In his first nine playoff games of his career, the Lakers are a +14.1 in the 432 non-garbage time possessions that Alex Caruso is on the floor according to @cleantheglass. They have a defRTG of 101.8 in those minutes, and are holding opponents to an eFG% of just 50.9%

He currently has the 15th best DPIPM among all players in the playoffs, and is in the 100th percentile among combo guards in block percentage, and 95th percentile in steal percentage.

If looking at just guards, he has the 4th best DPIPM.

Offensively, Caruso has really picked it up in this Houston series. He's averaging 9.3 points and 2.5 assists in the 23 minutes he's playing. That on 69.8% true shooting. He's converted 5 of his 13 threes attempted (38.5%) and has made some really timely cuts to open things up.

In terms of players in this series, and how they have fared in terms of impact in the playoffs, Alex Caruso's 1.08 PIPM is only behind: LeBron, AD, Harden, Tucker and Covington.

So in terms of PIPM, Caruso has been the 3rd most impactful player on the Lakers & 6th in this round.

This isn't all that new or surprising for those who have watched Caruso on a nightly basis. This is who he is. A highly impactful defensive player & overall + guy despite some offensive limitations. He may be "average" in some eyes, but the Lakers are SO happy he's on their side.

Wasn't planning on doing another Caruso thread after the other one, but based on some of that discourse on the timeline, it was the perfect time to shine some more light on the bald eagle.

Used quite a bit of stats in here, but I am working hard on balancing it out with film now and going forward. Here is the aforementioned other thread that highlights some of the fundamentals that has made Caruso so effective on defense in this series. https://twitter.com/AlexmRegla/status/1303768321687339008?s=20