✉️ PTB ICYMI
What you might have missed at Plot the Ball over the last three months
In addition to the regular Saturday newsletter, every three months this year I’ll also be sending subscribers a brief recap of all the work that has recently been published at Plot the Ball — in case there’s anything you’ve missed.
⚽️ Football
How does Leverkusen’s underlying performance level stack up against other recent champions? And did they benefit from good finishing luck — at both ends of the pitch — to an unusual degree?
Mbappé is so special as a wide forward because he provides three valuable skills from a single spot in the line-up: elite ball progression, elite chance creation and elite finishing.
🏀 Basketball
NBA teams are no more or no less than the players they put on the floor — and you could make a case that, for instance, Draymond’s regular-season Warriors and the playoff Warriors are two subtly different teams.
What we can do is set up some benchmarks for Clark at the outset of her first year in the WNBA, and check back in on her performance against them as the season progresses.
🏏 Cricket
Among this cohort, only four teams have won at least two thirds of their men’s T20Is against another individual nation — and the highest head-to-head win rate recorded by any team is 68%.
🏒 Ice hockey
According to the latest data available from All Three Zones, Bedard — in the Blackhawks games which Sznajder has tracked — is right up there with zone-entry machines like McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon.
⛳ Golf
It’s likely that golf fans were robbed of at least a few years of solidly above-average play on the PGA Tour — and, at that level, Tiger would have had at least some shot at adding to his tally of Majors.
🎾 Tennis
Bracketing off the question of what Alcaraz ‘should’ do, I’m fascinated by the idea of his love for ‘playing battles’ — and curious about how we could find evidence for or against this in the statistical record.
Also covered: ⚽ Trinity Rodman’s playmaking; Chelsea’s impressive UWCL defensive work; 🏏 Mayank Yadav’s physical toll; Jake Fraser-McGurk’s launch angles; 🏀 JuJu Watkins’ freshman year; Breanna Stewart’s perimeter skills; All-NBA selections for 2023-24; Caitlin Clark’s playmaking; the Boston Celtics’ postseason performances; ⚾ Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s tunneling; 🏒 Connor McDavid’s postseason scoring ; 🏉 Reece Walsh’s acceleration; Australia’s rugby union struggles; Emma Tonegato’s support running; 🎾 Iga Świątek’s clay-court dominance; and ⛳ Nelly Korda’s high draw.
The next edition of My Week In Sport(s) will be published on Saturday June 29th.