| By The Numbers: Week 1 Review. Authored by Marten Liebster - November 7, 2005 - 11:47 pm
Week in review: Nov 2 - Nov 5 (Indiana, Memphis, Washington)
In the opening week of the Magic's 2005-06 season, we've seen a great difference in offensive play. The previous few seasons, players seem to have been given free reign. However under Coach Hill things have changed greatly.
In the new offense, ball movement - inside out and side to side - has been stressed. The players have responded in heading that call for the most part. Unfortunately, it seems that old habits die hard, and we've seen that the first couple of games. During the 2nd half of the first few games, the players resorted back to the old style. They stopped attacking the rim and ball movement slowed.
But there was progress in Saturday's game against Washington in that regard, but there still room for improvement. For the first 2 games, our average distance of FG attempts were longer and longer as the game progressed. Against the Wizards however, we kept up the pressure, we continued to attack.
A key way of seeing that was the number FT attempted. For the Washington game, the 4th quarter number had the highest number of free throw attempts for a quarter thus far in this young season.
Dist = Average distance of 2 point shots made - not including putbacks, dunks, layups and tips.
Quarter 1
Opponent....Dist..........FTA
Indiana.....14.7 feet.....7
Memphis.....15.8 feet.....0
Washington...9.3 feet.....5
Quarter 2
Opponent....Dist..........FTA
Indiana.....17.7 feet.....6
Memphis.....15.0 feet.....5
Washington..13.7 feet.....8
Quarter 3
Opponent....Dist..........FTA
Indiana.....18.2 feet.....4
Memphis.....19.5 feet.....10
Washington..19.5 feet.....8
Quarter 4
Opponent....Dist..........FTA
Indiana.....19.3 feet.....4
Memphis.....19.0 feet.....10
Washington..???? feet.....15 *
Note: We only made 3 of 16 of the 2 point FGs we attempted in the 4th quarter against Washington. None of which had distances assigned to them: 2 Stevenson (layup & dunk), 1 Howard (Dunk).
Had our shots fallen that against the Wizards, we would have come away with the "W". That night we shot 31.3% and were still in it down to the end - with 2 minutes in the 4th quarter we were only down by 3.
The first week's results have been disappointing. However, the style of play has been encouraging. Once the guys get the hang of the new offense and get some players back from injuries we'll be in good shape. The question is: When that does happen, will we be too deep in the hole to make it into the playoffs?
Leaders for the week:
Steals: Francis (6), Nelson (4), Stevenson (4)
Points: Francis (53), Howard (45), Turkoglu (39)
Offensive Rebounds: Battie (9), Howard (7), Francis (7)
Defensive Rebounds: Howard (15), Stevenson (14), Francis (12)
Turnovers: Francis (8), Stevenson (5), Turkoglu (5)
Magic FG%: 90 of 224 - 40.1%
Opp FG%: 924 of 209 - 44.9%
Magic 3PT%: 7 of 31 - 22.5%
Opp 3PT%: 22 of 61 - 36.0%
As Per Request:
Top Howard Assister: Francis (4), Stevenson (2), Nelson (1)
Nelson: 0.38 shots per minute
Francis: 0.38 shots per minute |
