Milwaukee Bucks finally see the win column in Phoenix
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the numbers.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Milwaukee Bucks last night defeated the Phoenix Suns 98-94 in Phoenix snapping the team’s 24-game losing streak in Phoenix.
The last time the Bucks had beaten the Suns in Phoenix was March 9, 1987 when they won 118-110. For the record, of the 12 players who played for the Bucks in their win last night, five of them had not even been born yet when the Bucks last won in Phoenix: Ersen Ilyasova, Larry Sanders, Brandon Jennings, Ekpe Udoh and John Henson.
Now that the Bucks have a win over the Suns in the scorebook, the longest drought when it comes to road victories is now in Utah. The Bucks have not won a game at Utah since October 30, 2001. Here’s a look at where road wins have been rare for the Bucks.
Team, last road win for Bucks
1. Utah Jazz, last road win was Oct. 30, 2001. The Bucks have lost 10 straight road games to the Jazz.
2. New Orleans, last road win was Jan. 27, 2003. The Bucks have lost 11 straight road games to the Hornets.
3. Orlando, last road win was Dec. 29, 2004. The Bucks have lost 13 straight road games to the Magic.
4. Los Angeles Clippers, last road win was Dec. 4, 2007. The Bucks have lost four straight road games to the Clippers.
5. San Antonio, last road win was Dec. 30, 2008. The Bucks have lost three straight road games to the Spurs.
6. Minnesota, last road win was Nov. 6, 2009. The Bucks have lost two straight road games to the Timberwolves.
7. Memphis, last road win was Nov. 21, 2009. The Bucks have lost two straight road games to the Grizzlies.
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76ers, Pacers & Clippers finally win playoff series
Doug Collins, 76ers coach (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published multiple times weekly focusing on stats that go beyond the numbers
The Philadelphia 76ers, Indiana Pacers and Los Angeles Clippers exorcised some serious NBA playoff demons with their first-round series wins in this year’s playoffs. The 76ers had not won a playoff series since 2003 when they defeated the New Orleans Hornets in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. For the Pacers, their last playoff series win was in 2005. The Clippers last won a playoff series in 2006 when they ousted the Denver Nuggets in the first round.
Here’s a look at which teams now have the longest droughts for winning a playoff series.
Last year they won a playoff series, team(s)
2000: New York Knicks, Portland
2001: Milwaukee, Toronto
2004: Minnesota, Sacramento
2005: Charlotte (the Bobcats have not won a playoff series since they entered the NBA in 2004-05)
2005: Washington
2007: Golden State, New Jersey Nets
2008: Detroit, New Orleans
2009: Denver, Houston
2010: Cleveland, Orlando, Phoenix, Utah
2011: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Memphis
Of the eight remaining teams in the playoffs, here’s a look at the last time they advanced to the conference finals, the last year they played in the NBA finals, and the last year they won an NBA title.
Team, last year in conference finals, last year in NBA finals, last NBA title
Boston: 2010… 2010… 2008
Indiana: 2004… 2000… Never
Los Angeles Clippers: Never… Never… Never
Los Angeles Lakers: 2010… 2010… 2010
Miami: 2011… 2011… 2006
Oklahoma City: 2011… 1996 (as Seattle)… 1979 (as Seattle)
Philadelphia: 2001… 2001… 1983
San Antonio: 2008… 2008… 2007
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2012 NBA Playoffs: Win-Loss Records in Series-Deciding Games (1984-2011)
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published multiple times weekly focusing on stats that go beyond the numbers.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
How many of the NBA’s first-round playoff series do you think will go the full seven games? Based on the last nine years (the NBA went to seven-game first-round series format in 2003) there have only been 11 first-round series go seven games (11 of 72 series, 15.8 percent). In fact, the 2011 playoffs were the first since 1984 (when the league went to the current 16-teams-make-the-playoffs format) that none of the first-round playoff series went seven games.
Here’s a look at how many of the NBA playoff series have gone to a Game Seven since 1984:
First Round (since 2003): 11 of 72 series (15.8 percent)*
Conference Semifinals: 30 of the 112 series (26.8 percent)
Conference Finals: 12 of the 56 series (21.4 percent) Note: A Conference Finals series has not gone to a Game Seven since 2005!
NBA Finals: 5 of the 28 series (17.9 percent)
* From 1984-2002, the first-round series were five games. Of those 152 series, 52 (34.2 percent) went to a series-deciding Game Five. From 1984-2011, all series-deciding games (Game Five or Game Seven) happened in 63 of the 224 series, 28.1 percent. Total up all of the above and we see that since 1984, 110 of the 420 NBA playoff series has gone to a deciding-game (26.2 percent).
How well has your team done in series-deciding Game Five or Game Sevens since 1984?
Team, W/L in Deciding Games, (Game 7 W/L, Game 5 W/L)
Golden State 1-0, 1.000 (0-0, 1-0)
Dallas 6-1 .857 (4-1, 2-0)
L.A. Lakers 8-2, .800 (7-1, 1-1)
Phoenix 6-3 .667 (3-2, 3-1)
Boston 10-5 .667 (8-4, 2-1)
Denver 3-2 .600 (0-1, 3-1)
Atlanta 7-5 .583 (2-2, 5-3)
New York 8-6 .571 (3-5, 5-1)
Chicago 4-3 .571 (2-3, 2-0)
Utah 9-7 .563 (2-2, 7-5)
Detroit 8-7 .533 (5-3, 3-4)
Houston 6-6 .500 (4-4, 2-2)
Milwaukee 5-5 .500 (2-3, 3-2)
San Antonio 3-3 .500 (2-2, 1-1)
New Jersey 2-2 .500 (0-1, 2-1)
Orlando 2-2 .500 (2-1, 0-1)
Minnesota 1-1 .500 (1-0, 0-1)
Toronto 1-1 .500 (0-0, 1-1)
Oklahoma City/Seattle 6-8 .429 (3-2, 3-6)
Philadelphia 3-4 .429 (1-1, 2-3)
Miami 3-6 .333 (2-3, 1-2)
Portland 2-4 .333 (1-2, 1-2)
Cleveland 2-5 .286 (1-2, 1-3)
Indiana 2-6 .250 (2-3, 0-3)
Sacramento 0-5 .000 (0-3, 0-2)
L.A. Clippers 0-4 .000 (0-2, 0-2)
New Orleans/Charlotte Hornets 0-3 .000 (0-3, 0-0)
Washington 0-2 (0-1, 0-1)
Memphis 0-1 .000 (0-1, 0-0)
Charlotte Bobcats 0-0 .000 (0-0, 0-0)
Did you know? The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers have each have won four straight Game Sevens.
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2012 NBA playoffs: First-round records from 2003-11
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published multiple times weekly focusing on stats that go beyond the numbers.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The first round of the 2012 NBA playoffs tip-off with four games today and four tomorrow. The San Antonio Spurs will be playing in their 15th consecutive NBA playoffs, the longest active streak in the league. Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks hold the second spot in that category; they are playing in their 12th straight playoffs.
Starting with the 2003 playoffs, the NBA went to a seven-games series in the first round instead of the previous five-game first round series. As you might expect, the Spurs have won the most first round games since 2003 with 31. They are followed by the Los Angeles Lakers with 28 and the Mavs with 26.
Since 2003, the Spurs have won seven of the nine first round series they have played. The Lakers have won six of the eight first round series they have played. One of the surprises is that the Detroit Pistons have won six of the seven first round series they have played in since 2003.
Two teams, the New York Knicks and Charlotte Bobcats, have not won a first round game since 2003. In fact, the Bobcats have never won a playoff game since they came into the league in 2004-05. The Knicks has not won a playoff game since 2001; they lost three games to two in the first round of the ’01 playoffs to the Toronto Raptors. (Note the Cleveland Cavaliers have the best first round winning percentage since 2003 with a 20-5 record, a .800 winning percentage.)
Here’s a look at how well each team has done in the first round of the NBA playoffs since 2003.
Team, First Round Games W/L Record (2003-11), Winning Pct.
San Antonio 31-17 .646
Los Angeles Lakers 28-16 .636
Dallas 26-25 .510
Detroit 24-12 .667
Boston 23-17 .575
Cleveland 20-5 .800
Miami 20-18 .526
Phoenix 19-14 .576
Orlando 17-15 .531
New Jersey 16-10 .615
Chicago 16-17 .485
Atlanta 15-12 .556
Utah 14-15 .483
Indiana 13-15 .464
Houston 13-18 .419
New Orleans Hornets 12-17 .414
Sacramento 11-10 .524
Denver 11-29 .275
Oklahoma City 10-6 .625
Philadelphia 10-18 .357
Portland 9-16 .360
Washington 8-14 .364
Milwaukee 7-16 .304
Minnesota 6-5 .545
Los Angeles Clippers 4-1 .800
Golden State 4-2 .667
Memphis 4-14 .222
Toronto 3-8 .273
New York 0-8 .000
Charlotte 0-4 .000
Did you know? The Boston Celtics and the Lakers are the only teams to have won a first round series in each of the past four seasons. The Atlanta Hawks have won a first round series in each of the last three playoffs.
SIX STATS you might not know about… the Knicks’ Steve Novak
The Knicks Steve Novak... Image via Wikipedia
“SIX STATS…” is a bonus feature of Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ and is published every Friday.
In the “Lin-sanity” that is Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks recent resurgence, lost to some has been the play of another bench player, Steve Novak. The Milwaukee native and Marquette grad has provided much-needed offense off the bench for the Knicks, especially from three-point range. Here’s a few stats on Novak’s play in the past few weeks. (Stats are through games of February 29.)
1. Novak’s 8.0 points per game this year is the highest in his career. His previous high was in 2008-9 when he averaged 6.9 points per game with the Los Angeles Clippers.
2. For his NBA career, Novak has attempted 863 shots, 626 of them from three-point range. (72.5% of his shot attempts). This season, Novak has taken 107 shots, 86 of them from behind the arc (over 80% of his shots).
3. Novak has played in 24 of the Knicks 36 games this season. In the first 12 games Novak played, the Knicks were 4-8. In the past 12 games he played, the Knicks are 9-3. In those first 12 games, he did not score in double figure in any game. In the past 12 contests, he has scored in double figures in eight of the 12 games. In his previous 12 games he scored a total of 41 points, shooting 44.4% from the arc. In his last 12 games, Novak is averaging 12.7 points per game and is shooting just under 47% from three-point range.
4. In the first 12 games he played in the 2011-12 season, Novak’s longest playing time in a game was just over 19 minutes. In the last 12 games, Novak has played more than 16 minutes in each game, with a high of 29 1/2 minutes in one contest.
5. In his NBA career, Novak has a shooting percentage of .472 from three-point range in games his teams won. In games his teams lost, Novak has a shooting percentage of .396.
6. His NBA career stats show that Novak really starts to find his range from three-point land the longer he plays in a game. If he plays 0-9 minutes, his three-point pct is .356; if he plays 10-19 minutes in a game, his three-point pct is .415; if he plays 20-29 minutes, his three-point pct is .470; and if he plays 30-39 minutes, his three-point pct is .500.
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