The Algebra of the Game: C’s “turn over” control, struggle thru a tough Week 8

An over-looked tidbit from the traumatic opening-night loss in Cleveland was the 24 points-after-turnovers Brad’s battlin’ ballers generated that night – their most productive game of the season in this little component of play.

In the last four games, the Celtics have totaled just 28 such points (their only two against the Bulls coming in the game’s final minute) – while yielding 44.

Through the season’s first 16 games (i.e. the victory over GSW), Boston held a 259 – 235 advantage in points on the possession immediately following an opponent TO. In the subsequent 13 games, they’ve been outscored 191 – 146 (3.5 ppg) on such possessions, and been on the wrong side of that ledger a dozen times

“Follow-up” Points

Just as the Celtics’ 24 – 15 edge in “TO Points” in Game 1 seems counter-intuitive, so does the 13 – 8 advantage Boston “enjoyed” in "follow-up" points in Chicago Monday night.

In actuality, this aspect of Celtic scoring has taken a slump over the past three weeks as well.

In five weeks and 18 games, the C’s were +18 (208-190) in follow-up scoring … since then, they stand -19 (126-107).

FG / FT Woes

After a red-hot Week 7 (vs. Philly, Phoenix and the Bucks) in which they shot .527 (125-237) from the field and .429 (36-84) on treys, the four-game Week 8 numbers took a big dip -- .422 (140-332) and .310 (44-142).

Over that same four-game span, the opposition attempted 19 more free throws than did Boston – the C’s had been +94 in FTA’s during the season’s first seven weeks (25 games). [In addition, our boys had 14 fewer “foul-line conversions” in Week 8 after having been + 44 prior.]


Abacus Revelation for the Road

It’s said the best thing to do if you fall off a horse is to get right back on … bring on dem Nuggets.