Philadelphia 76ers fans’ worst fears are becoming reality as the oft-injured center may not be ready for the team’s first-round playoff series. Joel Embiid, the All-Star center who played just 64 games with an assortment of injuries and load management, is questionable (to say the least) for Game One of the Sixers’ playoff series against
NBA Playoffs
Previewing the first-round series between the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers with shot charts, assist maps, offensive style charts and expected win probabilities. Shot charts In the chart below, Jayson Tatum’s shots (as of April 4) are displayed in terms of relative density by distance. The shot areas are broken up as less than eight
Last year in this space, we introduced a metric called Wins Above Age-Derived Expectation, or WAADE. It measures exactly what it sounds like: how many more wins an NBA team actually gets than you would have expected them to based on their minutes-weighted age. In introducing the metric, we highlighted several teams that stood out
Previewing the first-round series between the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs with shot charts, assist maps, offensive style charts and expected win probabilities. Shot charts The Denver Nuggets’ remarkable season has come on the backs of center-point Nikola Jokic leading them to the seventh-best offense in the league and veteran big man Paul Milsap
Previewing the first-round series between the Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz with shot charts, assist maps, offensive style charts and expected win probabilities. Shot charts James Harden has shot a truly unprecedented number of step back 3-pointers this year — approximately one out of every three in the entire NBA was taken by Harden. He
The Golden State Warriors will enter the 2018-19 NBA playoffs as the overwhelming favorites to win their third straight championship. Their victory isn’t a foregone conclusion — after all, the Houston Rockets were one Chris Paul hamstring strain away from potentially toppling them last season — but they know the stakes of this playoff run.
If the Denver Nuggets do not win a title this season, a near certainty according to FiveThirtyEight’s NBA projections, it will happen in a predictable way. In four games of a seven-game series, an opponent will score more points than they will. This will happen because the Nuggets will miss some shots they often make.
The pressure ratchets up on everyone in the NBA playoffs, but these players, in particular, will have everything to prove. The playoffs not only determine who wins the championship each year; it’s also where legacies are formed. Otherwise great players are derided if they are unable to raise their game in the postseason or lead their
The Thunder have been slipping as the regular season winds down but they still have everything they need for a historic playoff run. The Oklahoma City Thunder seem a bit stuck right now. They have two of the best players in the NBA and are clearly good enough to make the playoffs and give opponents
The Houston Rockets season got off to a rocky start but they’re rounding into form as the playoffs start. Here’s why they can accomplish what they couldn’t last season, and win it all. The Rockets were a hamstring injury and a few 3-point misses away from a berth in the Finals last season, and a
The Toronto Raptors have a history of following impressive regular seasons with playoff disasters. Here’s why this season could be different. The Raptors have looked very good in Kawhi Leonard’s first year with the team. Thanks to internal development along with a handful of other acquisitions over the last year, this Raptors team looks very
The Warriors haven’t looked like themselves for much of this season but they’re still the presumptive favorites. Here’s why they can win it all, again. Despite only intermittently looking like a great team this season, the Golden State Warriors are still the presumptive favorites to win the NBA Finals in June. Even though several other
This season has not gone the way the Boston Celtics were hoping but anything can happen in the playoffs. The Celtics were expected to be one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. After last year’s run to the Conference Finals, it was assumed that a healthy roster and another year of development for
Who is the best NBA team to ever land at each of the eight playoff spots in each conference? The playoff seeding system does it’s best to set up a playoff bracket this is smoothly weighted from top to bottom. But the truth is that potential is uneven and great teams land all over the
Is there anything LeBron James can’t do? His alley-oop to himself off the backboard should go down in the pantheon of greatest Finals plays. LeBron James is on a mission to get his Cleveland Cavaliers back into this series, even if it means throwing the greatest self alley-oop the basketball world has ever seen. This
Channing Frye is apparently not a fan of Draymond Green. Draymond Green has a lot of enemies, with one being Channing Frye. The Los Angeles Lakers forward has history battling against Green from his time with the Cavaliers, which makes him an astute observer of the way Green reacts on the court to calls that
The Cleveland Cavaliers knew going into Game 3 of the 2018 NBA Finals that a win was absolutely necessary. Forget about them winning the series if the Cavs went down 0-3–it would be an absolute struggle not to get swept. That knowledge did not end up being enough thanks to one Kevin Durant. Cleveland’s desperation
After Kevin Durant’s masterpiece in Game 3, the only question left isn’t who will win the NBA Finals but, rather, who will be named its Most Valuable Player. At this point, it’s a far more interesting thing to ask. Prior to Durant’s 43-point performance to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 3-0 series lead
The end of an era Well, they say it’s not over until the fat lady sings, but really, it’s pretty much over when the announcers start speculating about LeBron’s summer plans instead of actually discussing the game happening in front of them. As the Warriors lead reaches 25 with less than five minutes remaining, the
The disparity in talent was just too much and the Warriors didn’t let up for a second. The Cavaliers are done and the NBA Finals have ended in a 4-0 sweep. We could see it coming a mile away, and the Warriors refused to take their foot off the gas. Last year, down 3-0, the
CLEVELAND,OH – Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors reacts in Game Four of the 2018 NBA Finals on June 8, 2018 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the
The Warriors have now won three of the last four NBA titles. While they seem poised to compete again next year, here’s why they won’t win it all. Now that the Warriors have swept the Cavaliers, winning their third championship in four years, what seemingly every NBA analyst predicted at the beginning of the season
OAKLAND, CA – MAY 31: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers looks on against the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals at ORACLE Arena on May 31, 2018 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is
The Warriors won again, and really quickly. There was a little drama against the Rockets, and nobody else. The Cavs had drama with everybody except the Raptors — sorry Raptors — but the finals was the same, and the outcome was the same as it’s been for 75 percent of the last four years –