Okay, so yesterday after the Kings vs. Bulls game, I wanted to figure out who really showed up and who flopped. You know how it is – stats tell the real story, not just the highlights. Grabbed my coffee, fired up the NBA stats page, and got my hands dirty.
Where I Started
First thing, I pulled up the full box score from the league site. Didn’t mess with opinions or Twitter noise yet – pure numbers first. Wrote down the main guys for both teams: Fox, Sabonis for Kings; DeRozan, Vucevic for Bulls. Jotted down their points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks. Easy stuff.
Digging Deeper
Points alone? Lazy way out. I needed impact. So I tracked:
- Who scored when the game was tight? Went play-by-play in the 4th quarter.
- Plus/Minus – who was on the floor when things tilted?
- Not just shot percentage, but what types: forced garbage or smart buckets?
This part took forever. Rewound clips on my DVR like, 50 times. Scribbled notes like “DeRozan ISO fadeaway brick vs. Fox drive + kick”.
Spotting the Real MVP
Okay, surprise: Sabonis wrecked the Bulls. Stats showed 22 points, but check this – 18 were in the paint. Bulls had nobody who could body him. Plus he grabbed 15 rebounds, and 7 were offensive boards. Bulls kept sagging off him and he just ate. Plus/Minus of +18! Game changed every time he sat.
DeRozan’s numbers looked decent (26 points), but dude shot 38% and turned it over 5 times. Empty stats when it mattered.
Threw It Together
Made a simple chart for myself with headers: Player, Points, Boards, Assists, True Impact. True Impact was messy notes like “Owned the paint” or “Forced bad shots”. Saved it to my phone notes. Then double-checked against NBA advanced stats – kinda matched my eye test. Sabonis’ dominance popped.
Last thing: Posted my chart on the fan forum with a quick summary. Got yelled at by some Bulls fans, obviously. But the Sabonis thing? Nailed it. Stats don’t lie if you look past the surface.
