Today’s Sportstat: November 19, 2018 (Bonus)
With their 48-7 win over the defending Super Bowl champs, the Philadelphia Eagles, the New Orleans Saints became only the eighth team since 1970 (the AFC-NFC merger) to win consecutive games by a margin of 35 points or more. Prior to beating the Eagles, the Saints defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 51-14, a 37-point drubbing.
Here are the eight times since 1970 that teams won consecutive games by a margin of 35 points or more.
Detroit Lions: Sept. 20, 1970 (won by 40 points) and Sept. 27, 1970 (won by 35 points).
Atlanta Falcons: Oct. 14, 1973 (won by 55 points) and Oct. 21, 1973 (won by 40 points).
Dallas Cowboys: Sept. 24, 1973 (won by 37 points) and Sept. 30, 1973 (won by 35 points).
Washington Redskins: Sept. 21, 1975 (won by 38 points) and Sept. 28, 1975 (won by 36 points).
Chicago Bears: Nov. 17, 1985 (won by 44 points) and Nov. 24, 1985 (won by 36 points).
Kansas City Chiefs: Dec. 1, 2002 (won by 39 points) and Dec. 8, 2002 (won by 49 points).
Seattle Seahawks: Dec. 5, 2005 (won by 42 points) and Dec. 11, 2005 (won by 38 points).
New Orleans Saints: Nov. 11, 2018 (won by 37 points) and Nov. 18, 2018 (won by 41 points).
Of the seven teams prior to the Saints to accomplish this feat, two played in the Super Bowl that season: The Bears in 1985 (they won the Super Bowl that year) and the 2005 Seahawks (they lost in the Super Bowl that year).
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Today’s Sportstat: November 19, 2018
TODAY’s SPORTSTAT-November 19, 2018
Is history telling us that the Milwaukee Bucks will finally get past the first round of the NBA playoffs this year? If you trust the stats, the answer is “Yes.”
This year’s Bucks are 11-4 after the first 15 games of the season. They are the ninth team in team history to have 11 or more wins in the first 15 games of the year. Of the previous eight Bucks teams that won at least 11 of their first 15 games, all went on to reach the playoffs that season with two of the teams reaching the Finals… two made it to the conference finals… and three made it to the conference semi-finals that season. In addition, six of the eight teams won at least 50 games that year.
Here’s a look at the nine times when the Bucks won at least 11 of their first 15 games in a season.
1971 (went 14-1 in first 15 games)… finished 66-16, won NBA title
1972 (went 14-1 in first 15 games)… finished 63-19, lost in the conference finals
1973 (went 12-3 in first 15 games)… finished 60-22, lost in the conference semis
1974 (went 14-1 in first 15 games)… finished 59-23, lost in the NBA Finals
1980 (went 12-3 in first 15 games)… finished 49-33, lost in the conference semis
1981 (went 12-3 in first 15 games)… finished 60-22, lost in the conference semis
1986 (went 11-4 in first 15 games)… finished 57-25, lost in the conference finals
1991 (went 11-4 in first 15 games)… finished 48-34, lost in the first round
2018-19 (went 11-4 in first 15 games)… finished ???
- Back on November 8, the Bucks defeated the two-time defending NBA champs, the Golden State Warriors, 134-111 on their (Golden State’s) home court. While the victory might have surprised some NBA fans and pundits, a win versus the Warriors should not have been a surprise to die-hard Bucks fans. In fact, did you know that the Bucks have their highest winning percentage in head-to-head games versus the Warriors? With the win earlier this month, the Bucks are now 82-54 all-time against Golden State, a .603 winning percentage. The only other NBA foe that the Bucks have a .600 or better winning percentage is against the Sacramento Kings franchise; they are 87-58 versus the Kings franchise, a .600 winning percentage. Of the 29 NBA opponents, the Bucks are .500 or better all-time against 18 franchises, and below .500 against 11 franchises. The Bucks have a winning percentage under .400 versus four franchises: New Orleans (.257), Denver (.372), Miami (.380) and the Los Angeles Lakers (.396).
- Through the first 15 games of the season, the Bucks have launched 604 three-point shots, an average of 40.26 per game. The Bucks are on a pace to finish the season with 3,302 three-point attempts. The team record is 2,024 in a season, which they set just last season. It’s also interesting to note that if they continue on their pace to finish with over 3,000 three-point attempts this season, they would become only the third NBA team in history to attempts 3,000 or more treys in a year. The other two… Houston attempted 3,306 in 2016-17 and 3,470 in 2017-18.
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