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 | Shrimps - Crazy Tomatoes Quarterfinal (Spoilers) Posted by |
I think I did the spoilers part right this time. CB would be proud of me.
One of the key aspects of this game is how each point unfolds as each player gets a touch of the ball. That can be hard to see in the viewer.
You can see it in the report but that takes time. I'm really hoping I can do the combo of the viewer/detailed commentary report soon as it will help us all understand the game better.
Vick and Steve were tied 2-2 on sets and 14-14 on points in the 5th set.
At 14-14 this happened:
Most points are like this:
- serve, pass, set, kill
- serve, pass, set, attack the ball out
- serve, pass, set block
Sometimes there's an ace or a service error. Sometimes there's a dig and then a kills/block happens.
Rarely there are two digs on a given point (meaning it has gone from serving team to receiving team and back and forth again).
In this match there were some long points with two digs. However, there were NO POINTS with 3 digs on a given point until 14-14 in the 5th.
14-14 key plays
1) San Jose's server Figueroa is a SRV 17. That's massive. It means he will probably get it in. It also means he will likely NOT serve it to the best passer on Columbia (Payne - RCV 18).
2) The serve goes to Hastings (RCV 16). 16 is very good, but not 18 (like Steve's libero Payne). Newmann could pass a 0,1,2, or 3. 3 is best. He passed a 2. Not bad, but also not a perfect 3 pass. A 3 pass in this case means Columbia can set ANY/ALL their attackers and San Jose would have a tough time guessing which one. A 2 limits the players that will get set.
3) Columbia sets OH Newmann. He had a GREAT game (ATK 16), but he couldn't get the kill.
4) So essentially San Jose digs Columbia, then San Jose attacks and Columbia digs that, then Columbia attacks and San Jose digs that again.
5) Finally San Jose's McCabe sets Maldonado for the kill and the San Jose 15-14 lead
6) ALL the digs were a 1 (they could be 1-3; 3 is best). So none of the digs put the setter in a great position for their attacker to get a kill and that's why the point kept going.
Higher DEF numbers give the player a better chance at both making a dig and a higher quality dig (like a 2 or 3) that has a better chance to result in a kill.
At 15-14 (San Jose) this happened:
Some analysis:
1) GREAT pass by Columbia (Hasting). Unfortunately it was SO good that the Setter decided to do a setter dump.
A setter dump is where the setter attacks or dumps the ball over rather than setting it to an attacker. This is a "sneaky" play. In real matches if it is done rarely it can be very effective. If done frequently it is not as effective.
For our game it really just depends on how good the ATK for the setter is (along with the opposition). Here the Columbia setter is only an ATK-9. So...again that's really not what Steve wanted here when he had some attackers that could be set.
2) Steve's most effective attacker, MB Gallo (ATK 19) (22 kills; 24 attempts; ALL STAR performance) was off the court as he had served when Columbia let 14-12 (lost the point to make it 14-13; libero then comes in at end of point).
3) Steve's RS (another all-star) Karter White (ATK 18) was back row, so while he could have been set, a back row set isn't always as effective or as high an option.
4) So Borkowski an ATK-9 did the setter dump and San Jose quickly had a good dig (2), good set (3) and Maldonado got the kill. San Jose wins.
This is one of those things about the game where we could add strategy. For example, each match you could indicate:
1 - Never Setter Dump
2- Rarely Setter Dump
3- Average/normal use of Setter Dump
4- More frequent Setter Dump
5- Very frequent Setter Dump
Steve would have been setting that to 1 for this match probably. Then it never would have happened here and likely the MB (Cordero ATK 16) or front row OH (ATK 16) would have been set for an attack.
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I realize the above is a lot of info. However it is meant to give you some additional info on how certain skills, positions, and interactions go together to create a point result.
Let me know:
a) What questions you have
b) Is this helpful and should we do it more from time to time
Readers Comments
Thanks for the analysis Al, that's really, really helpful for understanding how the game works. I'd definitely welcome more of these.
I think I'd also welcome more strategic options but, caveat that with how much I like the game's simplicity (or the fact I can mostly get away without understanding its complexity)
As for Setter Dumps, I can see why (with hindsight) Steve would have preferred his team not to go for Setter Dumps, but I don't understand what information he would have used when picking his team to decide which of Options 1-5 were best - unless it's as simple as his Setter's relative ATK score compared to the rest of his team.
Setter dumps. In the game mentioned San Jose's setter was equal top in attack percent with 4 attacks, 2 kills, 2 defended. Ours was 2nd worse with 3 kills, 5 defended from 8 attacks. Karter White was worse.
I believe Setters are less likely to get a kill and more likely to be defended (dug). However they can't be blocked.
The problem for me was that my setter has such a poor ATK that he's a liability but because he's a poor server and White is my second best I put my setter at V. Vick had his setter at I and I'm going to compare serves of both S/RS.
It's ironic that San Jose's server at the time was his RS, the best server on the team, which would normally mean less chance of an excellent pass from my receiver and so less chance of a setter dump.
The analysis is a big help in understanding the mechanics of the game, but as Roger said I would not have muc of a clue in working out on 1-5 when to use a setter dump. I have tinkered with the idea of puttin my setter in other positions rather than serving first but as McCabe was initially a 3 star freebie it seems safer just to stick him in the no 1 serving position. If eeveryone knows that is where he will be then the setter dump choice (1-5) is maybe more useful to the oppenent?
Sure and that was me "freelancing" on some potential use of tactics which is a potential future thing. I think it will add to the game. I also think it is still a ways off as I haven't done a good job yet of explaining everything and making a viewer that shows you more of the details. You may not always want all the details and that's 100% okay. But you may want them if your team is losing 7 points in a row and you are trying to figure out why for example.
If and when we add match tactics there will be a lot of thought/explanation put into it.
Roger: you are right (as I think Steve also noted). Setter dumps are all about the Setter ATK skill. And its almost like a baseball game tactic (sorry, assuming baseball knowledge here) where you want a fast person stealing more bases. But if its a slow old guy I want that setting to be "NEVER" steal a base. :-)
