| By The Numbers: 2nd Quarter Breakdown Authored by Marten Liebster - September 9, 2005 - 9:28 pm
At the end of the 1st quarter last year, we were down 52% of the time. Why was
this? We were loose with the ball, didn't attack the rim, and didn't share the
ball as much as our esteemed opponents. It couldn't get much worse in 2nd
quarter, could it?
In watching the games, it seemed like we'd close the gap or even take the lead,
but the opposing team would rally and end the quarter on a high note. The
quickest way to summarize how this quarter went for the Magic is this way:
Points scored in 2nd quarter
| First 8 minutes | Last 4 minutes | Total |
| Us | 16.3 | 9.0 | 25.3 |
| Them | 15.6 | 9.9 | 25.5 |
We worked hard to cut into the 1.1 point deficit from the 1st quarter. The play
of the bench and rested starters cut that lead down to a mere .4 points with 4
minutes left in the half. However, the opposing team was able to rally their
troops to close out the 2nd quarter by adding another .2 points to their lead.
Unfortunately, I am unable to provide the numbers of bench play of both us and
the opponents.
What was it that enabled them to pull out that advantage? One contributing
factor was TOs, but not as much as the previous period. Both teams averaged 2.3
TOs for the first 8 minutes of the period. For the entire 2nd quarter, the
Magic only gave the ball up .15 more times over the last 4 minutes. We finished
the quarter with 3.5 vs. our opponents' 3.35 TOs.
How did we shoot the ball? Our FG shooting dropped off by 1.2% to fall to 45.8%
for the quarter. However, we held our opponents to a meager 42.5%, down 3.9%.
So our advantage grew to 3.3% vs. 0.06% from the 1st period.
Was our defense to blame? In the first quarter we stole the ball .4 times less
than our adversaries. For the 2nd quarter their advantage shrunk to .1, a much
better showing by the Magic. So combining this with an even lower opponents'
FG% shows that our defense did a decent job in quarter 2.
Despite the rebounding monster that was Dwight Howard, as a team we were
out-rebounded 12.85 to 13.28 or a difference of .43 for the quarter. This was a
key factor in us getting off .32 less FGA (20.36) than our adversaries. Our
opponents claimed a .33 advantage on defensive rebounds and .1 on the offensive
end. Dwight's numbers were down due to time on the bench in the 2nd quarter due
to foul problems and typical rest times. His defensive rebounds dropped 33%
(from 1.93 to 1.29) and a 27% (a drop from .92 to .67) reduction in his
offensive rebounds.
Throughout the season many lamented that the team went away from Dwight after
the first quarter. For the first 12 minutes of the game, he averaged 3.87
points. Dwight scored 2.45 points in the second quarter - down 1.42 points (36%
drop). Other starter's saw their points drop as well, but at a less rate than
Dwight. Steve Francis went from 5.28ppg down to 4.57ppg (13% drop); Grant Hill
went from 5.74 down to 4.98 (also a 13% drop).
Fortunately, our two key bench players saw improvements in their scoring:
Jameer Nelson went from 2.05 to 2.37 (up 15%) and Hedo Turkoglu went from 2.23
all the way up to 4.31 (up 93%). This was to be expected, as the second team
typically gets more playing time during the 2nd quarter. The current
incarnation of my database doesn't contain minutes played in a quarter by a
player, so it's hard to determine exactly how much of an impact these players
had. But their greater role is evidenced by the increased number of entries in
the play-by-play data during the 2nd period:
| Player | 1st Qtr | 2nd Qtr | Diff |
| Jameer Nelson | 230 | 321 | +91 (39%) |
| Hedo Turkoglu | 260 | 463 | +203 (78%) |
| Grant Hill | 520 | 509 | -11 (- 2%) |
| Steve Francis | 722 | 632 | -90 (-12%) |
One big improvement from the first to the second periods was our free throw
shooting. Our opponents had 2.2 more attempts (6.8) in the 2nd quarter. The
Magic, however, made more free throws than they attempted in the 1st. We went
from 5.2 to 7.1 an improvement of 36%. This yielded a swing of 0.7 points from
the first to second quarters.
We relied more heavily on the outside shot. The Magic put up 2.1 three point
shots in the first quarter or 9% of all FGAs. The second period saw those
numbers increase to 2.8 and 13%, respectively. Interestingly enough, one of our
best 3 point shooters, Cuttino Mobley, scored 4.7 points in the first quarter
and 3.0 (36% drop) in the second despite the increased focus on the three point
shot.
Area for improvement: Assists
We improved in all the major categories from the 1st to the 2nd quarters,
though we still trailed our opponents in some others. The Magic didn't trail
dramatically in the TO battle in the 2nd quarter (.15 more, down from .75
extra). One area were we did improve and the one I'd expect to see more
improvement this upcoming season - assists. In the first quarter, 53% of all
Magic FGs made were assisted by another player. They improved to 55% in the
2nd, but still not as good as our competition - 56% in the same period.
As the primary ball handlers, naturally Steve Francis and Jameer Nelson led the
team with 1.68 and 1 assists in the 2nd quarter, respectively. However, the
team dropped off from there - Hedo Turkoglu with 0.85; Grant Hill with 0.80;
DeShawn Stevenson with 0.33; and Dwight Howard with .17 to finish of the top 6
on the team.
I expect that Dwight Howard will move up on the list next year. Last season in
the 2nd quarter he only managed to get 14 assists all season. Coach Brian Hill
said that he'd play to move the ball inside out a lot more than last season.
Magic fans on RealGM have speculated that this means Coach Hill will use the
young fella much in the same way he used the Big Fella. The only way I think
the Magic could have handled Dwight's offensive game any better was to run the
ball through him more. Coach Hill has a track record of using this type of
offense, so there is hope. Besides Dwight, other players should see their
assist numbers increase. I expect to see Grant Hill's assists be closer to his
5.7 per game average instead of the 3.3 we got last year.
2nd quarter scoring trivia:
Highest output - 40pts on 12/10/2004 at Golden State. We went on to win the
game 113-109. In that quarter alone, Steve Francis scored 12 points and Tony
Battie put up 10.
Lowest output - 12 points at Houston on 1/24/2005. Doug Christie lead Magic
players in that quarter with a whopping 4 points. We entered the 2nd quarter
trailing 15-24 and Houston doubled us up by scoring 24. The Magic went on to
lose the game 78-89.
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