Plus/Minus - Game 2: Spurs 105, Lakers 96

[FromWayDowntown]

Here are the plus/minus numbers from Game #2. I was moderately surprised at some of the numbers, but they accurately reflect the runs by both teams in last night's game.

+15 - Udrih
+11 - Bowen
+9 - Nesterovic
+7 - Horry
+5 - Duncan
+3 - Barry
+3 - Ginobili
+1 - Brown
-3 - Rose
-6 - Parker

Through two games, here are the cumulative plus/minus numbers:

+20 - Ginobili
+20 - Bowen
+18 - Barry
+16 - Rose
+15 - Duncan
+13 - Parker
+13 - Horry
+12 - Udrih
+9 - Nesterovic
EVEN - Wilks
-3 - Massenburg
-8 - Brown

[Kori Ellis]

Thanks, FWD.

Good job, Beno!

[JUUOT]

sorry, as you know i am new, can you explain me what this mean +/- ?
how do you define it and what does it represent?

thank you for patience

[FromWayDowntown]

I thought Beno's number was terrific. But the one that strikes me is Bowen's. I don't know that I've ever done +/- for a Spurs/Lakers game, but that +11 last night shows me how much Bowen locked down Kobe last night. It pretty definitively shows that Kobe did most of his damage when Bowen was on the bench.

A GREAT effort by "the Rash" last night.

[FromWayDowntown]

sorry, as you know i am new, can you explain me what this mean +/- ?
how do you define it and what does it represent?

Good question.

The plus/minus figure represents the difference in the scoring while a particular player is on the court. It's probably best explained by an example. I'll use Beno from last night:

Beno entered the game with the score Spurs 29, Lakers 27 (Spurs +2). When he left the game, the score was Spurs 49, Lakers 35 (Spurs +14). Beno's plus/minus is the difference in the score when he left the game (+14) minus the difference when he entered the game (+2). 14-2 = 12, so Beno was +12 during that period of time on the floor.

During his second stint in the game, Beno entered when the score was Spurs 88, Lakers 78 (+10). He left the game with the score Spurs 95, Lakers 82 (+13). For that period of time, Beno was +3 (13-10 = 3).

For the whole game, you simply add the numbers for each stint. Beno was +12 and +3, so he was +15.

[ducks]

I am shocked at the - with tp

he played very well in the first quarter and then pop went to beno
and hardly put him back in in the first half

beno was very impressive
but lets keep in mind he still goes against their second string most time

I think beno will make everyone forget speedy and jason hart though

[JUUOT]

Now i understand!!! thank you FROMWAYDOWNTOWN
I agree Udrih will replace hart and speedy, no doubt! and I think he will make parker play better! but it is true Lakers have no depth to play against Beno

[FromWayDowntown]

Yeah, ducks, Parker's number shocked me, but when I redid it, it made sense.

The Spurs, for all practical purposes, got the lead they maintained all night with the 20-8 run to start the 2nd quarter. Parker left with the Spurs having a 2 point lead and didn't come back until the lead was 14. His minuses after that were small (-2, -1, -1, -4) and don't necessarily reflect that the Spurs had fairly big leads for most of the time that he was on the floor. But it does show that the Spurs weren't able to really extend the lead and put the Lakers away. Parker's number also suffers from the late Laker push.

But, I'm with you -- that one surprised me.

[RobinsontoDuncan]

Something to take note of is that parker really hasnt been himself lately, he struggled in the first game on both ends of the floor but he also didnt due very well against chucky atkins IMO, i think it's just the beginning of the season.

[ducks]

I think tp played fine against lakers
his - numbers made him look bad

he had a great first quarter going 4-4 and he made both free throws and got 4 assist
he set the tone to begin with
then barry and beno got hot and pop kepted them in there
it is early tp will do better lately but 6 assist is not bad imo in this system

the spurs also got 28 assist last night
the o is doing fine right now

[ducks]

ps I am not doubting your numbers it just shocked me

[FromWayDowntown]

Oh, I completely agree. I don't think +/- is the definitive measure of whether a player performed well or not -- like all stats, it has its flaws and limitations. I like it, though, because it gives you some sense of things that don't necessarily show up in a boxscore -- things like Bowen's performance last night.

Like my earlier post indicates, Parker's +/- looks bad, but only because he wasn't on the floor for any part of the BIG run that separated the Spurs from the Lakers last night. I thought Parker played well last night. If you said right now that every night, the Spurs would get 16 points (on 55% from the floor), 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1 turnover from Tony, I can't imagine that too many around here would reject that offer.

[Brodels]

They are somewhat useful. I very much appreciate you posting them.

Thanks.

[FromWayDowntown]

I'll be a little late with numbers after Sunday's game -- probably Tuesday morning.

[SpursWoman]

Thanks, FWD. :)

[ShoogarBear]

The other strange thing about the +/-: given your cumulative numbers, that means that Parker must have been +19 and Beno was -3 for game one against the Kings.