JimmerStats

Jimmer scored a career high 24 points (9-14 FG, 6-8 3PT) in a season high 27 minutes.

No more analysis needed:

Jimmer played 8 minutes against the Boston Celtics – all as the backup PG.

There was a chance he would get extended run with both Marcus Thornton and Rudy Gay injured, especially with the small backcourt the Celtics usually play in Rondo and Bradley.  Unfortunately both Rondo and Bradley did not play.  This led to the Celtics starting Gerald Wallace at SG and the Kings countering with Travis Outlaw.

Below are the video highlights of Jimmer’s offensive and defensive plays:

Great take here by Jimmer.  Bayless does a good job of fighting through the screen and when the help comes Jimmer can either kick to McLemore or take it to the hoop.  The help doesn’t show enough to stop Jimmer’s penetration and he attacks the basket (and maybe gets away with a travel) but the lefy layin doesn’t drop.

Jimmer’s only assist of the night wasn’t necessarily an impressive pass but what I have been happy with is his willingness to play within the offense.  I hope the coaching staff appreciates that he is willing to wait for plays to develop and will make the simple passes to open players.  Not as common as one would think, especially on this Kings team.

Jimmer’s only basket of the night came in a pick and roll situation where he has excelled this season.  No hesitation coming off the pick and makes the right decision to pull up.  Jimmer is shooting 50.0% (30/60) on mid-range shots this season (shots outside the key but inside the 3 point line).

Good idea here by Jimmer but he can’t complete the pass to Landry.  This was not scored as a turnover by the official scorer even though the shot clock was reset.

Bayless gets his hand on the ball here and strips it from Jimmer.  This is a good example of where he needs to be stronger with the ball as he has had similar turnovers throughtout the season.

Synergy Sports had Jimmer with 4 offensive posessions (counting the play that officially wasn’t a turnover and not counting the assist – assists aren’t calculated as possessions for the passer).  He only scored 2 points and averaged 0.5 PPP which is obviously not a good showing for him.

It seems like the Kings philosophy in defending the pick and roll is for the guard to fight over the top of the screen and the big to show and recover.  It has been more consistent lately which has been nice to see because for much of the season the team defense changed from play to play.  Here Jimmer thinks Olynk is screening on his right and gets caught trailing Bayless a little too much.  Acy shows but due to Jimmer getting caught off guard on where the screen was coming from Bayless gets a good look and knocks it down.

The fake cut down the lane by Bayless gets Jimmer out of position which leads to a fairly open look.  Landry does a good job to show and contest, realizing that Jimmer is late getting through the Sullinger screen.

Here we see Jimmer’s turnover again as well as his poorest defensive effort on the night.  After the turnover Jimmer gets back on D but sags way too far into the key.  Jimmer loses sight of Bayless out at the three point line and even if he wouldn’t have been screened by Olynk he would not have been in position to adequately contest the shot.

Jimmer gave up 5 points on 3 posessions or 1.67 PPP.

Jimmer played 15 minutes on Wednesday night against the Raptors.  He played 6 minutes in the first half strictly as the backup PG and 9 minutes in the second half where he spent some time at the two.

The Raptors crunch time lineup included Kyle Lowry, Greivis Vasquez and Steve Novak.  This allowed the Kings to play IT, Jimmer and Ben McLemore together.  Jimmer was able to hang with the bigger yet slower Vasquez while IT defended the quicker Lowry.

Below are highlights of each of his offensive and defensive plays.  For offensive plays they show any time he attempted a field goal, had a turnover or drew a foul.  On defense they will show when the player he was guarding attempted a field goal, turned the ball over or drew a foul.

Jimmer’s first basket of the game came on an open corner three.  In the right corner he is now shooting 4-4.  Both corners combined (the short threes) he is shooting 7-8.

Jimmer has been making these shots more frequently.  He uses his strength at the last second to create space.  Unfortunately this shot did not fall.

Trailing the play defensively Jimmer walks into a steal and then does a great job pushing the ball up the court.  When Vasquez decides to not stop the ball Jimmer makes the right decision and attacks the hoop.

Jimmer has a good idea here to drop it off to Cousins but Patrick Patterson rotates down off his man for the easy steal.

The 5-6 minutes that Jimmer played with IT only led to one open shot.  The Raptors had Novak stay right with Jimmer for most of the 4^th and while this created space for others it didn’t allow Jimmer any open looks.  With IT controlling the ball-handling duties there wasn’t really an opportunity for Jimmer to attack off the dribble.

Jimmer forces a tough shot at the end of the shot clock.  Decent job by Vasquez to force Jimmer to fade away.

Overall Jimmer scored 5 points on 6 offensive positions or 0.83 PPP.  That is well below his season average of 0.95 PPP (good for 131st in the NBA).

Two former NCAA Players of the Year go at it and Hansbrough easily wins this battle after Jimmer is switched onto him.

Jimmer almost makes the steal here but the attempt also gets him out of position.  He puts forth a decent effort to get back in front of Vasquez and the help comes over leading to a Vasquez miss.

On this play Jimmer switches onto Terrence Ross and after a pick and roll – Ross misses the deep jumper.

Late in the game Jimmer guards Lowry in a pick and roll situation and does a good job of contesting Lowry even though he received no show or help from Cousins.

Jimmer gave up two points on four possessions good for 0.50 PPP.  This is well below his season average of giving up 0.90 PPP (253 in the NBA).  Surprisingly he ranks extremely well when defending the ball handler in pick and roll situations.  In 63 posessions this year he is giving up 0.67 PPP which ranks him 34^th in the league.