| By The Numbers: Week 2 Review Authored by Marten Liebster - November 14, 2005 - 10:14 pm
In the marathon that is an 82 game season, the Magic have
played 6 games in the first two weeks, which have yielded mixed results. Many people's observations have been that the defense is much improved and the offense is much worse
than in recent years. For the past several seasons our teams have been assembled to attempt to outscore our opponents. Even though we have essentially the same roster as last year, Coach Hill has preached defense and a slower offense.
To make the new offense work, a lot of player movement, with and without the ball, and crisp passing is required to make the new system flow smoothly. While there has been a lot more ball movement compared to last season, we still slightly trail our opponents thus far in sharing the ball - 14.8 assists/game vs. 15.6 assists/game.
One result of learning an entirely new offensive scheme are turnovers. We have lost the ball more to bad passes than our opponents. Our undoing in the loss to the Cleveland was a dismal 2nd period when we had a total of 11 in that period alone. But that was an atypical quarter for us, as we have been averaging only 4.25 in the first, third and fourth quarters.
Magic:
Total TOs: 85
TO due to a steal: 34 (40.0%)
Opponents:
Total TOs: 70
TO due to a steal: 48 (68.5%)
So our defense has gotten the ball back nearly as many times as we've lost it. This is something that will improve with more familiarity with the scheme.
One aspect of the game that we've been out-performing our opponents is in rebounding. We hold a 26 rebound advantage (287 vs. 261) in total rebounds over the first 6 games. We have relied more on our offensive rebounds than our foes - of our shot attempts, 16% have come immediately after an
offensive rebound. Whereas our opponents only have 13% of their attempts come immediately come after an offensive rebound.
Magic:
Offensive Rebounds: 114
Total FGA: 420
FGA immediately following an offensive rebound: 51
FTA immediately following an offensive rebound: 16
Opponents:
Total FGA: 417
Offensive Rebounds: 81
FGA immediately following an offensive rebound: 40
FTA immediately following an offensive rebound: 14
Summary:
The results from the first two weeks haven't been what we had hoped for with regards to our winning percentage. However, there have been definite signs of improvement in the team's performance. I just hope that by the 5th week of
the season we are not still waiting for the team to get the hang of this new offensive system.
Magic Leaders (per game):
Points: Francis (19.6); Howard (14.6); Stevenson (12.6)
Rebounds: Howard (9.6); Francis (5.8); Stevenson (5.0)
O. Rebounds: Howard (3.0); Francis (1.8); Battie (1.8)
D. Rebounds: Howard (6.6); Francis (4.0); Stevenson (3.9)
Assists: Francis (5.6); Stevenson (2.5); Nelson (2.3)
Turnovers: Francis (2.8); Stevenson (2); Nelson (1.6)
Steals: Francis (1.5); Nelson (1.4); Stevenson (0.6) |
