Defense has improved this year

[Nicholasp27]

We have given up 6th fewest points per game for the ENTIRE SEASON

for the last 5 games AND the last 10 games, we are 2nd only to Boston

[jerrywest]

Check out our opponent's FG% and you'll be hit by reality.

[prolific25]

Defensive FG % doesn't tell the whole story. We are top 10 in the league in turnovers forced,top 5 at defending the 3,and our opponents are 25th in free throw attempts.

Our defensive FG % is 15th but our overall defense is probably better than that when you take into account the things listed above.

[exodus]

Lue and Zaza being out certainly helps.

[TheTruth]

Quote:

---

Lue and Zaza being out certainly helps.

---

Exactly. Neither plays Defense at all.

[jerrywest]

Quote:

---

Defensive FG % doesn't tell the whole story. We are top 10 in the league in turnovers forced,top 5 at defending the 3,and our opponents are 25th in free throw attempts.

Our defensive FG % is 15th but our overall defense is probably better than that when you take into account the things listed above.

---

We are 10th in opponents turnover but a lot of teams are lumped together there. For example the worst (30th) team forces only 2.47 turnovers less than us. We are only 1.4 better than the 10th worst team.

It seems like we give up very few free throws. 25th position doesn't surprise me. Part of it has to be because we make the game slow. Free Throw advantages has kept us alive so far though.

Our defense has been more impressive lately. When Law starts registering heavy minutes, it'll get even better because he takes out a lot of matchup disadvantages.

[jerrywest]

Quote:

---

Lue and Zaza being out certainly helps.

---

LOL.

Speedy could have helped though. (not that I got my hopes up).

If we could get a big backup defensive center for Zaza/Shelden, we could be at a higher plateau immediately.

[Guest]

Quote:

---

We have given up 6th fewest points per game for the ENTIRE SEASON

for the last 5 games AND the last 10 games, we are 2nd only to Boston

---

A lot of that has to do with pace factor. For us, we are in the bottom 3 for pace (Detroit 91.3, San Antonio 91.7, Atlanta 92.3). So right there thats why we don't give up that many points per game. The better stat to look at for how we are doing defensively is Defensive Efficiency which is the number of points given up per 100 possessions. If someone with insider could post this information that would be great because all I can see is the top/bottom 5 for all of these things (pace, Def. Efficiency...)

Here is the link

Knowing what we are in terms of Def. Eff. will really tell if this team has improved because if you slow the game down then you also limit how many points the other team scores.

[prolific25]

Here is a site that basically has all of Hollinger's stats(not that I understand them) for free. We are ranked 13th in Defense(slightly above average) and 19th in offense(slightly below average) according to Hollinger's possesion stats. As some one said earlier...I imagine our defensive ranking has gone up since Lue and Zaza have been out with injury. Some of that is definitely due to playing a few crap teams though.

http://www.knickerblogger.net/stats/2008/index.htm

[exodus]

Quote:

---

The better stat to look at for how we are doing defensively is Defensive Efficiency which is the number of points given up per 100 possessions.

---

Wow this is a shocker to me. Granted it is early in the season but....

The Hawks are ranked 9th in defensive efficiency giving up 101 pts per 100 posessions. They are only .03 behind the Spurs (granted Duncan has missed some games) and only 1.0 behind the Bulls.

The runaway leader right now is Boston at 91.8.

In other stats the Hawks are

21st in offensive efficiency.

28th in defensive rebounding ratio (very disappointing since Horford is doing so well. Smith and Marvin need to step up.)

25th in turnover ratio

[Guest]

Quote:

---

Here is a site that basically has all of Hollinger's stats(not that I understand them) for free. We are ranked 13th in Defense(slightly above average) and 19th in offense(slightly below average) according to Hollinger's possesion stats. As some one said earlier...I imagine our defensive ranking has gone up since Lue and Zaza have been out with injury. Some of that is definitely due to playing a few crap teams though.

http://www.knickerblogger.net/stats/2008/index.htm

---

Thanks for the site, I will have to bookmark it.

But now that I know the information, yeah I would say that our defense has improved but clearly it is still only slightly above average (which is still good). I wouldn't overvalue this team's OPP PPG because clearly our Pace is what is keeping this low. One could argue that Pace can be influenced because of our defense (i.e. we force them to not have a good look until late in the shotclock), but that only accounts for half of Pace. Also we have an even distribution between our shotclock usage and our opponents shotclock usage (http://www.82games.com/0708/0708ATL3.HTM) which would suggest that even if our defense "shut down" the opponent to force them to take later shots then our inept offense basically negates that.

[Guest]

Quote:

---

The Hawks are ranked 9th in defensive efficiency giving up 101 pts per 100 posessions. They are only .03 behind the Spurs (granted Duncan has missed some games) and only 1.0 behind the Bulls.

The runaway leader right now is Boston at 91.8.

---

Well if that is the case, then I guess the Knicksblogger site is incorrect. Oh well, I guess thats what happens when you get something free.

So I guess change around my last post and instead of saying "slight above average" on defense make it something like "markedly above average" making us a good defensive team.

[jerrywest]

Quote:

---

(

http://www.82games.com/0708/0708ATL3.HTM

)

---

When we are forced to shoot in the last 3 seconds, we shoot 6% lower efg% compared to our opponents. Very very bad.

.327 vs. .387 - Since that's 16% of both our and our opponent's shots, thats where we fall behind in +/- of shots/100 possessions. We are even in the under 21 seconds game so far.

Serious deficiency in offense after 21 seconds. Well, we already knew that.

[jerrywest]

One more thing.

Since 54% of our last 3 second shots are assisted vs. 47% of our opponets, we are about even in assisted efg% in the last 3 seconds.

That means, we are really really terrible (much worse than 6% terrible) in unassisted shots in the last 3 seconds.

Conclusion: If we are in the playoffs, we will be swept unless we pick up a player who can create his own shots. (or one of our kids grow up)

[Dexmethylphenidate]

Quote:

---

Lue and Zaza being out certainly helps.

---

Hopefully their injuries linger so that forces Woody to make a good decision... which is not to play them at all.

[exodus]

We are currently 28th in the league in defensive rebounding ratio (one of Hollingers stats) which is bad regardless of any other circumstances. But what makes it really horrible is that Horford is actually 7th in the league in defensive rebounds per game yet somehow we are still at the bottom of the league. W T F

[mrhonline]

10th rated defense right now according to Four Factors. Can you imagine how good this team could be with Law getting more minutes at PG and the addition of a backup CR with def. rebounding skills?

[Nicholasp27]

yes, pace is a big factor

HOWEVER,

our pace was bad in previous years and our opp ppg was very bad...so now that we are top 10 in opp ppg, that shows an IMPROVEMENT, which is good

and yes, the pace-adjusted still has us in the top half AND that's season-long, whereas u can see the past 5 and past 10 are better than season-long, so lately we'd be even higher in the pace-adjusted defense category as well

our defensive rebounds do blow...hard...we allow WAY too many opp offensive rebounds...we have decent rebounders plus one good in horford...they just don't always apply themselves...if smoove/marvin/chill/joe/shelden applied themselves to def rebounds more, then we'd improve in that area

coach preaches that those rebounds are more important than running, yet the team doesn't do them...they need to listen to him more and get those rebounds (and run more as well obv)

[exodus]

Quote:

---

10th rated defense right now according to Four Factors. Can you imagine how good this team could be with Law getting more minutes at PG and the addition of a backup CR with def. rebounding skills?

---

and if Speedy ever gets healthy...

[jerrywest]

Quote:

---

We are currently 28th in the league in defensive rebounding ratio (one of Hollingers stats) which is bad regardless of any other circumstances. But what makes it really horrible is that Horford is actually 7th in the league in defensive rebounds per game yet somehow we are still at the bottom of the league. W T F

---

That basically says Smoove, Marvin, Chillz and Shelden aren't doing their jobs.

Interestigly, with Horf, JS, MW, JC & JJ,

We have one of top 10 rebounders in NBA (average should be 15 beause there are 30 teams).

We have two of top 38 rebounders (average should be 45).

We have three of top 52 rebounders (average should be 75).

We have four of top 79 rebounders (average should be 105).

We have five of top 114 rebounders (average should be 135).

We do that despite our slow games which means there are less shots & rebounds/48 minutes.

With the above 5 players we should definitely be an above average rebounding team.

Something doesn't add up.