6/2009 - Liberty 93, Dream 81: Grasping at Statistical Straw

Without further ado, let's look at the Liberty performance from the Sunday afternoon game, and then break down the Dream performance just by looking at the box score. The box score can't tell you everything, but it can tell you a lot more than just who scored how many points.

First, the Liberty:

Shameka Christon: "Sister Christon" scored 17 points and 7 rebounds, with two blocked shots.
Janel McCarville: 15 points in only 20 minutes of play. She had five personal fouls, which most likely limited her minutes.
Ashley Battle: The Battle Zone had 14 points and 5 rebounds. She led the Liberty in plus/minus with +18.
Loree Moore: 7 points, and led the Liberty with 8 rebounds.

And now the Dream:

Best Players

Sancho Lyttle: Okay, the first question is "have you fallen in love with Sancho Lyttle?" I don't know, I suppose I've moved the furniture in and have changed my answering machine message. She hits 58.5 percent of the shots she makes and averages 8.3 rebounds per game. She holds down her turnovers and her personal fouls. Tell me: what's not to like? Even in a game where the Dream lost the rebounding battle, she still picked up 9 rebounds with 3 offensive rebounds. Like it or not, she's the Dreamer of the Game.
Chamique Holdsclaw: It doesn't really categorize as a great game for The Claw, but her game was a lot better than several other players. The fact is that Mique is shooting an abysmal 38.6 percent for the season. She missed 12 field goal attempts on Sunday, but she did get 5 rebounds, second among all Dream players.
Nikki Teasley: You gotta take those superlatives where you can get them. It's the 5 assists that put her up here. The Dream had 12 total assists; Teasley accounted for almost half that total.

The Murky Middle

Erika de Souza: It just goes to show you how important Erika de Souza is. De Souza's season average in rebounding is 7.3 per game; the Liberty held her to just four rebounds. She had some good shooting, but she had 4 turnovers and had her shots blocked twice.
Angel McCoughtry: 10 points in 10 minutes played. It took 11 attempts (7 FGA + 4 FTA) to get those 10 points, which isn't bad. If she had played more than 10 minutes, maybe she would have moved up into the upper tier.
Michelle Snow: You can really feel the dropoff from here on down. 12 minutes played, 3 points, and a couple of assists and a couple of steals.
Shalee Lehning: Lehning is finally shooting, but she played 13 minutes and only had one assist to show for it.
Iziane Castro Marques: 14 points here, but not a single rebound of any kind in 21 minutes played. Seven missed field goals. Three turnovers.

Not Up to Snuff

Tamera Young: The first of three players in the "didn't show up/didn't contribute much" category. Young was shortchanged in the minutes category, only playing 4 minutes and 20 seconds. Young is at the bottom of the Dream in the Total Minutes Played category - her 30 percent shooting percentage might have something to do with that. Could her 30 percent accuracy have to do with the fact that she never gets the chance to warm up?
Coco Miller: 1-for-5 shooting, -10 plus/minus.
Jennifer Lacy: But at least Miller didn't turn the ball over. Lacy turned it over twice with no points to show for it. Played only nine minutes. Eenie, meanie, miney...it looks like Jennifer is going to get tagged with the Bad Dream award, but truth be told, neither Young nor Miller should be patting themselves on the back.