing time. 

What’s not – 18
We all knew this was coming. The Wildcats shot themselves in the foot in their loss to Brisbane after missing 18 free throws in the game. When Bryce Cotton, who shoots 90 per cent from the line this season is giving up burgers, then you know something isn’t quite right. To make matters worse, they made just seven-of 18 from the line in the last quarter and overtime. 

Luke Travers.

What’s hot – 100
The Phoenix are missing two of their starting guards and hence have had to change things up slightly in terms of their style of play. Across both their games last round they had a total of 100 points in the paint. It’s impressive when you consider they played the second game against Adelaide without their usual starting and backup centre, and still put up 40 points in the paint. 

What’s not – 15
After a blistering first quarter against the 36ers, where they put up 32 points, the Phoenix managed to score just 15 in the second and allow Adelaide to creep back into the game. They were heavily undermanned, but the Phoenix still had plenty of scoring options in that game and did well to hang around until the last 30 seconds. 

Mitch Creek.

What’s hot – 9
The Sydney Kings were up to their old tricks on Christmas day and looked every bit the leading contender we all think they are. They ramped it up defensively, while also looking after the ball themselves, highlighted by just turning the ball over nine times and forcing 18 from United. When they are this locked in on both ends, it will be very hard to beat this team. 

What’s not – 18
In the end it didn’t matter in the slightest, but the Kings' leading backcourt of Derrick Walton Jr and DJ Vasiljevic shot just 18 per cent combined in this win, four-of-22 from the field. Sydney is one of the deepest teams in the league, which means they can cover for this if it happens. But Chase Buford knows that if this team wants to go back-to-back, he needs his leading guards firing. 

Xavier Cooks. 

What’s hot – 13.5
Tasmania’s defensive identity was on full display in their two wins across the round. They ramped up their full court pressure and managed to average 13.5 steals per game and force double digit turnovers on their opposition. It’s been the blueprint for their success ever since last year, and it’s something Scott Roth knows they can’t succeed without. 

What’s not – 17.6
Tasmania’s starters struggled to hit the three ball in their two games across the round, making just six of 34 attempts at 17.6 per cent. They are a team that shoots a lot of three’s because of their ball movement and unselfishness, but the starting unit is also the main contributors in terms of offensive production. Which means these numbers can’t happen too often if they want to keep getting big wins. 

Scott Roth.