Let's Stroll Through Some Hodge Podge NBA Round 1 Playoffs Stats
Little NBA Playoffs check in on some relevant stats and storylines. It's very early into Round 1 but overall the product has been very entertaining for a collage of reasons. We've had a good mix of close games, bad blood, and OKC/Memphis sprinkled in as comic relief. Together, this has made a solid script that has evidently resulted in the best Playoffs ratings in a quarter century. We've even had character development - particularly for the Lakers - where they actually decided to try on defense in Game 2.
Of course - there's also been all elements we have come to hate about this league. Garbage ticky-tack fouls (I was told this wouldn't happen in the playoffs), foul baiting, flopping, and "all strategic game planning ends in a three-pointer or layup" monotony. But even still. The love side of my love/hate relationship with this league is winning out so far.
Looking forward to more. For now - here are some takes/stats that caught my attention.
Blood outside the Garden
If I were to tell you before the games started that Round 1 would have a heightened amount of chippiness and loose tempers you'd have put in some popcorn and turned Knicks/Pistons on right away. But I don't think this series is even in the top-two in terms of animosity. Bucks/Pacers and T-Wolves/Lakers have stolen that show. And that brings me to my first stat from Bucks/Pacers Game 1:
Laugh at Dame all you want, it's still more efficient than Kyle Kuzma's Game 1.
But credit to Kuz who character developed himself in Game 2. Even though he missed the first shot of the game on a wide open layup, he turned it around in the second half.
I do expect the Pistons/Knicks intensity to blossom. Especially now that the Pistons have some playoff street cred. You probably heard they won their first playoff game since 2008. So did I. So I did my civic duty and graphed out how ridiculous this is compared to every other team. Never great when the Charlotte Hornets did something exemplary before your team did. At least Pistons fans can say that's no longer the case.
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UPDATE - Congrats to the Rockets for falling off this list last night.
Wait what??? 2024-25 regular season had the lowest foul rate since at least the 90s and so far in the playoffs, it's even lower than the regular season
I'm not exactly sure what to make of this because it goes against my bias that today's NBA is too ticky-tack and that belief held true during the early going of these playoffs. There were several fouls called back after review or challenge which was good to see but a stark reminder that refs have been brainwashed to default to a foul for almost any questionable instance. But credit where credit is due swallowing the whistle on that awful Jokic flop at the end of the game. There were a few others as well.
But to put my doomsday hat back on I think we all know why fouls are at an all-time low. It's not that the refs are letting them play any more than before. It's that three-pointers are continuing to rise. Very clear inverse relationship between fouls and threes. Hard to get physical when you stay away from initiating contact.
OKC is on pace for the biggest playoff series blowout for a best of seven series by point differential (35 points)
That includes any best of five series as well. 35-points per game in what looks like what happens when you put the worst NBA team against the best college team. For some context, this might be like when some top-ranked college team plays a lower division to pad their record. Think Duke playing Wofford. Auburn playing Vermont. Or San Diego State playing Occidental (evidently a real college). I say this because all three of these games were decided by exactly 51-points this past season. I don't think I need to mention who beat who.
Kawhi Leonard needs the right hue of red on his jersey to properly defrag for maximum computer efficiency
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Kawhi is officially back to his 2019 form and it's hard not to think you went into a time machine watching him play in a very similar hue of red as he wore in Toronto. He went 15/19 from the field (78.9%) in Game two making (I believe) his first seven shots. Just an all-time game for him. He's only made more field goals in three other playoff games in his career with the best going 18/25 for 72% in 2021. Pretty easy to call Game 2 vs the Nuggets the best shooting game of computer Kawhi's career.
Also easy to call Denver/LAC the far and away best series of these playoffs. It's actually going to be a shame that either Kawhi or Jokic won't be moving on. But something tells me these teams are so evenly matched we're going six or seven games.
Unpopular opinion - I am pro don't wear the shirt guy in OKC
Phil Jackson once called Dennis rodman a "Heyoka" which in Native American culture means backward-walking (OG hipster). This guy is the Heyoka of OKC. This is all kind of like iPhone vs Android. Look at all these losers wearing blue so that their friends can see their blue too and they can't change it to any other color. Just living life in a sort of prison you've convinced yourself is paradise. Well not this guy. He never has to see his ugly green, but you all do. And he can change it if he wants to. But y'all stuck with what you get. He just gets to see the soothing baby blue all around him. And that's another point too. Do they really think wearing that shade of blue is in any way intimidating to the other team? This is literally the color they paint children's rooms in doctor's offices to make them feel safe. At least Heyoka guy is offering some unpredictability here.
Stay strong. Don't wear the shirt.
That's all I got for now. Great playoffs so far. Sure, there's been shitty officiating from a rule perspective which is something I'll never let up on mentioning. And way too many threes with little ball movement making many possessions monotonous to watch even when they go in. Players complaining. Foul baiting and tattling after flopping like kindergarteners. I could go on. But until Adam Silver grows a pair and let's the game be somewhat physical none of that will ever change.
Sorry. had to get some of the hate out too before I conclude. I love/hate this league with a passion and I can't wait to keep watching and betting on every game.
Will check in again soon as we progress into June. Playoffs Baby.