One of the signs that your team is playing well and within a successful system is consistency.
Every team has ups and downs during and between games, but when there's a path and the players follow that, it usually brings good results in the long term which show themselves in statistics.
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| Sarunas Jasikevicius and Lithuania tend to be a bit inconsistent. | ||||
The club from Athens is averaging pretty much the same amount of points per quarter in almost every season since he's there.
No matter who's in their line-up or who the opponent is.
There's a system and that means his team will average more or less the same quantity of points per quarter throughout the season.
If you see a teams point totals per quarter deviating by more then plus or minus three points it’s a clear indication that the offense is running more or less by the seat of its pants.
Overall it’s a pretty good measure of long term success and that’s playing out here at EuroBasket 2007.
Spain: Pepu Hernandez's team falls within that three point range discussed earlier, averaging 23 points in the first quarter and 20.5 in the third and fourth. The second quarter tends to be the key for the Spanish as they typically turn up the defensive intensity.
Croatia: Another team that is playing well here. They are the only team to beat Spain so far, lost to Greece only in the last second and gave a good fight to Russia. Jasmin Repesa's boys know how to spread the pressure, and hold probably the most impressive spread between the quarters. It spans between 19.2 points in the first till 20.2 points in the fourth, with the other two exactly between them. In every first half quarter but one they have scored between 17-21 points.
If you want to know why Croatia isn't higher in the standings with such a consistent spread of points check the second half of quarters, where they tend to be less consistent. Were they able to play more consistently in the second half of quarters they might be headed into the quarter-finals in a better position.
Slovenia: The big surprise of the tournament so far, held a two point span between 16 points in the second quarter and 18 in the fourth, if we don't take into account the game versus Germany that obviously breaks every system and stats. Prior to their game with Lithuania they had played only one quarter where they scored more than 21 points, and only four where they totaled less then 15. Against the Baltic powerhouse that held true in the first half but in the third quarter they managed only eight points to go with only 12 in the fourth.
Russia: Another team that excels here more than some may have expected, is standing on a 1.5 point scoring average span between quarters. In the first and last quarter they average 18.5 points, while averaging 20 in the third, and somewhere in between in the second. Only four times have they scored less than 16 in a quarter, and only twice have they managed more than 24.
Lithuania: They don't fit the profile but if you don't fit, you might as well be Lithuania. Their span is between 19.6 in the third and 24.2 in the first. That’s almost a five point difference, and even the Lithuanians talk openly about their inconsistency. Nevertheless, Lithuania's scoring machine is something that must be followed up close, as so far they have finished a quarter with less than 19 points only twice. Lithuania will have to find more consistency in the matches against the big consistent teams, or else those dead minutes can hurt them, although in their case, the points scored until that drought might be enough to hold on to in those tough minutes.
