The eternal engine of the “trotter”: the incessant D. Sabonis sets a unique record in the NBA

Translated from English, Pacer has two meanings.

First of all, it is the English equivalent of a racehorse for racing. Indiana has been famous for them for a long time, and one of the “fathers” of Indianapolis basketball teams, founded in 2006, was horse racing enthusiast Chuck Barnes, who strongly supported the idea of ​​giving the team the Pacers name.

Another meaning of the word is the name of the safety car used in the Indianapolis 500 race.

The Indiana state basketball team also has a unique trotter and safety car combination this season.

Photo by Scanpix / Domantas Sabonis

Domantas Sabonis, who opened the new NBA season with impressive play, captures the highest indicators of his career, and his name at the forefront shines brightly and also less frequently in the statistical categories discussed.

The Lithuanian, who has earned the infinite trust of new Pacers strategist Nate Bjorkgren, is one of the busiest NBA players this season.

The game lasted until Monday’s game, when D. Sabonis left the field in the first half and did not return to the parquet, the Lithuanian was the basketball player who spent the most minutes on the parquet in the NBA league.

The 24-minute “trot” average was 38.2, meaning that he did not sit on the bench for 10 minutes during all games.

Although D. Sabonis lost his game average after injury, returning to the park on Wednesday night, the Pacers star returned to play for a long time: He ran at Charlotte for more than 37 minutes and thanked him for his triple-doubles. . .

Now averaging 36.8 minutes on the field, Sabonis is second in the league and second only to the relentless beard James Harden of the Brooklyn Nets – his average jumped to 38.6 after a few extra games.

D.Sabonis, who has been competing for a long time, is far from desolate in the square. This is demonstrated by other statistical components, according to which a Lithuanian is among the leaders of the league.

During his time on the field, the Lithuanian runs an average of 4.41 kilometers and, according to this indicator, he is one of the leaders of the NBA, only surpassed by five players. There isn’t a really tall man among them – defenders generally dominate in this category, but D. Sabonis is breaking this stereotype this season.

Not to mention, D. Sabonis was the most runner-up among all NBA basketball players before the game with the Raptors, which ended with injury; at that time his average mileage was 4.6.

If Saboni managed to raise his average to that again, he could claim a unique NBA record.

After converting the 4.6 km distance into the Anglo-Saxon unit of measurement in feet, the healthy Dome runs even 15.06 thousand during the match. feet, and thus far there have been no instances in the NBA league where the basketball player has run an average of at least 15,000 per game throughout the season. feet (4.57 km).

True, it is worth noting that the NBA only records the distance traveled by players between 2013 and 2014. season, that is, the eighth year.

Interestingly, the Pacers racehorse ran on defense nearly half the 2.16km distance before injury and also finished first among all NBA players on this gauge. He is now only four years younger than Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Isaac Okor.

The relentless “crossroads” of the Lithuanian national team during the time spent in the square also makes things more difficult to notice, but which differ greatly in the extended statistics.

D. Sabonis is the first in the entire league in terms of total transfers during the match. Often times, the Lithuanian who starts the Pacers position and fast attack passes the ball 78.7 times during the game and even beats Denver Nuggets giant Nikolas Jokičius, who makes 75.5 passes during the game.

The Lithuanian usually passes the ball, but also touches it. In the Pacers team, which moves the ball especially well, Domas has the game tool in his hands even 100.4 times per game (almost three times per minute), and according to this indicator, he is minimally beaten only by himself. N. Jokičius (100.6).

D.Sabonis is among the NBA league leaders based on touches on the ball in the penalty area (average 9.4, 5th place), touches on the ball while playing in the tendril (average 5.7, fourth place) and according to Centvimus Back to the basket (average 7.7, seventh place).

It is interesting that the Lithuanian has a great influence on his team’s attack even without touching the ball.

During the match, D. Sabonis distributes 5.8 effective passes, but creates even more points for his teammates with his effective barriers.

In one game, the Pacers players scored 6.7 times after the strong barriers of the Dome, and by this indicator, the Lithuanian is right behind Utah Jazz Frenchman Rudy Gobert (6.9). True, it outperformed even him until he was injured and his performance worsened.

The Lithuanian also does a lot of black and invisible work on defense, where during the match, even after 12.1 times, he prevents the opponent from taking a free kick – this is the eighth result in the league.

D.Sabonis, who plays the second consecutive game of “All Stars”, accumulates 20.4 points, 12.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists on average this season, and “Pacers” is among the leaders of the Eastern Conference – with 11 wins and 7 losses in third place.