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Basketball Data Analytics Data Science NBA Statistics

No Such Thing as The “Greatest” Player in The NBA

Below, we demonstrate why trying to identify a single player as the “Greatest of all time” is a fallacy.

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Basketball Mathematics NBA Sports Statistics

A Problem With Offensive Rating

Abstract: It is shown that the standard/common definition of team offensive rating/offensive efficiency implies that a team’s offensive rating increases as its opponent’s offensive rebounds increase, which, in principle, should not be the case. Over the past number of years, the advanced metric known as Offensive Rating has become the standard way of measuring a basketball […]

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Basketball Data Analytics Data Science Mathematics NBA Sports Statistics Uncategorized

NBA Analytics Dashboard

Here is an embedded dashboard that shows a number of statistical insights for NBA teams, their opponents, and individual players as well. You can compare multiple teams and players. Navigate through  the different pages by clicking through the scrolling arrow below. (The data is based on the most recent season “per-game” numbers.) (If you cannot […]

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Basketball Data Analytics Data Science Mathematics NBA NBA Playoffs Sports Statistics

The Risk of The 3-Point Shot

As more and more teams are increasing the number of threes they attempt based on some misplaced logical fallacy that this somehow leads to an efficient offense, we show below that it is in fact in a team’s opponent’s interest for a team to attempt as many three point shots as possible. Looking at this […]

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Basketball Data Analytics Data Science Mathematics Science Sports Statistics

An Equation to Predict NBA Playoff Probabilities

Based on a previous paper I wrote that used machine learning to determine the most relevant factors for teams making the NBA playoffs, I did some further analysis in an attempt to come up with an equation that outputs the probability of an NBA team making the playoffs in a given season. From the aforementioned […]

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Basketball Mathematics NBA Statistics

When is it optimal to shoot a 3-Point Shot

A very interesting result: computing payoffs of players, the following is a diagram that shows when it is optimal for a player to shoot a 2 point or a 3-point shot. One sees that it is hardly ever optimal for a player to shoot a 3-point shot, since the region corresponding to 3-point optimality is […]

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Basketball Data Analytics Data Science Mathematics NBA NBA Finals NBA Playoffs Sports Statistics

How to Beat the Golden State Warriors

By: Dr. Ikjyot Singh Kohli The Golden State Warriors have posed quite the conundrum for opposing teams. They are quick, have a spectacular ability to move the ball, and play suffocating defense. Given their play in the playoffs thus far, all of these points have been exemplified even more to the point where it seems […]

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Basketball Data Analytics Data Science Mathematics NBA NBA Playoffs Sports Statistics

The “Interference” of Phil Jackson

By: Dr. Ikjyot Singh Kohli So, I came across this article today by Matt Moore on CBSSports, who basically once again has taken to the web to bash the Triangle Offense. Of course, much of what he claims (like much of the Knicks media) is flat-out wrong based on very primitive and simplistic analysis, and […]

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Basketball Mathematics NBA NBA Finals NBA Playoffs Sports Statistics

Mathematics Behind The Triangle Offense

It was pointed out to me recently that a few of the articles I have written describing the detailed geometric structure behind the triangle offense is scattered in various places around my blog, so here is a list of the articles in one convenient place:  The Mathematics of Filling the Triangle (First article)  Group Theory and […]

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Basketball Data Analytics Data Science Mathematics NBA NBA Finals NBA Playoffs Sports Statistics

Basketball Machine Learning Paper Updated 

I have now made a significant update to my applied machine learning paper on predicting patterns among NBA playoff and championship teams, which can be accessed here: arXiv Link .