Detroit at New Jersey, January 31, 2006
Score: New Jersey 91, Detroit 84
| Player | Min. | Eff. | Plus-Minus |
| Richard Jefferson | 44.4 | 18 | +14 |
| Jason Collins | 29.7 | 12 | +13 |
| Vince Carter | 39.7 | 12 | +11 |
| Nenad Krstic | 38.2 | 20 | +9 |
| Jason Kidd | 41.7 | 37 | +6 |
| Scott Padgett | 3.5 | 2 | -2 |
| Antoine Wright | 6.9 | 2 | -5 |
| Jacque Vaughn | 11.2 | 5 | -5 |
| Clifford Robinson | 24.6 | 5 | -6 |
As usual, the raw stats come from www.popcornmachine.net, and may include minor errors.
For the first time in four games, Jason Collins did not lead the team in plus-minus rating. He came close, though, with a solid performance, posting his highest efficiency rating in a while.
Let’s look how the starters performed as a unit:
| Unit | Stint | Min. | Plus-Minus |
| Starting Five | 1 (1st Quarter) | 7.3 | +1 |
| 2 (2nd Quarter) | 5.6 | +8 | |
| 3 (3rd Quarter) | 8.6 | +4 | |
| TOTAL | 21.5 | +13 |
For a change of pace, I broke out the starting unit’s performance by each instance they played together. Previously, we’ve discussed how the starting five tends to play poorly in the third quarter; you can see the consistency in their performance yesterday.
Jacque Vaughn posted yet another negative plus-minus rating. Due to the injuries suffered recently by his teammates, Vaughn has played alongside Kidd on a more frequent basis. We’ve suspected that this combination has not been successful, especially when Jason Collins is on the court. Let’s see how Vaughn performed in those three situations in this particular game:
Vaughn Plus:
| Unit | Min. | Vaughn's Eff. Rating | Plus-Minus |
| Kidd and Collins | 3.0 | 2 | -5 |
| Kidd but not Collins | 2.0 | 0 | -1 |
| Neither Kidd nor Collins | 6.2 | 3 | +1 |
For one game at least, our suspicions were correct. Let’s look at the season-to-date numbers, courtesy of www.82games.com:
Vaughn Plus:
| Unit | Min. | Off. Points | Def. Points | Plus-Minus |
| Kidd and Collins | 125 | 213 | 238 | -25 |
| Kidd but not Collins | 60 | 138 | 155 | -17 |
| Neither Kidd nor Collins | 80 | 137 | 148 | -11 |
I don't believe these totals include the Detroit game.
Now, on a per-48-minute basis:
Vaughn Plus:
| Unit | Off. Points | Def. Points | Plus-Minus |
| Kidd and Collins | 81.8 | 91.4 | -9.6 |
| Kidd but not Collins | 110.4 | 124.0 | -13.4 |
| Neither Kidd nor Collins | 82.2 | 88.8 | -6.6 |
Season-to-date, Vaughn has done best when he is on the floor without Kidd or Collins. So much for the "defensive unit" that Coach Frank likes to trot out there. You can see, though, the effect that Collins has. When he sits, but Vaughn plays with Kidd, the offense takes off but the team can’t seem to guard a brick wall. Hopefully, Antoine Wright can step into the backup SG role, thereby relieving Vaughn of that responsibility.
Now, as promised, here are the player totals for the month of January, combined with a few more traditional stats:
| NAME | GP | MIN | PTS | RBDS | AST | STL | BLK | TO | A/TO | PF |
| V. Carter | 13 | 36.5 | 22.5 | 5.8 | 4.8 | 0.92 | 0.54 | 2.9 | 1.63 | 2.8 |
| R. Jefferson | 11 | 35.3 | 17.9 | 6.1 | 3.0 | 0.91 | 0.18 | 1.9 | 1.57 | 2.8 |
| J. Kidd | 14 | 37.6 | 16.2 | 7.6 | 8.1 | 1.79 | 0.57 | 2.6 | 3.08 | 2.1 |
| N. Krstic | 14 | 29.9 | 13.2 | 5.5 | 0.7 | 0.50 | 0.29 | 1.4 | 0.50 | 3.8 |
| C. Robinson | 14 | 21.8 | 7.4 | 3.7 | 1.0 | 0.57 | 0.21 | 0.7 | 1.40 | 1.9 |
| J. Vaughn | 14 | 23.9 | 5.8 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 1.86 | 0.00 | 1.0 | 2.57 | 2.4 |
| M. Jackson | 9 | 10.0 | 4.7 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 0.22 | 0.11 | 0.7 | 0.50 | 1.8 |
| L. Murray | 9 | 12.3 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 0.4 | 0.33 | 0.22 | 0.3 | 1.33 | 1.4 |
| L. Johnson | 2 | 7.0 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.0 | 0.50 | 0.5 |
| S. Padgett | 12 | 12.9 | 3.3 | 2.8 | 0.4 | 0.67 | 0.17 | 0.3 | 1.25 | 1.4 |
| J. Collins | 13 | 26.6 | 2.8 | 4.1 | 0.8 | 0.92 | 0.54 | 0.8 | 1.00 | 3.1 |
| Z. Planinic | 7 | 13.7 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.43 | 0.00 | 0.9 | 0.83 | 2.6 |
| J. McInnis | 4 | 7.3 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 1.0 | 1.00 | 0.5 |
| A. Wright | 9 | 8.2 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.11 | 0.00 | 0.7 | 0.67 | 0.8 |
| TOTALS | 14 | --- | 91.8 | 39.8 | 21.9 | 8.50 | 2.64 | 13.0 | 1.68 | 23.2 |
| OPPONENTS | 43 | --- | 94.8 | 41.0 | 20.1 | 7.37 | 4.23 | 13.9 | 1.45 | 23.9 |
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| NAME | FG% | 3P% | FT% | PPS | eFG% | EFF | +/- | EFF/48 | +/-/48 |
| V. Carter | 41.4 | 28.9 | 76.8 | 1.17 | .440 | 242 | -7 | 24.5 | -0.7 |
| R. Jefferson | 42.9 | 15.8 | 75.9 | 1.32 | .440 | 182 | +16 | 22.5 | 2.0 |
| J. Kidd | 41.8 | 39.0 | 82.0 | 1.23 | .505 | 328 | -33 | 29.9 | -3.0 |
| N. Krstic | 52.4 | .000 | 73.3 | 1.28 | .524 | 183 | -19 | 21.0 | -2.2 |
| C. Robinson | 46.6 | 48.3 | 57.1 | 1.18 | .545 | 117 | -13 | 18.4 | -2.0 |
| J. Vaughn | 39.7 | .000 | 71.9 | 1.11 | .397 | 104 | -71 | 14.9 | -10.2 |
| M. Jackson | 55.2 | .000 | 90.9 | 1.45 | .552 | 44 | +0 | 23.5 | 0.0 |
| L. Murray | 40.6 | 43.8 | 50.0 | 1.09 | .516 | 47 | -46 | 20.4 | -19.9 |
| L. Johnson | 60.0 | .000 | 25.0 | 1.40 | .600 | 5 | -3 | 17.1 | -10.3 |
| S. Padgett | 27.3 | 26.9 | 88.9 | 0.89 | .352 | 51 | -18 | 15.8 | -5.6 |
| J. Collins | 38.3 | .000 | 33.3 | 0.79 | .383 | 77 | -6 | 10.7 | -0.8 |
| Z. Planinic | 27.3 | .000 | 85.7 | 0.82 | .273 | 9 | +7 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| J. McInnis | 40.0 | .000 | .000 | 0.80 | .400 | 6 | -7 | 9.9 | -11.5 |
| A. Wright | 37.5 | .000 | 50.0 | 0.81 | .375 | 11 | -18 | 7.2 | -11.7 |
| TOTALS | 42.8 | 33.2 | 75.2 | 1.18 | .463 |
Looking at the plus-minus ratings for the month, we wonder whether Coach Frank is playing the right reserves: The two top bench players for the month in terms of plus-minus were Zoran Planinic and Marc Jackson. Of course, when most of their playing time comes during garbage minutes, those numbers must be taken with a grain of salt. Still, though, we look at the numbers posted by Jacque Vaughn, Lamond Murray, and Jeff McInnis, and wonder how much worse things would be if Jackson and Planinic received more of an opportunity.
Until next time,
-Dumpy