NBA

Philadelphia 76ers Stat Monkey Brief: Sixers/Pistons (12/10/12)

Brett Weisband  —  @weisband Dec 10th, 2012
Need a way to beat the Pistons? The Sixers could try shooting better than 29 percent this time around.

Coming off their weekend back-to-back against Boston, the Sixers get their second crack at the Detroit Pistons this season. On November 14, Detroit took it to the Sixers in a 94-76 win.

Knocking down jumpers

In their first game against Detroit this year, Philadelphia was, shall we say, atrocious when it came to shooting the ball. Their most cringe-inducing area was the mid-range game. About 72 percent of the Sixers’ shots are classified as jumpers, per 82games.com. Against Detroit back in November, the Sixers sank only 19 percent of their mid-range shots, going 6-32 from that range. Jrue Holiday was the biggest culprit for the Sixers in that game, going 1-9 from mid-range en route to an offensive rating of 81.

On the whole, Philadelphia made only 29.4 percent of their two-point field goal attempts in their first go-round with Detroit. While the Pistons have been strong in effective field goal percentage allowed all season, holding the Sixers to an overall effective field goal percentage of .327 is eye-popping (and likely won’t be repeated).

Defending the painted area

The Pistons have been solid when it comes to getting the ball into the lane this season. According to 82games.com, they’ve taken about 34 percent of their shots from close range so far this year, as well as another seven percent of their shots on dunks and tips. Detroit center Greg Monroe has been taking a big chunk of those close-range shots, averaging 8.5 shots per game from the restricted area while converting 55 percent of them, per NBA.com.

For their part, the Sixers have forced opponents into taking jumpers on 70 percent of their field goal attempts while allowing only 27.6 points on close range shots (including dunks and tips). Big men Lavoy Allen (105 defensive rating) and Spencer Hawes (102 defensive rating) will have to do their part in defending the rim to help knock down Detroit’s number from their first matchup, where the Pistons recorded a 54.2 true shooting percentage.