Split stats

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

I was looking at the season splits for various Celtics and noticed
that some of them had significantly different performances when the
team won vs. lost. Here's a list of important players whose performance
varied. Potapenko seems pretty consistent over wins and losses.

Pierce: 
  W: 20.6 ppg (45% FG, 38% 3FG), 8.5 rpg, 2.88 spg
  L: 17.9 ppg (48% FG, 50% 3FG), 4.0 rpg, 1.00 spg 
The Celtics win when Pierce contributes in other ways than scoring, 
through rebounding and steals. During his off games, he still scores
effectively (statistically) but is generally inactive, and those 
overlap with Celtics losses frequently.

Walker:
  W: 17.1 ppg (44% FG, 39% 3FG)
  L: 19.1 ppg (38% FG, 24% 3FG)
Here, it's a case of the Celtics doing better when Antoine shoots less
and chooses those shots better. It really seems from watching the Celtics'
wins that the team is best off when Antoine gets easy baskets for most
of the game, through putbacks, fast breaks, and receiving assists inside,
and only contributes one-on-one when the team absolutely needs him. $71M
seems expensive to pay for someone who doesn't create offense (and is not
a stellar defender) but I think the team wins that way, and in the end
that is what matters.

Anderson:
  W: 16.6 ppg (48% FG, 63% 3FG), 4.5 apg
  L: 12.0 ppg (41% FG, 18% 3FG), 3.8 apg 
When Anderson is an active part of the offense, the Celtics benefit. 
If anything, Anderson's involvement in the offense is one of the 
biggest benefits of the Mercer trade so far; this was actually something
he predicted, because evidently he felt that Mercer calling for the
ball really hindered him. 

Griffin:
  W: 11.8 ppg (53% FG, 27% 3FG), 8.8 rpg, 4.5 apg
  L:  9.1 ppg (53% FG, 55% 3FG), 5.9 rpg, 3.1 apg
The rebounding and assist differences are large here. He's been rather
quite recently over the past five games, especially over the last two
games. Another "rookie of the month" jinx, like what happened to Pierce
last year? I think Griffin will bounce back soon. We've been playing 
against tough defensive teams recently too.

Battie:
  W:  7.3 ppg (55% FG), 5.8 rpg, 2.38 bpg
  L:  7.4 ppg (48% FG), 4.6 rpg, 0.50 bpg
How about that difference in blocks? When Battie comes to play on 
defense, he can make such an impact. I generally feel that true
shotblocker/intimidator types get somewhat underrated; when they
are doing their job right, they change the entire approach of the
opposing offense, and also cover defensive deficiencies on your
team. That's why I could believe that Pitino covets Ratliff, for
instance.
 
Alex