After a night of sleep some things seem more clear. It’s always difficult after a season ending loss. Staring at the stat sheet, some things were not as different as I thought, some things were.

The shooting percentages really equalized in the fourth quarter as the Vipers forced up bad shots as they watched the game snowball away when the Energy opened the quarter on a 21-5 run. The Vipers still out-shot the Energy, but not by a lot:

Vipers: 39-for-86 (45.3%)

Energy: 38-for-91 (41.8%)

The Vipers were red hot from behind the arc in the early going, but cooled down significantly in the second half, finishing 17-for-48 (franchise records whether in the regular season or post-season). The Energy were 9-for-23.

On field goals alone, here was the score: Vipers 95, Energy 85

A differential like that is generally enough to win.

Now let’s look at the other side of the equation:

The Vipers were called for 34 fouls, including five players picking up five fouls and two picking up four.

The Energy were called for 22 fouls, with one player picking up five and two picking up four.

The Vipers were 16-of-25 from the line (64%).

The Energy were 34-for-43 (79.1%).

That’s an 18-point differential.

If we even up the foul shot attempts…

If the Vipers shot 64% on 43 attempts, the Vipers would have been 28-for-43, a differential of six.

If the Energy shot 79.1% on 25 attempts, the Energy would have been 20-for-25, a differential of four.

The Vipers lost by eight.