NBA Advanced Matchups: Wednesday, April 8th
Welcome to the NBA Advanced Matchups, presented by Ohnjz. I’ll be taking you deep into the depths of NBA advanced stats to uncover the top plays in each NBA slate (with four or more games). We’ll consider a broad spectrum of metrics here, including SPORTSVU player and shot tracking, play type data, individual defensive metrics, and my personal favorite, Ohnjz’ bad-jokes-and-snarky-comments-per-article. As always, this work is meant as a guide to help you hone in on what advanced stats would suggest are some of the top plays – but it’s ultimately up to you to decide how to build your lineups.
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
WOLVES PG ZACH LAVINE
Damian Lillard can’t play defense.
That tag line has been a good luck charm for several PGs mentioned here against the Blazers this season – at this point it’s just stating the obvious. Just as I’ve hopefully ingrained in you deep philosophical principles like ‘the Wolves frontcourt sucks’ and ‘Aaron Brooks sucks’, if you’ve read the AMP regularly this season you probably know that Damian Lillard has been one of the top PGs to target. And if you need a refresher, or just like lists, here are JUST his opponents last 4 games:
• Deron Williams: 50 FPTS, 24 points (44% FG, 4-5 3PM), 10 assists
• Tyreke Evans: 45+ FPTS, 21 points (55% FG), 9 assists
• Jordan Clarkson: 40+ FPTS, 27 points (60% FG, 2-4 3PM), 5 assists
• Chris Paul: 80+ FPTS (yes, you read that right), 41 points (62% FG, 5-9 3PM), 17 assists
This isn’t cherry-picking, friends. IT’S LILLARD’S LAST 4 GAMES. Zach LaVine is by far the greenest scorer of the players on this list, but even he should have little trouble blowing by Lillard, and knocking down open shots when Lillard isn’t paying attention. Even with Kevin Martin heaving 31 shots last night, LaVine still managed 18 shots of his own and cracked 45+ FPTS. Martin’s presence definitely caps the total shots LaVine might take, but I think he also sneakily raises LaVine’s assist potential by providing a legitimate scorer to the depleted Wolves roster. LaVine’s offense should be effective by default thanks to Lillard, and if Martin can stay hot as well we could see a new level to LaVine’s DFS game.
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