Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Underrated Basketball Actions Not Always Apparent in the Scorebook

Analytics, love them or hate them, do not reveal everything. There are "undiscovered countries" on the basketball map that separate success and failure.

If you ask players, they may or may not be aware, so share these as complementary to success. 

1. Live-ball turnovers. Live-ball turnovers more often translate to baskets, as in "high points per possession" chances. 


For example, in almost every youth or high school game, you'll see a "wing to top" live ball stolen pass become a layup. I call it the "Steal Me Pass."

2. 75-25 balls. "50-50 balls" are misnomers. The more alert, focused, and aggressive team captures more loose balls, forces held balls, or saves balls earning extra possessions. 

3. Dumb and Dumber actions. A player makes one bad play, often a turnover, and then immediately 'doubles down' with another, most often a frustration foul. "Two wrongs don't make a right" plays out in almost every game. 

4. Ball movement. "The ball has energy." In Mazzulla's world, he wants to "draw 2" to create edges. Pritchard's pass doesn't show up in the scorebook, but that initiates the sequence leading to an open trey. 
  

5. "Screen assists." Want more minutes? Princeton Coach Pete Carril said, "Help others to help yourself." Off-ball screens can lead to an opening for you as the second cutter or free a shooter. Not in the box score, Queda's screen creates the scoring chance. As Mike Vrabel says, "guys who make the most of opportunities get more of them." 


Lagniappe. Basic math. 
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