Welcome to the 2nd installment of the Head to Head series, where we compare two marquee players in the games where they faced off, and determine who won the epic duel. Today's matchup features Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook, two players with so much explosive athleticism, that the court is prone to spontaneous combustion when they both take the floor.
As explained in the prior Head to Head article, this evaluation utilizes the Alternate Win Score (AWS) metric, which has been found to be the best linear box-score metric available, to rate individual games. Readers should also be familiar with this page, which includes the box-scores of every Westbrook/Rose matchup.
This week as opposed to simply adjusting for playing time, I adjusted for pace and opponent strength as well. The first column on the table below (AWS48) simply compares each player's raw AWS score when adjusting for playing time. The next column (AWS P) goes a step-further by adjusting for pace. The final column (AWS O) concludes by including an adjustment for strength of opponent.
As explained in the prior Head to Head article, this evaluation utilizes the Alternate Win Score (AWS) metric, which has been found to be the best linear box-score metric available, to rate individual games. Readers should also be familiar with this page, which includes the box-scores of every Westbrook/Rose matchup.
This week as opposed to simply adjusting for playing time, I adjusted for pace and opponent strength as well. The first column on the table below (AWS48) simply compares each player's raw AWS score when adjusting for playing time. The next column (AWS P) goes a step-further by adjusting for pace. The final column (AWS O) concludes by including an adjustment for strength of opponent.
Both Rose and Westbrook have played each other to a relative stand-still in their short 6-game head to head career. While Rose has a slight advantage before the opponent strength adjustment, its Westbrook who ends up with the slight lead once all factors are accounted for. This makes sense, as Rose tends to play on better defensive teams, which would give him a slight boost in terms of raw output. Now for a more colorful table utilizing AWS (O).
- It should be first noted that Rose and Westbrook are fairly mediocre when playing against each other. I'm not sure why.
- Their Mutual Triumph game wasn't very spectacular, and occurred in their sophomore season.
-The Mutual Fail also wasn't too extreme, especially considering that it occurred in their rookie years.
- During the 2011 season (Rose's MVP year) Westbrook outplayed Rose in both matchup games. This was highlighted by Westbrook's "Own" game pictured above, where he put the smack-down on Rose.
-Rose had his turn demolishing Westbrook, but it occurred in the obscure 2010 season, before either player was considered a superstar.
Overall, I can't decide on a clear winner. Westbrook seems to have a slight edge, but its not really significant, especially since we have an extremely small sample size of 6 games. This matchup will be something to watch for this year, assuming neither player is hampered by lingering injuries.
- Their Mutual Triumph game wasn't very spectacular, and occurred in their sophomore season.
-The Mutual Fail also wasn't too extreme, especially considering that it occurred in their rookie years.
- During the 2011 season (Rose's MVP year) Westbrook outplayed Rose in both matchup games. This was highlighted by Westbrook's "Own" game pictured above, where he put the smack-down on Rose.
-Rose had his turn demolishing Westbrook, but it occurred in the obscure 2010 season, before either player was considered a superstar.
Overall, I can't decide on a clear winner. Westbrook seems to have a slight edge, but its not really significant, especially since we have an extremely small sample size of 6 games. This matchup will be something to watch for this year, assuming neither player is hampered by lingering injuries.