Boxscore
Score: 93-87 Philadelphia
Bobcats Record: 13-24
Game Efficiencies:
Offensive: 104.8
Defensive: 112.0
Meritorious Player: Emeka Okafor. 24 points on 13 attempts, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks. But, the Bobcats were -9 with Emeka on the floor, with a net efficiency of -15.3. Not really his fault, but just saying.
Why do I say it is not Emaka's fault? Glad you asked. I just finished up a new project for the site - one that uses player stats broken down to the lineup versus lineup level to approximate who did what against whom. While not as accurate as charting every possession of every game, it does give a decent idea of who let someone go off - and who held his man in check (though certainly not fool proof - which I will give an example of next).
A little more on Emeka: Based on the lineups used, he spent 25 minutes guarding Samuel Dalembert, who scored only 4 points in that time, on 2 of 6 shooting. Overall, the man Okafor was checking finished with 8 points on 40% shooting. Pretty solid, right? Not so solid were:
Raymond Felton - allowed 23 points in 36 minutes, on 66.7% shooting.
Sean Singletary - Only 5 points...but that came in just 9 minutes on the court...and on 100% shooting.
D.J. Augustin - 7 points in 15 minutes, on 75.0% shooting.
The main beneficiaries of the Bobcats defense were Andre Miller, Willie Green, and Lou Williams (who all just happen to be guards). Considering the Bobcats allowed an offensive efficiency of 112.0 to the 76ers, this would seem to be a loss attributed to the defense. But, I want to point out one final thing - the short coming of only looking at matchups.
Just as Emeka was guarding Dalembert most of the game, Sammy had the same responsibility - but without the great results, it would seem. Emeka had 19 points in the 25 minutes Big Sam was guarding him, on 80% shooting. So, Dalembert had a crummy game for the Sixers, right? Well, not really:
A lot of people will see he blocked a couple of shots and say, 'He didn't do that much,' Wallace said of Dalembert's impact. 'But he might have changed shots 30 times in that game.' (from Bonnell's recap of the game)Though Emeka had good numbers against Sam, Philly's defensive efficiency number was still better with Dalembert on the court than off, 100.0 to 110.8.
I realize this wound up being more a post about my new toy than the game - all I can say is I could not help it, because I am pretty excited about the possibilities provided by it. More in depth analysis to come, of games, trends, seasons - should be interesting.
Click here to comment/view comments for this post.
