WNBA Storylines
Published on July 20, 2004 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) News Release
7/20 â New York (10-11 T4th in East) at Charlotte (10-9, 2nd in East) â noon ET
PRIOR MEETINGS Third of four meetings â Liberty leads series 2-0
June 1 at Charlotte Liberty 62, Sting 53
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040601/NYLCHA/boxscore.html
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040601/NYLCHA/recap.html
July 18 at New York Liberty 75, Sting 58
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040718/CHANYL/boxscore.html
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040718/CHANYL/recap.html
PLAYER TRENDS 2002 WNBA All-Star Tammy Sutton-Brown is enjoying a resurgence with Charlotte in 2004, leading the Sting in rebounding at 7.2 per game and ranking second in scoring (10.2). The fourth-year pro ranks seventh in the WNBA in rebounds per game and is fourth in blocks per game (1.89).
Liberty forward Crystal Robinson missed six games to injury this season. In her three games back, she has averaged 15.7 points per game connecting on 54.8 percent of her field goal attempts and 43.8 percent of her three-point field goal attempts. The team is 2-1 since her return.
Three-time WNBA All-Star Andrea Stinson is averaging career lows in scoring (7.4), assists (1.4), field goal percentage (38.8), steals (0.74) and minutes (25.8). Taking her minutes has been the surprising Tynesha Lewis who is averaging career highs in scoring (7.4), assists (1.2), field goal percentage (43.3), steals (0.79) and minutes played (18.2).
New York's Elena Baranova is enjoying what is perhaps the best year of her six-year WNBA career averaging 11.8 points on 47.9 percent shooting from the field, including 45.3 percent from beyond the arc (third in the W), while grabbing 6.8 rebounds (11th) and blocking 1.90 shots (2nd) per game.
TEAM TRENDS The New York Liberty are 3-2 since Interim Head Coach Pat Coyle took over the reigns including a 75-58 win over the Sting on Sunday. Charlotte is now a league-worst 1-6 in games decided by 10 or more points.
Had Sunday's game been closer, perhaps the outcome would have been different â Charlotte is 4-0 in games decided by three points or less, while the Lib are 0-3.
Neither the Sting or the Liberty are particularly adept at rebounding the ball. New York ranks last in the WNBA in rebound percentage (.470), last in offensive rebound percentage (.275) and 10th in defensive rebounding percentage (.665). The Sting are 12th in rebounding percentage (.471), 9th in offensive rebounding percentage (.294) and last in defensive rebounding percentage (.649).
The Sting and Liberty are also less than stellar at getting to the free throw line. The Liberty average the fewest trips to the line per game (14.8), and the Sting are 12th in the league (16.9).
KEY STATISTICS
New York Offensive Efficiency â 92.3, 10th Defensive Efficiency â 95.0, 5th
Scoring Differential â - 1.5, 11th Pace â 69.3, 6th
Reb Pct. â .470, 13th Off. Reb. Pct. â .275, 13th Def. Reb. Pct. â .665, 10th
Charlotte Offensive Efficiency â 95.4, 7th Defensive Efficiency â 97.2, 12th
Scoring Differential â - 1.8, 12th Pace â 62.3, 13th
Reb Pct. â .471, 12th Off. Reb. Pct. â .294, 9th Def. Reb. Pct. â .649, 13th
EXPLANATION OF STATISTICS
OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY â Points Scored and Allowed per 100 Possessions
Points Per Game and Points Allowed Per Game can be greatly influenced by the pace at which a team plays leading to inaccurate representations of team's strengths and weaknesses. Using Points Scored Per 100 Possessions (Offensive Efficiency), or conversely, Points Allowed Per 100 Possessions (Defensive Efficiency), takes the pace at which a team plays out of the equation, illuminating which teams are the most efficient at using their offensive and defensive possessions.
Points Per 100 Possessions is used rather than Points Per Possession because it has more of a traditional Points Per Game look to it.
PACE â Possessions Per 40 Minutes
Different teams play at different paces whether it is the run-and-gun style of Bill Laimbeer's Detroit Shock, the more methodical pace that has characterized many of the recent Charlotte Sting teams, or somewhere in between.
Beginning with the 2004 WNBA Season, official Possessions Per 40 Minutes statistics are available. The per-40-minutes version of the statistic is used as opposed to the per-game version to eliminate the additional possessions that are accumulated in overtime games.
OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE REBOUND PERCENTAGE
Offensive Rebound Percentage is defined by the following formula . . .
TmOReb / ( TmOReb + OppDReb )
Defensive Rebound Percentage is defined by the following formula . . .
TmDReb / ( TmDReb + OppOReb )
Using a percentage, rather than total number of rebounds is a much more effective way to determine which teams are winning the rebound battle.
The reason for this is simple. A team can only get a rebound if somebody misses a shot. Here is an example to illustrate that point.
Team A misses 100 shots vs. Team B. They grab 35 of those possible offensive rebounds. Team B, on the other hand, not only is a great shooting team, but they grab all 25 of their missed shots vs. Team A.
Ranking Team A and Team B by total offensive rebounds would give us the following leader-board.
Team A 35 Team B 25
Team B, despite the fact that they grabbed every single available rebound, would be ranked behind Team A. If we rank the teams by Offensive Rebound Percentage, however, we get the following . . .
Team B 1.000 Team A .350
And Team B assumes its rightful place at the top of the list.
REBOUND PERCENTAGE
Rebound Percentage is determined by averaging Offensive Rebound Percentage and Defensive Rebound Percentage
WNBA Efficiency Rankings
Offensive Efficiency
Team OER (Lg. Avg. - 95.2)
Seattle 102.4
Phoenix 98.1
Indiana 97.6
Sacramento 97.0
Washington 96.2
Detroit 95.6
Charlotte 95.4
Los Angeles 95.2
Connecticut 94.6
New York 92.3
Houston 91.6
Minnesota 91.3
San Antonio 91.1
Defensive Efficiency
Team DER (Lg. Avg. - 95.2)
Houston 91.1
Los Angeles 91.8
Seattle 92.9
Minnesota 93.2
New York 95.0
Sacramento 95.3
Connecticut 96.3
Phoenix 96.6
Washington 97.0
Indiana 97.1
Detroit 97.1
Charlotte 97.2
San Antonio 97.7
WNBA Pace Rankings (Possessions Per 40 Minutes)
Team Poss/40Min (Lg. Avg. - 69.3)
Los Angeles 73.4
Detroit 72.4
Connecticut 71.4
Washington 71.4
Seattle 70.8
New York 69.3
Minnesota 69.1
Sacramento 69.1
Houston 68.8
San Antonio 67.9
Phoenix 67.8
Indiana 67.1
Charlotte 62.3
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