On Tuesday, January 22, 2019, the Sioux Falls Skyforce handed the Santa Cruz Warriors their seventh loss of the season and their fourth loss on the road.
On today’s edition of TimeOut, I am going to reveal three interesting statistics from the Santa Cruz Warriors’ loss.
Outscoring
The Santa Cruz Warriors outscored the Skyforce in the second half of the game. The Dubs scored twenty-five in both quarters while the Skyforce scored nineteen and twenty-one points in the third and fourth quarter respectively.
The reason why the Sea Dubs could not shoot themselves into a victory is that the Skyforce did most of the heavy lifting offensively in the second quarter scoring forty-one points.
Leading the way offensively for the Skyforce was Duncan Robinson making seven of his eight shots. Meanwhile, in the second quarter, the Dubs struggled on the offensive end where most of the players missed most or all their shots.
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What was also apparent was the players’ lack of shot attempts. Kendrick Nunn for the entire second quarter attempted five shots and made the most shots (three). Cleveland and Jacob Evans attempted four shots while most of the remaining players attempted three or fewer shots.
Twelve vs. thirty-seven
The Sea Dubs attempted twelve free throws, making eight of them. The Skyforce however, attempted thirty-seven free throws.
Most of the fouls were called against the Warriors’ rookie Alen Smailagic, who had six personal fouls called against him. The Warriors need to ensure that they are falling for opponent’s tactics on the defensive end of the floor and be more aggressive.
Remember the most aggressive team gets the most calls in basketball.
Points off turnovers
Even though both teams turned the ball over eighteen times, despite not getting the win, the Warriors scored more points off turnovers than the Skyforce. The Warriors scored 27 points off the Skyforce’s eighteen turnovers.
The Warriors lost the fast break points battle, scoring less than the Skyforce 32-21. The Skyforce points in the paint were almost twice in the amount in comparison to what the Warriors scored 52-30.
The Warriors being a defensive-minded team, need to be consistent in establishing the offense especially when the opposing team is on a run. The team needs to ensure they utilize every opportunity on both sides of the ball.
Overall the Santa Cruz Warriors are keeping fans on the edge of their seats despite being the top teams this season.