I have decided to use my Synergy powers for good. Instead of taking us apart after the game, today I will provide an advanced scouting report on Memphis. What offensive and defensive strategies should we employ? Let's look inside the numbers for some help.
Warriors (5-10) vs Grizzlies (9-4)
Time: 7:30pm PST
TV: CSN Bay Area | Radio: KNBR 680
Blog Buddy: Straight Outta Vancouver
Memphis Offense
Area is proportional to points scored (i.e. % of total offense) and color scale is proportional to scoring efficiency (PPP). Red is more efficient, blue is less. Click on a tile to pop-up the points scored by a player and his efficiency.It should be obvious from the Synergy treemap that the Grizzlies' primary offensive strength is transition scoring. They currently rank 3rd in transition efficiency. They have a lot of players that do it well, even the big man Gasol. To be successful tonight, we should have a strategy to slow them down. Memphis is 9th in post-up scoring, with their main threat being Gasol, but Gay also helping out in that regard. Nothing shocking there. Biedrins and Udoh have their work cut out, but it would be much more difficult if Zach Randolph were in the lineup (I did not include him in this scouting report). Overall, Memphis is just in the upper third (#11) in efficiency according to Synergy. If we can make them a half-court jump-shooting team (#21 in SPOT, #28 in BALL), we'll have a better chance of winning.
Memphis Defense
Memphis is also 11th in overall defensive efficiency according to Synergy. In the treemap above I've coded the colors according to league rank. Memphis is #1 in the league in guarding ISO and #2 in guarding ROLL. That means we should (hopefully) see fewer Monta isos, but also fewer Lee ROLL plays (presumably because it's tough to score on Gasol on those). Memphis has some serious defensive weaknesses, though. They are #22 in the league defending SPOT (so expect to see plenty of Curry/Rush/Klay spot-up 3's). Memphis is #25 in guarding SCREEN (again, think Curry), and a woeful #28 in defending BALL. This is where we should expect to see Monta doing the bulk of his scoring damage tonight.