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Tune-In Tidbits: NBA TV Monday, March 1, 2021

Get ready for Monday's NBA TV doubleheader with five key stats to know about each matchup.

Zion Williamson leads the NBA in points in the paint at 19.3 ppg.

Jazz (27-7) at Pelicans (14-19)

8 p.m. ET, NBA TV

• Utah leads the season series with New Orleans 2-0, winning both games on the road by double digits. Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 32 points per game on 58.8% (20-34) shooting from the field, 66.7% (10-15) from 3-point range and 14-14 from the free throw line. Rudy Gobert averaged 12.5 points, 14.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks.

• Zion Williamson has averaged 29.5 points on 69.7% (23-33) shooting in two games against the Jazz. Bojan Bogdanovic was the primary defender on Williamson for a team-high 11:19 of matchup time. Williamson scored 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field against Bodganovic over the two games.

• Williamson leads the NBA in points in the paint at 19.3 ppg, which accounts for 75.5% of his 25.5 points per game. Free throws account for the the next 22.1% of Williamson’s points, followed by 2.2% on 3-pointers and 0.2% on mid-range shots. Zion has attempted only four mid-range shots all season,

• The Jazz attempt the second-most wide-open shots of any team in the league at 24.6 per game; their 63.4 effective field goal percentage on those wide-open shots ranks third in the league. The Pelicans rank 29th in wide-open look at just 16.3 per game; while they rank 10th in eFG% on those shots, they do not generate enough of them.

• Gobert ranks second in the league in screen assists (6.5 per game) with those screens generating 15.9 points per game for the Jazz. Utah leads the NBA in scoring by the ball handler in pick-and-roll plays (24.9 ppg). Mitchell (9.4 ppg) and Mike Conley (7.5 ppg) rank eighth and 19th, respectively, in scoring as the ball handier in pick-and-rolls this season. Boston is the only other team with two players ranked in the top 20.

Damian Lillard ranks second in the NBA in clutch scoring this season.

Hornets (15-17) at Blazers (18-14)

10:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV

• LaMelo Ball ranks 13th in the league in deflections (3.1 per game) and ninth in steals (1.5 per game). The Hornets rank second in points off turnovers (19.7 per game). However, the Blazers are one of the top teams in terms of ball security with am 11.6 turnover percentage and just 14.9 points off turnovers allowed — ranked second-best in both categories.

• One glaring difference between these two teams comes in assist percentage. The Hornets rank third with 66% of their baskets coming off an assist, while the Blazers rank 30th as the only team with fewer than half of their baskets coming off an assist. The Hornets average 308.6 passes per game (second in NBA), while the Blazers average just 244.7 (last in NBA).

• The Hornets are coming off a thrilling last-minute comeback-win over the Kings on Sunday night as they erased an eight-point deficit in the final 53 seconds to steal the win. This will be Charlotte’s eighth game on the second night of a back-to-back. So far this season, the Hornets are 4-3 in those games and averaged 113.1 points per game.

• Damian Lillard ranks second in the NBA in clutch scoring with 82 points on 24-for-40 (60%) shooting from the field, 10-for-18 (55.6%) from 3-point range and 24-for-24 from the free throw line in close games down the stretch. Portland’s 12-5 record in clutch games is tied with the Lakers for the second-best mark the league behind Philadelphia.

• Both the Hornets and Blazers shoot 38.1% on 3-point shots this season – separated by a fraction of a percentage point for seventh and eighth place in the NBA. A key difference is frequency; the Blazers rank second in the NBA in both 3-pointers made (16.0) and attempted (42.1) this season, while the Hornets rank eighth in 3-pointers made (13.8) and 11th in attempts (36.3).

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