🏀 Unrivaled Weekly: Shooters gonna shoot
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
Leveling The Playing Field
The weekend’s almost here, and that means it’s time for stiletto pumps in the club, crossovers on the court, and another edition of Unrivaled Weekly.
- As always, we’re here to break down the league’s hottest hands, vibe-check the top off-court moments, and unpack the plays that hit different. Let’s shoot some hoops.
It’s officially love month, so be like Hive BC’s Saniya Rivers and celebrate the people you care about. Sure, that person might not be breaking Unrivaled’s single-game scoring record (more on that later), but everyone could use some balloons and cookies, right?
🧠Efficiency is everything
The GIST: Scoring is crucial for team success, but how a player scores matters, too. Metrics like shooting percentage and usage rates help determine a player’s efficiency, which highlights how effective a player is on the floor. No need to channel your inner math lady — let’s discuss.
📊 Breaking down efficiency and usage: Efficiency can be judged in many ways. There’s traditional stats like shooting percentage, but there’s also more advanced metrics, including effective field goal percentage (eFG%), which weighs three-pointers more heavily than two-point shots and free throws. There’s no right or wrong metric: They just assess things differently.
- Now onto usage: Simply put, usage is how often a player ends a possession. If your fave hooper takes a shot or turns the ball over, they “used” that possession. Usage rate measures how often a player uses a possession compared to the rest of their teammates.
- Considering efficiency and usage helps determine a player’s impact on the court. High efficiency and lower usage is ideal for teams with multiple playmakers, while high usage and low efficiency is a red flag, no matter what.
🪣 Lunar Owl Marina Mabrey’s historic performance: ICYMI, Mabrey crafted a masterpiece in Philly last week, setting Unrivaled’s single-game scoring record with 47 points. And the first quarter might’ve just been one of the greatest scoring feats…ever.
- The 29-year-old dropped 27 in that opening frame despite her first bucket not coming until there was five minutes left. That means once her first shot fell, she averaged 5.4 points per minute in the first quarter. Wild.
- To really underscore that efficiency, Mabrey’s eFG% was a scorching 82.14% at game’s end. Her usage was equally as high (and rightfully so): She shot the ball 28 times in just over 21 minutes, accounting for nearly half of her team’s 61 total shots.
👀 Who are Unrivaled’s most efficient hoopers?: Take a look at this graph created by Sports Illustrated's Dan Falkenheim. Though he measures efficiency using slightly different metrics, Falkenheim’s data indicates that Chelsea Gray (Rose) and Paige Bueckers (Breeze) are the league’s most efficient players with average usage in Unrivaled this season. The ideal combo.
- And that checks out: They’re both in the top-five for eFG%, while averaging more than 20 minutes per game. But what’s even more intriguing is that they also top the league in assists. Buckets on (assisted) buckets.
🌬️ Paige Bueckers, Rickea Jackson, and Dominique Malonga scored 70 of Breeze’s 81 points in last Sunday’s lopsided 81–56 win over Rose BC, their biggest margin of victory this season. What’s more, the trio scored all 40 of the team’s second-half points.
- Those numbers aren’t lying, but this one is: Kate Martin’s impact despite playing just six minutes. Martin’s plus/minus rating was +15, just two points behind Bueckers.
- And it’s thanks to her gritty one-on-one defense and ability to stretch the floor on offense: Martin allowed just one bucket as the primary defender, while forcing Rose to guard her on the perimeter, opening up space for her teammates to score inside.
🔥 Laces’ Jackie Young will win next week’s 1-on-1 Tournament presented by Sprite
Is this a hot take — or is it more lukewarm? Anyone who’s watched Young this season would lean to the latter because the six-foot dynamo has been quietly putting together an MVP–caliber season on the league’s top team.
- She’s a bona fide playmaker, adding a dagger three-point shot to her bag in recent years, while her elite defense makes her one of the best two-way players in the game. Expect Young to dress for revenge after a first-round exit in last year’s tourney.
As always, thanks for dropping dimes with us.
Yours through timeouts and technicals,
The GIST Team
Today’s email was brought to you by Lisa Minutillo. Fact-checking by Elisha Gunaratnam. Managing edits by Lauren Tuiskula. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.