Sportsradar examines how excelling with tip-ins and stick-backs has made a difference for the Lithuanian side
Stats review: How Neptunas is translating offensive rebounds into wins
Stats
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It was a chaotic week in the BKT EuroCup as seven teams claimed road victories to create an early logjam in the middle of the standings, where 14 teams have either 2 or 3 wins. Bahcesehir College Istanbul remained undefeated in Group A and Besiktas GAIN Istanbul secured an important win over Cosea JL Bourg-En-Bresse to draw even with them at the top of Group B, but Neptunas Klaipeda claimed perhaps the hardest fought win of the round, starting fast and holding onto a narrow lead late to notch a victory of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana in Arena Stozice.
Neptunas has won its last two games after dropping its first three, but it has done one thing at an exceedingly high level all year: turn offensive rebounds into quick points. Neptunas's efforts there were likely the difference in a one-possession victory in Round 5 as it scored 10 or more points on put-backs for the fifth consecutive game.
At face value, the fact that Neptunas leads the EuroCup in put-back scoring is not a major surprise; it also ranks first in total offensive rebounds through 5 games and is fourth in offensive rebound percentage - the proportion of available rebounds it has secured on that side of the floor. However, the percentage of those rebounds that it turns into immediate points ranks among the better marks in recent history and the 11.4 points scored on put-backs per game is exactly double this season’s average.
While a little less than half - roughly 45% - of all offensive rebounds in the EuroCup result in an attempted tip-in or stick-back layup, Neptunas’s offensive rebounds result in an immediate score 58% of the time. It not only wins the battle on the glass consistently, but the rebounding edge it maintains has materialized on the scoreboard.
Neptunas has James Karnik and Martynas Pacevicius to thank for that. While they rank fifth and 11th in total offensive rebounds respectively, they currently sit second and third in put-back points per game while shooting a combined 16-of-21 on their attempts. That duo not only does a good job chasing boards, but they often carve out good enough position to score when they crash. With point guard Arnas Velicka, forward Donatas Tarolis, and reserve Zane Waterman also chipping in, a group effort has been key to their overall production pursuing caroms.
21-year-old Veolia Towers Hamburg big man Zacharie Perrin has been the EuroCup’s best individual offensive rebounder and put-back scorer in the early going with Dusan Miletic of U-BT Cluj-Napoca, Kris Bankston of Turk Telekom Ankara, and Malik Osborne of ratiopharm ulm also putting up impressive numbers.
If last year is any indication, the margins around the postseason cut line this season will be razor-thin, so what teams get on the margins can be the difference between an early exit and a postseason berth. There is no shortage of teams doing good work on the offensive glass so far this season, but not all offensive rebounds are created equal, and that’s had obvious implications in several close games recently.