NBA
Advanced stats don’t like Micah Parsons’ 37-point celebrity game performance
Mat Issa is based in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Yes, he spells his name with one "t." He's obsessed with NBA history, so much so that he's dedicated nearly two years of research to his two mini-series', "Blazing the Trail" and "The Quest for the Best." Right now, Mat goes to law school and writes about the NBA for The Analyst, Forbes, and of course, Basketball Insiders. His work has also been featured in ESPN, SB Nation, FanSided, Basketball News, ONE37pm, and Raptors Republic. Also, he's a lifelong Spartans fan. Go Green!
All posts by Mat IssaUpdated17 Feb 2024
The 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend is upon us. That means many things. No regular season games for a while (unfortunately), the All-Star game (duh), and cool events like the 3-Point and Slam Dunk Competition.
Among those cool events is a fan favorite: the All-Star Celebrity Game. This event is fun because it gives us the chance to watch recognizable figures who are not in the NBA duel it out in a game of hoops.
This year, the two teams were coached by ESPN First Take hosts Stephen A. Smith (home team) and Shannon Sharpe (away team).
The Star Of The Show
Team Sharpe emerged victorious from this contest, winning 100 to 91. The star of the show was Dallas Cowboys star linebacker Micah Parsons, who scored a game-high 37 points (earning MVP honors in the process).
Micah Parsons went OFF in All-Star Celebrity Game 😳🔥
37 PTS
16 REB
4 STL
MVP pic.twitter.com/FmanSmyXmA— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 17, 2024
Puka Nukua scored 16 points (the owner of the single-season rookie record in receiving yards). Dylan Wong also scored 18, and Jewell Lloyd had 11. For Team Stephen, the heavy hitters were Houston Texans’ quarterback CJ Stroud (31 points), Tristan Jass (27 points), and Gianmarco Tamberi (16 points).
An Inefficient 37-Point Night
As the title suggests, advanced statistics weren’t the biggest fans of Parsons’ 37-point outing. Well, at least one advanced statistic wasn’t.
True shooting is a great metric for measuring scoring volume because it factors in twos, threes, and free throws. Last night, Parsons had 37 points on 31 field goals and six free throw attempts. His true shooting percentage was about 55%.
This season, the league average is 58.3%. That means that Parsons scored 37 points on true shooting that is 3.3 percentage points below the league average. If Parsons averaged 55% true shooting for the entire season, he’d be in the 28th percentile in scoring efficiency.
I hope that whoever is reading this is picking up on the light-hearted nature of this post. What Parsons did at the celebrity game was incredible. And to be fair, he’s scored 37 more points in a celebrity game than the person writing this.
It’s just funny thinking about an NFL player’s true shooting percentage (at least to diehard hoop fans like myself).
