Tale Of The Tape: A Look Back On Our Season Opener
Tale Of The Tape is BACK for our 2020 Chemist Warehouse WNBL season, giving the Flyers Family a deeper look into the numbers to see what went right and where we can improve each week!
By Ryan Edwards
The Flyers soared to an early lead against the Spirit on Thursday night in Townsville and never looked back, winning 102-60. Here’s an inside look at just how they managed to maintain such an impressive lead throughout the game.
Liz Cambage Dominating the Paint
It was clear from the opening possession that the Flyers game plan was to get the ball down low to Liz Cambage early and often, with dominating results. Cambage established herself on the block, using her strength to backdown the opposition and force late double teams. She often left the Bendigo defense with no other option but to foul her, generating free throws on 31% of her shot attempts.
Even when Liz didn’t have the ball she was a focal point of the Spirit’s attention, forcing multiple defenders to try to keep her off the glass. As a result, the Flyers rebounded a massive 30.8% of all possible offensive rebounds when Cambage was on the floor, compared to just 19.1% without her.
On the defensive end, Cambage didn’t make Bendigo’s life any easier. She shut down the rim, putting herself in position to stop any drive attempts made towards to the hoop. On the 6 drives that the Spirit made towards Cambage, they failed to convert a single point.
Flying off the Bench
When it was time for the substitutions to come in, the Flyers showed no signs of slowing down either. The second unit played the entire game as if they were desperately trying to crawl their way back into it, despite being up 30+ points for most of the game.
Monique Conti harassed the opposition the entire length of the floor, slowing down the Bendigo offense, forcing early passes, and generating steals.
Aimie Clydesdale took away the pick and roll game by getting up into her mark, not allowing a point when she guarded the ball handler in a pick and roll.
When challenged as the primary line of defense vs Bendigo, Rachel Jarry made her presence known, allowing only 2 points on 10 possession, good for 0.200 points per possession (PPP).
Rebecca Pizzey completely locked down the paint. The Spirit only managed to score a measly 0.364 PPP on shots at the rim vs Pizzey and an outstanding 0 points on 7 drive attempts to the hoop vs her. She was constantly in the right position to contest the shot enough to force a miss. Because of this, Pizzey had the highest PPP differential on the team. When she was on the court Bendigo scored just 0.404 PPP, without her it went up to 0.759 PPP, over an extra point every 3 possessions.
Bec Cole’s Ruthless Efficiency
A quick glance at the stat sheet suggests Bec Cole had a somewhat quiet game for her standards, scoring 12 points. However, she was the fuel to the Flyers’ offensive explosion. Cole constantly made the right decisions with the ball, particularly in the pick and roll. The Flyers managed to score on all 3 possessions ending with a Cole lead pick and roll, either by attacking the hoop or finding an open teammate. Cole finished tied for the team high in assists at 4 and made all 3 of her shot attempts around the basket.
Cole proved to be a calming presence for the Southside attack, helping to control the pace of the game. The Flyers only turned the ball over on 11.8% of the possession Bec was on the floor, compared to 17.4% without her. Her control of the game combined with her impressive 4/6 shooting led to Southside having a team high 1.196 PPP with Cole on the floor, and a team low 0.891 PPP without her.