Stat Chat - Round 3, 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 – 18
They’re on the board. After starting the season 0-4, the 36ers finally got one in the win column on Saturday night with an impressive fourth quarter against the Hawks. Yes, they were great as a team in the final 10 minutes, but it was the Trentyn Flowers show in that final quarter. The Next Star had 18 points in the fourth, including 4-4 from deep and looked every bit of a high-level draft pick. Let the blooming begin.

What’s Not – 8
Adelaide were desperate for a win and they made that task much harder for themselves with the way they began the game. The 36ers had eight first-quarter turnovers, which led to 13 extra FG attempts by the Hawks. Thankfully Illawarra didn’t make the most of this opportunity and Adelaide went into the break only down two.

Trentyn Flowers.

What’s Hot – 34
Talk about coming home with a wet sail. The Bullets might have dropped both games in Round 3, but their fourth quarters were outstanding on the offensive end. They averaged 34 across both fourth quarters to give themselves a chance to snatch a win against both Sydney and Melbourne despite not looking very good prior.

What’s Not – 68
It’s going to be a big piece to cover, no pun intended, without Aron Baynes in the lineup. Across both games the Bullets gave up 68 points in the paint to their opponents. Now, it’s not to say they don’t still have the size down low to protect the rim - both Tyrell Harrison and Rocco Zikarsky are fully capable of doing so. What does hurt is the presence of Baynes’ strength making opponents have to finish through him, rather than over. How they cover that for the next three games will be interesting to watch.

Tyrell Harrison.

What’s Hot – 15
I have to give some love to Sam Waardenburg here, who scored 15 points in their loss to Toronto. The reason being Waardenburg would feel cursed when it comes to showcasing his talent in the United States right now. He’s been at the last two Summer League tournaments, but has been unable to play due to injury. Then, before they were due to play the Wizards he fell violently ill and couldn’t leave the hotel. He finally got the chance against the Raptors and looked very comfortable out there.

What’s Not – 5
The Taipans have had a horrid run at it during their time away. They’ve had five players impacted by either injury or sickness and missed games against the NBA sides. It’s already an almighty task to play against some of the world’s best, but to do it without that many key pieces makes it almost impossible. Hopefully everyone recovers quickly for them to get back to their fun style of play in the NBL.

Sam Waardenburg.

What’s Hot – 15
It’s been a slow start to the season Gary Clark, but he was the shining light for the Hawks across their disappointing weekend. Clark averaged 15 points at an efficient 52% from the floor and showcased just why he was a big off-season recruit. The Hawks have all the right pieces, but they just can’t all fire together right now.

What’s Not – 45
Jacob Jackomas said it best in the press conference after their loss to Tasmania – defensively it’s not good enough. The Hawks dropped both games in round three after allowing 27 made threes to their opponents at a whopping 45%. I highlighted this after their opening game loss to Sydney, but they’re going to seriously struggle to win many games if teams are shooting that effectively from beyond the arc against them.

Gary Clark.

What’s Hot – 6
There are a lot of ways to measure an elite defensive team, but perhaps the most simple one is to look at points against. Melbourne United lead the league in that regard, but more impressively across Round 3, they had six of eight quarters where they held their opponents under 20 points. That’s the magic number per quarter that has shown success for teams in recent history.

What’s Not – 13
United might be the deepest team in the competition, but the last thing they need is injuries to anymore key pieces. Against the Bullets Matthew Dellavedova played just 13 minutes before being ruled out with a concussion. Unfortunately, this isn’t new to him personally, or United as a club. They’ll no doubt monitor him closely over the next few days but you also can’t blame them if they played it extra cautious, considering Shea Ili last year.

Shea Ili and Matthew Dellavedova.

What’s Hot – 11
Shoutout to the Breakers for the way they competed against Portland, fresh off the plane. These games aren’t necessarily about winning for NBL teams, it’s all about building towards their ultimate goal. The 11 offensive rebounds that they had against Portland will make Mody Maor very happy, because that is something that is going to make them very tough to beat when they return.

What’s Not – 15.8
If you want to pull off the miracle like the 36ers did last season, you need to shoot the ball incredibly well. The Breakers hit 6 of their 38 three attempts at just 15.8%. It doesn’t matter how good your defence is at that level, you simply need to be able to hit a lot of shots to be competitive over the 48 minutes.

Anthony Lamb.

What’s Hot – 7.5
One player who can hold his head high in terms of the rebounding count for Perth is Alexandre Sarr. The potential lottery pick averaged 7.5 boards across the Wildcats' two Round 3 games - including six offensive - and continues to be a bright spot for the his side. When you look at their roster on paper it’s somewhat staggering to think they could struggle so badly at times rebounding the ball.

What’s Not – 2
It could be easy to point out that rebounding and defence are major concerns for the Wildcats because that seems somewhat of a broken record after the last few seasons. Because of that, the Wildcats only won two quarters across the weekend, by a cumulative total of two points. They won the second and fourth quarters against Melbourne by a point each, drew the third against Sydney and lost the rest.

Alexandre Sarr.

What’s Hot – 33.3
The most impressive thing for me in the Phoenix’s big win over Tasmania was the way they collectively clamped down on Milton Doyle in the fourth. Doyle is one of the best closers in the league and it was no surprise that the JJ’s went to him often in the clutch. The Phoenix kept him to just six points at 33% in the last quarter and only one assist. Big time defensive plays when it mattered most.

What’s Not – 1
Wasn’t a whole lot of negatives to take away from the Phoenix in this one. What they need right now is a starting center. With Tyler Cook and Alan Williams both out, Gorjok Gak returned in limited minutes and had just one rebound. Thankfully, they played a Tasmania team that doesn’t have an offensive-minded weapon in that position, but most other teams around the league do, so reinforcements are necessary.

Alan Williams.

What’s Hot – 24
Woah, what a performance by the Jonah Bolden and Jordan Hunter for Sydney against Perth on Sunday. They combined for 24 rebounds and absolutely dominated the Wildcats on that end of the floor. Both Hunter and Bolden are completely different players, but they complement each line-up perfectly when they’re out there. Big shoutout to Bolden who had 15 boards himself in just 17 minutes of action. That’s the Jonah Bolden we all remember.

What’s Not – 14.5
If you haven’t caught onto the Kings style of play yet, it shouldn’t take long. They want to play incredibly fast, rotate through fresh legs and continue to bring the heat. It’s a very exciting style of play but it often means things won’t always look immaculate on the offensive end. The Kings averaged 14.5 turnovers in both wins in Round 3, which is a few too many if they want to chase down this three-peat.

Jonah Bolden.

What’s Hot - 103
It was an offensive explosion on Thursday night for Tasmania, who equalled their best ever output at 103 points. Whatever the JackJumpers wanted to get, they got against the Hawks. The most impressive part of this game to me was the fact that it was over after qiarter time and they continued to keep their foot on the gas for the entire 40 minutes. Every point matters in the NBL.

What’s Not – 6
The JackJumpers are notorious at looking after the ball and executing and if they could get their third quarter back against the Phoenix, they’d want to. Tasmania had an uncharacteristic six turnovers in the third when South East took momentum on their home floor. They tightened up in the fourth with zero but the Phoenix were already feeling good at that point.

Jordon Crawford.