DOCSLIB.ORG

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Date: 05/01/2021

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Date: 05/01/2021 ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION DATE: 05/01/2021 Hawks clinch postseason spot with win vs. Bulls By: Sarah K. Spencer https://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/hawks-clinch-play-in-spot-with-win-vs- bulls/M5TEBPUH3VEENLJR7PTXSL2AWI/ With a 108-97 win over the Bulls (26-38) Saturday at State Farm Arena, the Hawks (35-30) are guaranteed a spot in the play-in tournament, at the least. Next up, the Hawks will have an off day Sunday before hosting Portland Monday. Below are some takeaways from the win: 1. With this victory, the Hawks clinched a spot in the play-in tournament, which will involve the No. 7-10 seeds playing to see who advances to the playoffs. Although the Hawks hope to avoid the play-in and finish in the top 6 of the Eastern Conference standings, getting into the expanded playoff picture was one of the team’s main goals this season, so it’s quite an accomplishment to achieve that with seven regular-season games still remaining. As of Saturday night, the Hawks occupy the No. 5 spot. 2. In his second game back from injury, Trae Young had an efficient outing with a game-high 33 points (9-for-14 field goals, 4-for-8 from 3-point range, 11-for-12 free throws), seven assists, three rebounds and two steals, slicing up the Bulls’ defense. With this performance, Young, in his third NBA season, broke a franchise record for the most 30-plus point performances (58) in a player’s first three seasons as a Hawk (surpassing Bob Pettit with 58). “I thought tonight, he did a good job of attacking, running some sets, getting other guys involved, and managing the game tonight,” interim coach Nate McMillan said. “I thought he did a real solid job.” 3. Finally, the Hawks are getting healthier. They got Bogdan Bogdanovic (left hamstring soreness) and Kevin Huerter (left shoulder sprain) back for this game, missing only two players due to injury: De’Andre Hunter (right knee soreness) and Cam Reddish (right Achilles soreness). It looked like they might have another bout of bad injury luck when Tony Snell, who just Friday came back from a right ankle sprain, seemed to come down wrong on his right ankle in the second quarter. But, he was available to return, and started the second half. Bogdanovic added 15 points, six rebounds and five assists, Huerter added six points and Snell added three points and two steals. 4. After three straight blowout losses on the road, the Hawks returned home and were hoping to show more intensity on the defensive end, even though they were playing on the second night of a back-to- back. Although they trailed by nine at halftime, they started out the second half on a 22-6 run to take back the lead, and tied a season-best effort in holding the Bulls to 12 points in the third. The Bulls were missing two of their best players in Zach LaVine (health and safety protocols) and Nikola Vucevic (right adductor tightness) and only managed 34 points total in the second half. “I thought they responded to a really not-so-good first half … second half we came out and we tightened up our defense,” McMillan said. 5. Both of the Hawks starting bigs, center Clint Capela and power forward John Collins, finished with double-doubles. Capela added 20 points and 11 rebounds, in his 43rd double-double out of 57 games this season, and Collins had 13 points and 10 rebounds, contributing a season-high tying four steals. Stat of the game 12 (what the Hawks limited the Bulls to in the third quarter, with Chicago shooting 27.3% from the field, which turned the tide of the game) Star of the game Young (had an efficient 33 points and steered the Hawks to victory) Quotable “... It’s more fun when you’re playing games that matter. So now, it’s all about learning and going through it.” (Young on playing meaningful games late in the season for the first time in his career) Back to Top .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • National Basketball Association Official
    NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION OFFICIAL SCORER'S REPORT FINAL BOX Monday, November 20, 2017 BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI Officials: #61 Courtney Kirkland, #50 Gediminas Petraitis, #38 Michael Smith Game Duration: 2:00 Attendance: 16122 VISITOR: Washington Wizards (10-7) POS MIN FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA OR DR TOT A PF ST TO BS +/- PTS 22 Otto Porter Jr. F 39:11 5 12 2 7 0 0 2 9 11 4 2 3 3 0 22 12 5 Markieff Morris F 25:56 5 8 1 3 0 0 2 5 7 0 3 0 2 0 3 11 13 Marcin Gortat C 35:28 4 10 0 0 2 4 3 12 15 3 0 0 1 0 5 10 3 Bradley Beal G 36:44 10 16 2 5 1 2 0 0 0 5 1 1 4 1 3 23 2 John Wall G 31:11 5 13 1 3 4 5 0 1 1 6 1 0 2 0 3 15 8 Tim Frazier 16:49 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 3 3 0 2 0 8 2 12 Kelly Oubre Jr. 22:56 6 8 3 5 3 3 1 3 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 18 20 Jodie Meeks 19:13 2 4 0 1 2 3 0 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 4 6 28 Ian Mahinmi 12:32 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 1 5 0 2 0 6 2 1 Chris McCullough DNP - Coach's decision 31 Tomas Satoransky DNP - Coach's decision 30 Mike Scott DNP - Coach's decision 14 Jason Smith DNP - Coach's decision 240:00 39 74 9 24 12 17 8 38 46 23 18 4 16 1 11 99 52.7% 37.5% 70.6% TM REB: 7 TOT TO: 18 (18 PTS) HOME: MILWAUKEE BUCKS (8-8) POS MIN FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA OR DR TOT A PF ST TO BS +/- PTS 22 Khris Middleton F 38:41 5 13 0 4 5 6 0 6 6 3 5 1 3 0 0 15 34 Giannis Antetokounmpo F 39:10 8 21 0 3 7 9 1 7 8 4 3 0 0 3 -12 23 31 John Henson C 25:57 5 8 0 0 0 0 3 7 10 2 1 0 1 2 -4 10 21 Tony Snell G 30:49 4 7 1 4 1 2 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 0 -5 10 6 Eric Bledsoe G 35:19 6 13 1 4 1 2 1 2 3 2 2 6 3 2 1 14 13 Malcolm Brogdon 17:42 0 4 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 -12 0 25 DeAndre Liggins 17:19 2 5 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 -16 6 7 Thon Maker 20:25 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 2 1 2 1 0 0 -4 2 0 Gary Payton II 14:38 4 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 0 -3 8 24 Joel Bolomboy DNP - Coach's decision 3 Jason Terry DNP - Coach's decision 20 Rashad Vaughn DNP - Coach's decision 5 D.J.
    [Show full text]
  • To View the Complete 2020-21 NBA Roster Survey
    2020-21 NBA ROSTER SURVEY ROSTER SURVEY The NBA Roster Survey compiles data on opening-night rosters for the 2020-21 season, comprising 440 players across the 30 teams (a total that does not include players on two-way contracts). League averages for height, weight, age and years of NBA experience are below, along with the school that has the most players and the two jersey numbers worn by the most players. Additional Roster Survey highlights, including team-by-team averages in each of the first four categories, are available on Pages 2-8. HEIGHT WEIGHT AGE 6-6.39 219.02 26.28 NBA EXPERIENCE SCHOOL WITH MOST TOP JERSEYS UNIVERSITY 4.56 OF KENTUCKY 3 8 -1- ROSTER SURVEY NBA’S COMPOSITE PLAYER Brooklyn’s Taurean Prince most closely resembles the aver- age NBA player based on height, weight, age and experience. A 6-6½, 218-pound forward who turns 27 in March, Prince has played four NBA seasons (through 2019-20) since being selected by Utah with the 12th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. Prince played his first three seasons with Atlanta and recently began his second season with the Nets. In 2017-18, he aver- aged a career-high 14.1 points with the Hawks, who acquired him from the Jazz in July 2016 before his rookie season. In recent seasons, the NBA Roster Survey composite player was Glenn Robinson III (2019-20), Andre Roberson (2018-19), Tony Snell (2017-18) and Klay Thompson (2016-17). MORE SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS • Miami’s Udonis Haslem is the NBA’s oldest player at 40.
    [Show full text]
  • Rosters Set for 2014-15 Nba Regular Season
    ROSTERS SET FOR 2014-15 NBA REGULAR SEASON NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 2014 – Following are the opening day rosters for Kia NBA Tip-Off ‘14. The season begins Tuesday with three games: ATLANTA BOSTON BROOKLYN CHARLOTTE CHICAGO Pero Antic Brandon Bass Alan Anderson Bismack Biyombo Cameron Bairstow Kent Bazemore Avery Bradley Bojan Bogdanovic PJ Hairston Aaron Brooks DeMarre Carroll Jeff Green Kevin Garnett Gerald Henderson Mike Dunleavy Al Horford Kelly Olynyk Jorge Gutierrez Al Jefferson Pau Gasol John Jenkins Phil Pressey Jarrett Jack Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Taj Gibson Shelvin Mack Rajon Rondo Joe Johnson Jason Maxiell Kirk Hinrich Paul Millsap Marcus Smart Jerome Jordan Gary Neal Doug McDermott Mike Muscala Jared Sullinger Sergey Karasev Jannero Pargo Nikola Mirotic Adreian Payne Marcus Thornton Andrei Kirilenko Brian Roberts Nazr Mohammed Dennis Schroder Evan Turner Brook Lopez Lance Stephenson E'Twaun Moore Mike Scott Gerald Wallace Mason Plumlee Kemba Walker Joakim Noah Thabo Sefolosha James Young Mirza Teletovic Marvin Williams Derrick Rose Jeff Teague Tyler Zeller Deron Williams Cody Zeller Tony Snell INACTIVE LIST Elton Brand Vitor Faverani Markel Brown Jeffery Taylor Jimmy Butler Kyle Korver Dwight Powell Cory Jefferson Noah Vonleh CLEVELAND DALLAS DENVER DETROIT GOLDEN STATE Matthew Dellavedova Al-Farouq Aminu Arron Afflalo Joel Anthony Leandro Barbosa Joe Harris Tyson Chandler Darrell Arthur D.J. Augustin Harrison Barnes Brendan Haywood Jae Crowder Wilson Chandler Caron Butler Andrew Bogut Kentavious Caldwell- Kyrie Irving Monta Ellis
    [Show full text]
  • ATLANTA HAWKS ACQUIRE TONY SNELL from DETROIT PISTONS Veteran Guard Acquired, Along with Khyri Thomas, in Exchange for Dewayne Dedmon
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 11/20/20 CONTACT: Hawks Communications (404) 878-3800 ATLANTA HAWKS ACQUIRE TONY SNELL FROM DETROIT PISTONS Veteran Guard Acquired, Along with Khyri Thomas, in Exchange for Dewayne Dedmon ATLANTA – The Atlanta Hawks have acquired guards Tony Snell and Khyri Thomas from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for center Dewayne Dedmon, it was announced today. Snell, originally the 20th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, has averaged 6.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 22.5 minutes (.428 FG%, .385 3FG%, .838 FT%) in 501 career games (275 starts) with Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit. In 38 playoff contests (eight starts), he’s averaged 3.4 points and 1.4 rebounds in 14.0 minutes. Last season in 59 games (57 starts) with the Pistons, the 6-foot-6 Snell averaged 8.0 points, 2.2 assists and 1.9 rebounds in 27.8 minutes (.445 FG%, .402 3FG%, 32-32 FTs), ranking tied for 24th in the NBA in three-point percentage. In two seasons with the Pistons, Thomas has played in 34 games, averaging 2.3 points. He’s also appeared in three postseason contests. Thomas was originally a second-round pick of the Philadelphia 76ers (38th overall) in the 2018 NBA Draft. In a subsequent move, the Hawks waived Thomas. Dedmon was re-acquired by the Hawks from the Sacramento Kings on February 6, 2020. Last season in 10 games (eight starts) with the Hawks, he averaged 8.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.0 steals in 23.3 minutes.
    [Show full text]
  • Detroit Pistons Game Notes | @Pistons PR
    Date Opponent W/L Score Dec. 23 at Minnesota L 101-111 Dec. 26 vs. Cleveland L 119-128(2OT) Dec. 28 at Atlanta L 120-128 Dec. 29 vs. Golden State L 106-116 Jan. 1 vs. Boston W 96 -93 Jan. 3 vs.\\ Boston L 120-122 GAME NOTES Jan. 4 at Milwaukee L 115-125 Jan. 6 at Milwaukee L 115-130 DETROIT PISTONS 2020-21 SEASON GAME NOTES Jan. 8 vs. Phoenix W 110-105(OT) Jan. 10 vs. Utah L 86 -96 Jan. 13 vs. Milwaukee L 101-110 REGULAR SEASON RECORD: 20-52 Jan. 16 at Miami W 120-100 Jan. 18 at Miami L 107-113 Jan. 20 at Atlanta L 115-123(OT) POSTSEASON: DID NOT QUALIFY Jan. 22 vs. Houston L 102-103 Jan. 23 vs. Philadelphia L 110-1 14 LAST GAME STARTERS Jan. 25 vs. Philadelphia W 119- 104 Jan. 27 at Cleveland L 107-122 POS. PLAYERS 2020-21 REGULAR SEASON AVERAGES Jan. 28 vs. L.A. Lakers W 107-92 11.5 Pts 5.2 Rebs 1.9 Asts 0.8 Stls 23.4 Min Jan. 30 at Golden State L 91-118 Feb. 2 at Utah L 105-117 #6 Hamidou Diallo LAST GAME: 15 points, five rebounds, two assists in 30 minutes vs. Feb. 5 at Phoenix L 92-109 F Ht: 6 -5 Wt: 202 Averages: MIA (5/16)…31 games with 10+ points on year. Feb. 6 at L.A. Lakers L 129-135 (2OT) Kentucky NOTE: Scored 10+ pts in 31 games, 20+ pts in four games this season, Feb.
    [Show full text]
  • 2013 NBA Draft
    Round 1 Draft Picks 1. Cleveland Cavaliers – Anthony Bennett (PF), UNLV 2. Orlando Magic – Victor Oladipo (SG), Indiana 3. Washington Wizards – Otto Porter Jr. (SF), Georgetown 4. Charlotte Bobcats – Cody Zeller (PF), Indiana University 5. Phoenix Suns – Alex Len (C), Maryland 6. New Orleans Pelicans – Nerlens Noel (C), Kentucky 7. Sacramento KinGs – Ben McLemore (SG), Kansas 8. Detroit Pistons – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (SG), Georgia 9. Minnesota Timberwolves – Trey Burke (PG), Michigan 10. Portland Trail Blazers – C.J. McCollum (PG), Lehigh 11. Philadelphia 76ers – Michael Carter-Williams (PG), Syracuse 12. Oklahoma City Thunder – Steven Adams (C), PittsburGh 13. Dallas Mavericks – Kelly Olynyk (PF), Gonzaga 14. Utah Jazz – Shabazz Muhammad (SF), UCLA 15. Milwaukee Bucks – Giannis Antetokounmpo (SF), Greece 16. Boston Celtics – Lucas Nogueira (C), Brazil 17. Atlanta Hawks – Dennis Schroeder (PG), Germany 18. Atlanta Hawks – Shane Larkin (PG), Miami 19. Cleveland Cavaliers – Sergey Karasev (SG), Russia 20. ChicaGo Bulls – Tony Snell (SF), New Mexico 21. Utah Jazz – Gorgui Dieng (C), Louisville 22. Brooklyn – Mason Plumlee, (C), Duke 23. Indiana Pacers – Solomon Hill (SF), Arizona 24. New York Knicks – Tim Hardaway Jr. (SG), MichiGan 25. Los Angeles Clippers – Reggie Bullock (SG), UNC 26. Minnesota Timberwolves – Andre Roberson (SF), Colorado 27. Denver Nuggets – Rudy Gobert (SF), France 28. San Antonio Spurs – Livio Jean-Charles (PF), French Guiana 29. Oklahoma City Thunder – Archie Goodwin (SG), Kentucky 30. Phoenix Suns – Nemanja Nedovic (SG), Serbia Round 2 Draft Picks 31. Cleveland Cavaliers – Allen Crabbe (SG), California 32. Oklahoma City Thunder – Alex Abrines (SG), Spain 33. Cleveland Cavaliers – Carrick Felix (SG), Arizona State 34. Houston Rockets – Isaiah Canaan (PG), Murray State 35.
    [Show full text]
  • 2013-14 Panini Crusade Basketball Set Checklist Base Set Checklist
    2013-14 Panini Crusade Basketball Set Checklist Base Set Checklist 100 cards PARALLEL CARDS: Silver #/25, Gold #/10, Black 1/1 1 Chris Paul 2 Al Horford 3 Pau Gasol 4 Nikola Vucevic 5 Monta Ellis 6 Tyreke Evans 7 Rajon Rondo 8 Carmelo Anthony 9 Kevin Love 10 Andre Drummond 11 J.J. Redick 12 Jeff Teague 13 Steve Nash 14 Jameer Nelson 15 Dirk Nowitzki 16 Amir Johnson 17 Jeff Green 18 Tyson Chandler 19 Kevin Martin 20 Luol Deng 21 Goran Dragic 22 Nick Young 23 Paul Millsap 24 Tony Parker 25 Shawn Marion 26 Spencer Hawes 27 Jordan Crawford 28 Andrea Bargnani 29 Derrick Favors 30 Derrick Rose 31 Eric Bledsoe 32 DeMarcus Cousins 33 Kemba Walker 34 Tim Duncan 35 Vince Carter 36 Wesley Matthews 37 DeMar DeRozan 38 Damian Lillard 39 Enes Kanter 40 Carlos Boozer 41 Gerald Green 42 Isaiah Thomas 43 Gerald Henderson 44 Manu Ginobili 45 Mike Conley 46 Nicolas Batum 47 Kyle Lowry 48 LaMarcus Aldridge 49 Gordon Hayward 50 Kyrie Irving 51 Stephen Curry 52 Rudy Gay 53 Al Jefferson 54 Kawhi Leonard 55 Zach Randolph 56 J.J. Hickson 57 Evan Turner 58 Kevin Durant 59 Paul George 60 Dion Waiters 61 Klay Thompson 62 LeBron James 63 John Wall 64 James Harden 65 Marc Gasol 66 Ricky Rubio 67 Thaddeus Young 68 Russell Westbrook 69 David West 70 Tristan Thompson 71 David Lee 72 Chris Bosh 73 Marcin Gortat 74 Dwight Howard 75 Eric Gordon 76 Caron Butler 77 Kevin Garnett 78 Serge Ibaka 79 Roy Hibbert 80 O.J.
    [Show full text]
  • Projected Playoff Rotation Has Enough Talent to Make Noise in Postseason
    THE ATHLETIC DATE: 05/04/2021 Hawks’ projected playoff rotation has enough talent to make noise in postseason By: Chris Kirschner https://theathletic.com/2566608/2021/05/05/hawks-projected-playoff-rotation-has-enough-talent-to- make-noise-in-postseason/ For what seems like the first time all season, the Hawks are mostly healthy outside of Cam Reddish’s Achilles soreness that will sideline him through the end of the regular season, at minimum, and De’Andre Hunter’s knee soreness, which who knows when and if he’ll be able to return this season. Because of the amount of injuries this team has battled, it has made rotation decisions much easier for Nate McMillan on a nightly basis, as some nights it has just been as simple as answering the question of: Who’s available? Now that there are only two names on the injury report (this is the time you can knock on wood), the decision of who plays how many minutes is given serious thought. For instance, Kris Dunn has missed the past two games not because he has sustained any setbacks after coming back from ankle surgery but because McMillan felt Solomon Hill should be playing over him. “It’s just a numbers game,” McMillan said Monday night. “We have guys who are now healthy. Our guards are healthy now, and it’s just a numbers game. I’m gonna go with Lou (Williams) and Kevin (Huerter) in the backcourt, Solo and Tony (Snell) are the guys playing the wing position with (Danilo Gallinari). He’s fine.” This team’s depth was one of the major talking points entering the season.
    [Show full text]
  • Kyle Anderson Forecast
    You hear that Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability Agent Smith was wrong about what was inevitable for Mr. Anderson in The Matrix, was John Hollinger in signing UCLA alum Kyle 'Slo Mo' Anderson? Mr. Hollinger was a basketball analytics pioneer who went from writing Pro Basketball Prospectus books to working for the Memphis Grizzlies front office. Naturally then, we will use analytical tools to evaluate Mr. Anderson, his new contract, and forecast his 2018-19 performance to gauge if Mr. Hollinger's sense of inevitability was correct. Kyle Anderson's Strengths Defense is where Mr. Anderson stands out most. He was #16 in Defensive Win Shares (DWS) in the NBA last year, #6 in Defensive Rating, and #3 in Defensive Box +/- (per Basketball Reference). Teammates play a factor in defense certainly, but he was the highest rated Spur in DWS and DBPM, and his 101.2 just Defensive Rating was just behind Dejounte Murray's 101. He did well in other defensive stats, but they did not have him as the top stopper on the Spurs. His DWS on NBA.com had him at #29, lower than teammates #18 Murray and #7 LaMarcus Aldridge, but still as one of the 30 best defensive players in the Association. Total Defensive Rating (TDR) from Basketball Analytics author Dr. Stephen Shea takes into account Interior and Perimeter defense separately and had him ranked tied for #42 (3.9) in the league. Similar to the NBA.com number his teammates rated higher: Murray was #6 (8.9), Rudy Gay was #24 (5.5) and Danny Green was tied for #39 (4.2).
    [Show full text]
  • Cal Men's Basketball Schedule Team Information
    CAL MEN'S BASKETBALL GOLDEN BEARS HIGHLANDERS 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 OVERALL BIG WEST OVERALL PAC-12 VS -- Wyking Jones -- Dennis Cutts RANK HEAD COACH RANK HEAD COACH FRIDAY Haas Pavilion BROADCAST LIVE STREAM LIVE STATS November 10 Berkeley, Calif. Pac-12 Networks Pac-12.com/live CalBears.com SCHEDULE NEED TO KNOW Overall: 0-0 • Pac-12: 0-0 California men’s basketball officially enters the Wyking Jones era on Friday when the Golden Bears begin Home: 0-0 • Away: 0-0 • Neutral: 0-0 their 2017-18 campaign against the UC Riverside Highlanders. Action is set for 9 p.m., live from Haas Pavil- ion and on the Pac-12 Networks as part of the “Full Court Friday” special. DATE OPPONENT (TV) TIME NOV. 6 PROVIDENCE (EXHIBITION) W, 81-52 The men’s game is the nightcap of a doubleheader with Cal women’s basketball, who host Saint Mary’s NOV. 10 UC RIVERSIDE 9 PM at 5 p.m. NOV. 12 CAL POLY 1 PM NOV. 16 MAUI INV: WOFFORD 6 PM The Bears make their official debut following an 81-52 romp of NAIA opponent Providence in Monday’s exhi- Nov. 20 Maui Inv: Wichita St. % 2 pm bition game. Cal’s veteran trio of Don Coleman (20 points), Marcus Lee (17 points) and Kingsley Okoroh (14 Nov. 21 Maui Inv: TBD % TBD Nov. 22 Maui Inv: TBD % TBD points) all scored in double figures. Okoroh paved the way with a triple-double that included 10 blocks and NOV. 28 CSUN 8 PM 10 rebounds with just one foul in 30 minutes of action, and Lee added a double-double with his 12 boards.
    [Show full text]
  • A Descriptive Model for NBA Player Ratings Using Shot-Specific-Distance Expected Value Points Per Possession
    A Descriptive Model for NBA Player Ratings Using Shot-Specific-Distance Expected Value Points per Possession Chris Pickard MCS 100 June 5, 2016 Abstract This paper develops a player evaluation framework that measures the expected points per possession by shot distance for a given player while on the court as either an offensive or defensive adversary. This is done by modeling a basketball possession as a binary progression of events with known expected point values for each event progression. For a given player, the expected points contributed are determined by the skills of his teammates, opponents and the likelihood a particular event occurs while he is on the court. This framework assesses the impact a player has on his team in terms of total possession and shot-specific-distance offensive and defensive expected points contributed per possession. By refining the model by shot-specific-distance events, the relative strengths and weaknesses of a player can be determined to better understand where he maximizes or minimizes his team’s success. In addition, the model’s framework can be used to estimate the number of wins contributed by a player above a replacement level player. This can be used to estimate a player’s impact on winning games and indicate if his on-court value is reflected by his market value. 1 Introduction In any sport, evaluating the performance impact of a given player towards his or her team’s chance of winning begins by identifying key performance indicators [KPIs] of winning games. The identification of KPIs begins by observing the flow and subsequent interactions that define a game.
    [Show full text]
  • Essays in Basketball Analytics
    Essays in Basketball Analytics Suraj Keshri Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2019 c 2019 Suraj Keshri All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Essays in Basketball Analytics Suraj Keshri With the increasing popularity and competition in professional basketball in the past decade, data driven decision has emerged as a big competitive edge. The advent of high frequency player tracking data from SportVU has enabled a rigorous analysis of player abilities and interactions that was not possible before. The tracking data records two-dimensional x-y coordinates of 10 players on the court as well as the x-y-z coordinates of the ball at a resolu- tion of 25 frames per second, yielding over 1 billion space-time observations over the course of a full season. This dissertation offers a collection of spatio-temporal models and player evaluation metrics that provide insight into the player interactions and their performance, hence allowing the teams to make better decisions. Conventional approaches to simulate matches have ignored that in basketball the dy- namics of ball movement is very sensitive to the lineups on the court and unique identities of players on both offense and defense sides. In chapter 2, we propose the simulation in- frastructure that can bridge the gap between player identity and team level network. We model the progression of a basketball match using a probabilistic graphical model. We model every touch event in a game as a sequence of transitions between discrete states. We treat the progression of a match as a graph, where each node represents the network structure of players on the court, their actions, events, etc., and edges denote possible moves in the game flow.
    [Show full text]