Charting Duke vs. Tulsa

[Jumbo]

I don't have a lot to say from a metrics perspective about this game. I thought Miles Plumlee played better than he has in a while, and that was evident in his plus/minus stats. Then again, I thought his brother played, uh, not particularly well, but his stats are actually better. Another flaw in the single-game plus/minus argument, I guess.

Anyway, on to the numbers ...

Individuals
Kyle Singler 62-42 (+20)
Jon Scheyer 60-42 (+18)
Nolan Smith 62-45 (+17)
Brian Zoubek 39-29 (+10)
Mason Plumlee 27-17 (+10)
Miles Plumlee 28-19 (+9)
Lance Thomas 40-33 (+7)
Andre Dawkins 24-19 (+5)
Ryan Kelly 7-10 (-3)
Jordan Davidson 1-4 (-3)

Per 40 Minutes
Mason Plumlee +30.8
Kyle Singler +25
Miles Plumlee +21.1
Jon Scheyer +20.6
Nolan Smith +19.4
Brian Zoubek +17.4
Lance Thomas +10.8
Andre Dawkins +16.7
Ryan Kelly -24
Jordan Davidson -60

Lineups
Scheyer-Smith-Singler-Thomas-Zoubek (x4) 29-21 (+8)
Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Miles 6-0 (+6)
Scheyer-Smith-Singler-Thomas-Miles (x2) 9-4 (+5)
Scheyer-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Zoubek 5-0 (+5)
Scheyer-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Miles 2-0 (+2)
Scheyer-Smith-Dawkins-Mason-Miles (x2) 5-4 (+1)
Scheyer-Smith-Singler-Kelly-Miles 3-2 (+1)
Scheyer-Smith-Singler-Mason-Miles (x2) 2-2 (+0)
Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Mason-Zoubek 3-3 (+0)
Scheyer-Smith-Dawkins-Thomas-Zoubek 2-2 (+0)
Scheyer-Smith-Singler-Kelly-Mason 3-4 (-1)
Davidson-Dawkins-Kelly-Mason-Miles 1-4 (-3)
Scheyer-Dawkins-Singler-Thomas-Miles 0-3 (-3)
Smith-Dawkins-Singler-Thomas-Zoubek 0-3 (-3)

[Hermy-own]

Again, I didn't see the first half, so I can't comment on Mason there. But I saw he and his brother put together a spectacular (for them) performance on the defensive end in the 2nd half. At least that's how I saw it. Lots of blocks, lots of help D, a few steals. Great job, with plenty of help from Tulsa who drove it right into the lane and into their bread baskets.

[bluesin]

I'd be interested to know what exactly you thought Mason didn't do well tonight. I thought he actually played a pretty good game, maybe not as well as his + or per40 + would indicate, but overall I thought he was pretty solid, though offensively he wasn't a game-changer or anything like that. I know he made a few mistakes, and I expect him to make some of them (I mean I could go through and list a few I do remember, but I'd much rather get a sense of what you observed and see if I'm missing something in my own analysis). Maybe I wasn't looking at the right things in this game, I'm just very curious to know what you thought of his play and why his stats in this game were surprising to you.

[-jk]

I'd be interested to know what exactly you thought Mason didn't do well tonight. I thought he actually played a pretty good game, maybe not as well as his + or per40 + would indicate, but overall I thought he was pretty solid, though offensively he wasn't a game-changer or anything like that. I know he made a few mistakes, and I expect him to make some of them (I mean I could go through and list a few I do remember, but I'd much rather get a sense of what you observed and see if I'm missing something in my own analysis). Maybe I wasn't looking at the right things in this game, I'm just very curious to know what you thought of his play and why his stats in this game were surprising to you.

At least twice in the second half he let a player with the ball step right around him with a free lane to the basket.

-jk

[Jumbo]

I'd be interested to know what exactly you thought Mason didn't do well tonight. I thought he actually played a pretty good game, maybe not as well as his + or per40 + would indicate, but overall I thought he was pretty solid, though offensively he wasn't a game-changer or anything like that. I know he made a few mistakes, and I expect him to make some of them (I mean I could go through and list a few I do remember, but I'd much rather get a sense of what you observed and see if I'm missing something in my own analysis). Maybe I wasn't looking at the right things in this game, I'm just very curious to know what you thought of his play and why his stats in this game were surprising to you.

-Poor defensive positioning including a terrible read when coming to double Jordan -- gave up the baseline.
-Very poor shot selection, both off drives and post-ups.
-Still reaching in off rebounds (got lucky to strip one today), rather than hustling back on D.

[bluesin]

-Poor defensive positioning including a terrible read when coming to double Jordan -- gave up the baseline.
-Very poor shot selection, both off drives and post-ups.
-Still reaching in off rebounds (got lucky to strip one today), rather than hustling back on D.

Ok, I agree with all of that. I think I was just more of the opinion that while he had poor defensive positioning/lack of hustle and still reaching (I remember that double team specifically as a point where I just shook my head) and took a couple of poor shots, that Mason's performance tonight was better than it had been since the UNC game. His one jumper in the lane, where he was still moving to the left and was trying to shoot back to the right, was one I thought was a good selection based on who was guarding him and what he could do, he just should have squared up more instead of taking it off balance and moving to his left. And I thought he had more hustle and did better on the help defense today than he did in the last 2-3 games.

I think I was taking a frame of reference that compared to the last couple of games he's had that tonight was a more solid all around performance, and that he played more within the team. I'm not saying he doesn't have a LOT of room for improvement, or even I guess that compared to the other bigs he didn't have a poor game, but for how he's playing at the moment and his recent struggles I guess I saw this as a better performance on the whole. Your points are pretty much spot on, and I agree with them in general, like I said I think my perception was just based on what I saw as positive progression compared to his recent play. No doubt some of that was because of the opponent, either style personnel on the floor or simply talent. Could be I'm way off base and just didn't watch this game as meticulously as I could/should have (still in the post-NC State Bar exam mode), I'd be interested to know how you thought he stacked up based on that frame of reference.

And -jk, I saw those two lapses (and a couple of others plays where he wasn't playing stellar defense), but I was at least encouraged that he didn't drop his head and pick up a silly foul (then or right after the play) when he gave up the lane on defense, at least not that I remember.

[NSDukeFan]

-Poor defensive positioning including a terrible read when coming to double Jordan -- gave up the baseline.
-Very poor shot selection, both off drives and post-ups.
-Still reaching in off rebounds (got lucky to strip one today), rather than hustling back on D.

I agree that it didn't seem to be the right time to double, but (depending on communication) wasn't that Miles' fault that he went baseline?

[MChambers]

-Poor defensive positioning including a terrible read when coming to double Jordan -- gave up the baseline.
-Very poor shot selection, both off drives and post-ups.
-Still reaching in off rebounds (got lucky to strip one today), rather than hustling back on D.
When he reached in, got the ball, and then play stopped, I thought he'd gotten another cheap foul (I had the sound off). Even though he got that one, I'd have been happier with no reach in.

On the other hand, later in the half, he did a better job on help defense, blocking a shot by a Tulsa guard, without overcommitting. I saw some improvement in his defense. There was also a play where he ended up covering a Tulsa guard outside the three-point line, and the guard didn't drive, threw up a three-pointer instead, which missed.