Houston, We Have a Problem

Or maybe it's hundreds of them.  The Houston Rockets managed to win their first game of the season. It doesn't suprise me that it was against our lowly Wolves. What I found interesting is that it was the first game the Rockets didn't give up 100 points. The Wolves also have one win - and also have only held one opponent below 100 points this season. 

Scoring seems to be up so far this season - 14 teams are scoring 100 or more points per game and 18 teams are giving up 100 or more points per game. The Wolves aren't scoring the least (97.3), but they are giving up the most (114.4).



A Deeper Look

Statistics, to me, are fascinating even if they don't ever tell a complete story.  You don't need numbers to tell you the Wolves aren't any good right now, but it's interesting to look at where they are particularly bad - or good.

As I discussed above, they are terrible in the scoring department on both sides of the floor.  In addition to points allowed and points scored, the Wolves are dead last in field goal percentage (.387) and assist to turnover ratio (0.86). This obviously tells us they aren't passing well. They're either dribbling too much and getting stripped or telegraphing passes and getting picked off.  It also means that the passes that do reach their intended targets aren't being delivered to a guy in a good spot, which leads to all the missed shots.

The return of Jonny Flynn might help in this particular area because he is considerably better than Bassy and Ridnour is still trying to figure everyone out. That and Kevin Love isn't going to shoot 39% from the floor for the whole season.



Speaking of Kevin Love, the Wolves are the best rebounding team in the NBA so far this season.  Love is fourth in the league in rebounding, averaging 11.7 boards per game and third in the NBA in offensive rebounds per game, a category the Wolves also lead the NBA in.  Of course with all the missed shots, there are a lot of rebounds to be had, but the fact that this has historically been a stat that the Wolves have lacked in is something to be happy about. 

The Wolves can't do much, but they can rebound.