Latrinsorm
03-20-2012, 06:37 PM
It turns out there are two camps: teams that have the best or second-best record (not necessarily #1 or #2 seed) in their conference(/division in the early days), and teams that have losing records in close games (those decided by 5 points or less). Of the 62 NBA champions, 45 had the best record in their conference, 12 had the second best, 3 had the third best, 1 had the fourth best, and 1 had the sixth best. Full details of the second camp:
2007 Spurs, 3rd best record, 8-11 in close games
1995 Rockets, 6th best record, 8-12 in close games
1978 Bullets, 3rd best record, 11-15 in close games
1977 Blazers, 3rd best record, 12-13 in close games
1969 Celtics, 4th best record, 9-15 in close games
Additionally, 5 teams fall into both camps:
2004 Pistons, 2nd best record, 12-17 in close games
1975 Warriors, best record, 13-15 in close games
1957 Celtics, best record, 10-13 in close games
1952 Lakers, 2nd best record, 6-14(!) in close games
1951 Royals, best record, 10-12 in close games
...for a total of 10 champions out of 62 that had a losing record in close games.
NBA champions have aggregate winning percentages of:
Margin Pct
>15 83.22%
11-15 74.76%
6-10 69.16%
1-5 59.48%
overall 71.37%
.
If the playoffs started today, our contenders would therefore be:
East
Bulls (1 or 2)
Heat (1 or 2)
76ers (4, 2-8 in close games)
Knicks (8, 5-9 in close games)
West
Thunder (1 or 2)
Spurs (1 or 2)
Mavericks (6, 7-9 in close games)
Weird, right? :)
2007 Spurs, 3rd best record, 8-11 in close games
1995 Rockets, 6th best record, 8-12 in close games
1978 Bullets, 3rd best record, 11-15 in close games
1977 Blazers, 3rd best record, 12-13 in close games
1969 Celtics, 4th best record, 9-15 in close games
Additionally, 5 teams fall into both camps:
2004 Pistons, 2nd best record, 12-17 in close games
1975 Warriors, best record, 13-15 in close games
1957 Celtics, best record, 10-13 in close games
1952 Lakers, 2nd best record, 6-14(!) in close games
1951 Royals, best record, 10-12 in close games
...for a total of 10 champions out of 62 that had a losing record in close games.
NBA champions have aggregate winning percentages of:
Margin Pct
>15 83.22%
11-15 74.76%
6-10 69.16%
1-5 59.48%
overall 71.37%
.
If the playoffs started today, our contenders would therefore be:
East
Bulls (1 or 2)
Heat (1 or 2)
76ers (4, 2-8 in close games)
Knicks (8, 5-9 in close games)
West
Thunder (1 or 2)
Spurs (1 or 2)
Mavericks (6, 7-9 in close games)
Weird, right? :)