Stats and Trivia 2014-15

[Scraptor]

Stats.nba.com has SportsVu tracking data again everyone! This means you can break down points-per-possession on various types of plays, like iso, pick and roll, etc, on both offense and defense.

I ran a ton of numbers but my brain is now fried so you all can explore it yourself.

One interesting thing I noticed that ties back to the above article is that Jonas is dead last in defending spot-up shooting. This is because he is staying back to defend the rim, which has really helped his rim protection numbers, but means that we are giving up a bunch of mid-range jumpers once the perimeter D breaks down.

[iblastoff]

I think it comes down to what a lot of people have been saying for quite awhile - the Raptors live and die with their ISO game and forcing tougher-than-necessary shots. When the shots are falling and the whistles are favorable, the team can succeed. If either factor falters, the team can go into an offensive tailspin, as we've seen in certain games.

When it comes to the playoffs, the opposition is better and the defensive intensity is more consistent, making it less likely that the shooters stay hot throughout a 7 games series. Also, come playoff time, the NBA is well known for minimizing the impact the refs have on the games, so the whistles tend to go silent (and/or more in favor of the star players). That also doesn't bode well for shooters (ie: DeRozan, Lou and sometimes Lowry) who rely on bailout calls to offset their otherwise inefficient scoring.

And you're right... that's all before even considering the defensive side of the ball!

As I've pointed out many times whenever this "fact" gets mentioned, DD and Lowry actually got to the line MORE in the playoffs than they did in the regular season.

[Scraptor]

James Johnson with another 4 steal/4 block game against Houston, only the ninth such performance in Raptors history and with 27 points the second-highest point total of these games.

This was his second 4stl/4blk game this season; his first one against Chicago in November was the first such game by a Raptor since Keon Clark in 2001.

http://bkref.com/tiny/1akpV