By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Turkish Airlines EuroLeague assisted by Synergy Sports Technology presents the Round 16 Stats Review. The latest statistical output includes the one-on-one scoring summary for the 2019-20 Regular Season, also an overall look on recent Round 16 and upcoming Round 17.
Per EuroLeague: “It’s still a three-way tie at the top between Anadolu Efes Istanbul, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid going into the first games of 2020. Here’s a review of the key statistics in the competitive Turkish Airlines EuroLeague landscape.
High-Gravity Matchups
With the top 10 teams in the standings after Round 15 all playing each other, Round 16 was a very relevant to the standings, even if it only featured three games decided by four or fewer points. None of the teams at the top of the standings were involved in those games as FC Barcelona bested Olympiacos Piraeus by 10, Real Madrid beat Panathinaikos OPAP Athens by 12, and Anadolu Efes Istanbul earned a 20-point victory over Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv.
Though there was not much drama at the top, there were still some fireworks for the teams in the still-crowded middle portion of the standings. In a key victory, LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne scored a four-point win over Khimki Moscow Region to pull even in the standings at eight victories each. Scoring 19 points in one-on-one situations – a well above its 6.9-point season average – ASVEL got a combined 37 points from Jordan Taylor and David Lighty, who stepped up to help their team weather a strong shooting performance from the visitors.
The season is yet to reach its mid-point, but the value of games like that one cannot be understated. Since the EuroLeague moved away from a group-based regular season starting with the 2016-17 campaign, a .500 record has meant earning – or being very close to earning – a playoff bid, which gives matchups in that middle range of the standings a unique gravity. Through Round 16, eight teams have a total score differential of between 40 and -40 points, with seven of those teams having between six and nine victories. It will be interesting to monitor when or if that herd begins to thin as teams make a second run through the EuroLeague gauntlet.
One-on-One Play
ASVEL manufacturing a win on the back of an unusually high volume of one-on-one play is notable because it is increasingly rare. Isolation and post-up scoring have fallen in recent seasons as even the league’s most dynamic offensive weapons often find their production elsewhere. As much as it helped them to victory in this case, ASVEL is a prime example of the trend away from isolations. As a team, ASVEL had scored just 44 points in perimeter one-on-one situations entering Round 16. Since 2016-17, one-on-one scoring has fallen from 10.7 points per game in the EuroLeague to just 9.2 per game so far this season.”
Read the rest of the Round 16 Stats Review on EuroLeague.net.