WITH the National Basketball League (NBL) launching this year’s ‘Blitz’ pre-season tournament, plenty of sides are looking to get a gauge on how they are tracking in comparison to their opponents. The competition provides the opportunity for teams to take a look at areas they are excelling in, and others that require a level of improvement. With half a dozen games down already, we take a look at some of the key statistical categories that teams would like to ideally dominate in. We also see how much these are affecting the results of the contests we have seen so far throughout the two-week tournament.

Field goal percentage:

The accuracy of how a team shoots from the field often determines their success, and plays a large role in their likelihood of winning the match. In five of the six matches completed so far, the team who had a higher field goal percentage won the match, as they were able to make the most of their opportunities with ball in hand.

The only exception from this coming in the Phoenix v Hawks match, where Illawarra shot three percent less than their opponents, but were still able to emerge victorious in the game. Despite this category frequently an indicator of the result of the game, all matches thus far have been decided by 10 points or less, so it cannot be separating the teams too much. The highest margin in a game also had one side shooting the highest field goal percentage that we have seen so far, with the Bullets making 59 per cent of their field goal attempts.

Three point percentage:

With the game evolving into a long range game, this has become quite an important category in recent years, with plenty of teams looking to find open shooters on plenty of possessions. However, this is not always an indicator of a team’s chances of winning the match, with plenty of sides still finding success scoring from mid-range and inside the paint. However, in quite a few cases, the team that explodes from deep will end up producing a score that often proves unbeatable for the opposition teams.

In three of the matches so far in the NBL Blitz, the team that shot the lower percentage from behind the three-point line still ended up winning the match, demonstrating that this is not an area that a winning team will need to excel in. The Bullets also hold the title in this category thus far with their effort against the JackJumpers, with 11 of their 24 three-point attempts finding the bottom of the net.

Rebounding:

The rebounding battle within a match is always an intriguing one, with both sides eager for ascendancy in this category, and more often than not, the team that pulls down the most boards emerges from the contest as the victorious side. Rebounding gives your side a possession and a shot at putting the ball in the hoop, so its an area that is hotly contested, and also holds a connection to a team’s shooting percentages. If a side is shooting a lower number from the field, their opponents are more likely to win the rebounding battle.

Apart from one game where the teams pulled down the same amount of boards, every other contest thus far in NBL Blitz has seen the higher rebounding side win their match. This is usually the case throughout the NBL season and demonstrates the value of big men, and while they may not score as much as others, their ability to give their side another possession is vital in team success. The biggest rebounding performance from a team came in the form of the Adelaide 36ers, who pulled down 54 boards in their overtime thriller against the Taipans, and this effort was led by Cameron Bairstow, who recorded 11 himself.