This was going to be the lasting image from the Miami Heat game. Ray Allen trying to make something happen… and Dwyane Wade ripping it… then going in for the apparent game-winning dunk.
Lucky for Ray, that thing happened … and everyone sort of moved on from the turnover.
But in that minute or so in between, I thought to myself "wow.. Ray is REALLY turning the ball over a lot this year." So I decided to check it out… and it turns out perception is not really reality.
Checking out 82Games.com, we can see Ray's ball handling is actually a little better than it has been during his time in Green. They have a formula called "hands rating" which takes into account offensive fouls, bad passes, ball handling turnovers, and other turnovers. Right now, Ray's "hands rating" is 16.1. Last year it as 13.9 and the year before that it was 14.3.
By comparison, Rajon Rondo's hands rating is 32.9… so Ray's isn't entirely great. But it's better than Paul Pierce's right now… 12.8. Pierce's last year was 11.5.
I'm not a nut for these advanced stats, but they're good to check on every once in a while when it feels like our eyes might be deceiving us.
This year, it feels like Ray is getting stripped more than he has in the past… but that's not really the case. Maybe they've come in some bigger spots this year, which magnifies them and make us REMEMBER them more than his turnovers in the past. But the turnovers aren't really happening any more often than they have since his trade to Boston.
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