21 Most Surprising Things 21 Games In

[tcat075]

http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2010/12...s-in#storyjump

Originally Posted by me

It seems like the season just started, but it is actually about a quarter done. The Mavericks have played 21 games so far, and there have been more than a few surprises. The biggest is probably the 17 wins, already possessing victories over every elite team in the Western Conference excluding the Lakers, who have not been played yet (January 19th will be the first meeting). Being good was not a surprise, but so far this season, the Mavericks have been great.

But what else has been surprising? Well, assuming the 17-4 record is the first, here's twenty more, one for each game that has been played.

2. The only two players on the Mavericks shooting over 40% from beyond the three point line are Caron Butler and DeShawn Stevenson. Before the season, the obvious people would be Dirk and Kidd, maybe Terry or one of our three point specialists, Cardinal or Novak. Now, a quarter of the way into the season, a 31.5% three point shooter is shooting 42% and a guy who we thought was a 12th man at best is 2nd in the league shooting 51.1%. I doubt either of these percentages can be sustained, but if both of these players continue to keep their attempts down (in other words, keep taking good looks), I wouldn't be surprised to see just a 5% drop from where they are now.

3. 26.7 mpg for Tyson Chandler to only 19.7 mpg for Haywood. While clearly Tyson Chandler's dominance at the five is almost being taken for granted now, at the start of the season it was a complete shock to just about everyone that he was going to be our starting center. A simple stat, but perhaps one of the most surprising ones on this entire list at the time we found out of it. Its hard to disagree with the coaching staff now, though.

4. Let's go crazy with a few Chandler stats. Because of his 80% free throw percentage and 67% field goal percentage, he is currently scoring 2.2 points per shot. That's easily the best for any Maverick. He's also 6th in the league with a 19.9% rebound rate, 4th in the league in defensive rating (per basketball-reference.com), and 3rd in the league in Win Shares per 48 minutes. Remember, this was our trade chip/backup center, folks. We traded Erick Dampier, Eddie Najera, and Matt Carroll for him. Good work, Donnie.

5. The surprise here is that I had on clue what to expect. Its good to see Jones have strong showings from the field and, in limited attempts, from beyond the arc, as is the 19 free throw attempts in just the three games he's played.

...

I had some fun with this one. Stats are fun. Seriously, that Novak one still boggles my mind (if you read the whole article you'll see it). How the heck is that even possible? Better yet, check out his career numbers for that stat. He's been in the league for 5 years and that's all he has.