Gents - I'm a little concerned about Dirk's free throw shooting as of late...
Going backwards: Indy 3-5, Atl 2-4, LA 8-11, GS 1-1, Port 3-5. That's 22/34 in his last 6 games or 65%. A far cry from his 88.8% season average and his 87.1% career clip. Also note the low attempts/g. He's averaging almost a full FT less (5.67 to 6.5) pg over the last 6, and that contrast would be significantly greater if the LA game were to be removed as an outlier (though you could argue to remove GS as well a small sample size).
So the question is, do we need to be concerned? It could be just a random bad 6 game streak, but on the other hand, a 27% drop in FT% is a grave concern to me. Multiplying that by his 6.5 attempts per game and that's 1.75 points per game, for a team whose avg. point differential is 1.3...
Dude..this perfect timing. Bob and Dan are having their yearly sit down with the Über man tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the same thing but think its a minor blip than ore of an issue. The numbers help raise an eye to this becoming a potential trend. However its only a sample of six games (statistically insignificant) so I'll chalk it up to fatigue of 70 games.
Its not easy carrying the offensive load for 7 guys for 70 games.
After the four day break, I'd expect we'll see Dirk start getting to the line 6+ times a game and converting around (if not slightly over) his 89% season average.
Good post Kevin, I was just wondering the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with Ammanuel, the Mavs just came off a brutal stretch and my guess is that Dirk is just a little fatigued.
I tend to give a guy the benefit out the doubt here, since he's over 87% for his career and has a consistent track record in this category, however it is something to definitely watch over the next few games to see if it picks up.
Wrote this once and then lost it. Think he's just taking a break from being worn down. Luckily JHo won't be tired when playoffs start so we'll get good 1st quarters out of him.
ReplyDeleteI guess we'll see if.... if they can hold on and make the playoffs.
Hold on...we're gonna get the 5 seed!
ReplyDeleteSpurs won by one tonight, damn. Scoreboard watching is fun though.
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