Alex Speers

Going into this season, I could make the case to myself that he just has to hit his threes because this guy is already a good score in the mid-range.

He's great around the rim.

Shot 71% at the rim last year, 70% this season.

Yeah.

But yeah, he has definitely taken a step back.

And with all their injuries right now, I mean, now he's out four to six weeks.

Denny's been in and out of the lineup ever since he got hurt.

He had like a low back injury against the Knicks.

It's just the season has taken a turn, I would say, for the Blazers.

So it's kind of affecting everything.

Yeah, he was.

For my bad this week, I want to take a look at half-court offense because we're getting closer and closer to the playoffs.

It means I'm starting to think about how much certain narratives about specific teams really matter when it gets to the playoffs.

And half-court offense is one of those things that people seem to think matters a lot.

We always hear about how the game slows down in the playoffs.

You have to be able to execute in the half-court.

So how much does your regular season half-court offense really matter?

How bad can you be and still win in the playoffs?

So I went back to the 0-3-0-4 season on Cleaning the Glass.

I looked at the half court offense rank for every team that made the conference finals in the last 22 seasons.