One of the biggest impacts of the pandemic in the sports world was the lack of fans in attendance. Most NBA teams, save for the few that made deep playoff runs, still have yet to experience a sold-out stadium post-pandemic.
With arenas mostly empty this season, players did not have quite the discrepancy between home and road shooting splits as is the case in regular seasons. A recent article by Sports Illustrated’s Howard Beck examined some of those statistics while also handpicking players who benefitted the most from the lack of fans, including Lonzo Ball.
“Among the players who seemed to benefit most this season, per Pelechrinis: Paul George of the Clippers, Myles Turner of the Pacers and free agents to be Lonzo Ball of the Pelicans and Kendrick Nunn of the Heat.
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Ball’s eFG percentage on catch-and-shoot jumpers was 64.7 at home and 56.7 on the road this season, a gap of 8 points; whereas last season he shot 68.1% at home and 47.9% on the road, for a 20-point gap.”
Ball’s raw shooting numbers don’t reflect quite the same as he still had a better shooting percentage overall at home versus on the road. At home, Ball shot 41.6% from the 3-point line while shooting 34.6% from the arc on the road.
Interestingly, though, two of Ball’s best individual performances came on the road. In mid-April, Ball set a career-high with eight 3-pointers on the road against Houston. A month later, he matched that mark while setting a career-high in points against the Timberwolves in an overtime win in Minnesota.
As the article discusses, determining if this season from Ball and others who had similar breakouts was a factor of not having fans or if they were true breakout seasons that spell success for their future.
