Basketball

Reading Time: 5 minutes Here’s a stats breakdown and comparison behind why Nikola Jokic deserves the MVP award and why Lauri Markkanen deserved the MIP award.

Reading Time: 5 minutes Almost a third of the regular season has passed and there are some clear trends. Fenerbahce leads the way, all four 2022 Final 4 teams are playoff-bound, and four teams are just one win behind the payoff spots. A few questions are torturing my mind: will Panathinaikos continue their impressive run? Can Olympiacos recover from their slump? Will coaches Messina and Obradovic turn around the negative records that Armani and Partizan have?

Reading Time: 2 minutes I created this in hopes of actively practicing my Python and visualization skills towards a topic that I am passionate about. I am a die hard Lakers fan and feel that this year has been a rollercoaster that never ends (keep in mind that I hate rollercoasters, yet here I am) I love the Lakers but hate that there were so many gambles and situations that did not pan out the way they were supposed to. . . . . No one could have predicted this considering the Lakers had won the championship just about 2 years ago.

Reading Time: 5 minutes 2022 EuroLeague Final Four: The Spanish champions Barcelona against ten-time champions Real Madrid. Here is an analytics view of the Spanish El Clásico for EuroLeague glory.

Reading Time: 5 minutes 2022 EuroLeague Final Four: The reigning champions Anadolu Efes against three-time champions Olympiacos. Here is an analytics view of the battle for EuroLeague glory.

Reading Time: 6 minutes The EuroLeague playoff picture is still being defined. We know all 8 teams who will battle it out. What remains to be seen are the matchups. I’m not the one to ask for predictions. But I am the one to ask to present an advanced stats view. Here’s a different reading of the EuroLeague 2021-22 season, with just one round left before the playoffs.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Short Answer: No. At least not yet.

Reading Time: 5 minutes The first 14 rounds of this year’s EuroLeague have been quite exciting. What I do here is present the basic advanced statistics. A graphical representation of stats helps paint a better picture.

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Reading Time: 6 minutes The first seven rounds of this year’s EuroLeague have been quite exciting. What I wanted to do here is present the basic advanced statistics. A graphical representation of stats helps paint a better picture.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Three shot charts show the best CSKA Moscow scorers since 2007. Have a look at the most field goals made in total, the most field goals made in a single season, and the most efficient scorers. Miloš Teodosić, Vitaly Fridzon, Nando de Colo, and more.

Reading Time: 4 minutes Three shot charts show the best Anadolu Efes scorers since 2007. I visualize the most field goals made in total, the most field goals made in a single season, and the most efficient scorers.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Three shot charts below show the best Olympiacos scorers in 2007-2021. I visualize the most field goals made in total since 2007, the most field goals made in a single season, and the most efficient shooters by zone.

Reading Time: 3 minutes As a big Panathinaikos fan, this is the first of the EuroLeague leading scorers by zone series. Three shot charts show the best scorers in Panathinaikos recent history. Shot location data in the EuroLeague is only freely available since 2007. I visualize the most field goals made in total since 2007, the most field goals made in a single season, and the most efficient shooters.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Four shot charts with the best scorers by zone in Utah Jazz history. Karl Malone, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, and more.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Time for the Chicago Bulls part of the most successful scorers by zone. Three shot charts with the most field goals made in total, most field goals made in a single season, and the most efficient scorers are visualized below to tell us some Chicago Bulls history.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Four shot charts make up this post. I visualize the most field goals made in total since 1996, the most field goals made in a single season, the most efficient, and most shots made in the 2008-09 season when the Magic made the Finals.

Reading Time: 3 minutes made in total since 1996, the most field goals made in a single season, the most efficient, and most shots made in the 2019 Championship season.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Four shot charts make up this post. I visualize the most field goals made in total since 1996, the most field goals made in a single season, the most efficient, and most shots made in the two seasons the Nets made the Finals (2002 & 2003). Let’s take a trip down memory lane.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Four shot charts with the most field goals made overall, in a season, the most efficient scorers overall, and the 2014-2019 dynasty era are visualized below to tell us some Golden State Warriors history.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Four shot charts with the most field goals made in total, most field goals made in a single season, the most efficient scorers, and the most buckets made in 2020-21 regular season are visualized below to tell us some Phoenix Suns history.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Four shot charts with the most field goals made overall, in a season, the most efficient scorers overall, and the 2011 Championship team are visualized below to tell us some Dallas Mavericks history.

Reading Time: 2 minutes Four shot charts make up this post. I visualize the most field goals made in total since 1996 for both the SuperSonics and the Thunder, combined and separately, as well as the most field goals made in a single season. Let’s take a trip down memory lane.

Reading Time: 3 minutes This post is about Denver’s most successful scorers since 1996. Three shot charts with the most field goals made in total, most field goals made in a single season, and the most efficient scorers are visualized below to tell us some Denver Nuggets history.

Reading Time: 2 minutes The two shot charts below show Reggie Miller’s legacy as he leads the team in so many different zones and has paved the way for other good Indiana Pacers players. Four shot charts with the most field goals made, most efficient scorers, and the 2004 Championship team are visualized below to tell us some Detroit Pistons history.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 3 NBA Championships and millions of die hard fans. Despite long years of struggles, Detroit has been lucky enough to witness some great players play for their team. From the “Bad Boys” era in the late 80s, the Grant Hill era in the 90s, and the “Goin to Work” era in the 00s, the Pistons have given NBA fans some quality performances (and a really good-looking jersey). Four shot charts with the most field goals made, most efficient scorers, and the 2004 Championship team are visualized below to tell us some Detroit Pistons history.

Reading Time: 3 minutes With 3 titles in 2006, 2012, and 2013, and one of the most dangerous superteams ever, the Miami Heat have been a franchise worth watching. Check out the leading scorers by zone in the 25 years, as well as the leading scorers in each of the championship seasons.

Reading Time: 2 minutes The 76ers are one of the most historical teams in the NBA. Here are three shot charts with the leading shooters by zone in the past 25 regular seasons.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 5 rings in the past 25 years for the San Antonio Spurs. We know that Gregg Popovich is a genius. These 7 shot charts show which players to thank! Check out the leading and most efficient scorers by zone in the 25 years, as well as the leading scorers in each of the 5 championship seasons: 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014. San Antonio, you’re lucky to have witnessed such a fine set of players play for your home team!

Reading Time: < 1 minute I couldn’t resist doing a Knicks chart. As an orange & blue fan I know I’ve signed up for insanity. In the past 25 years, there have been a few exciting seasons and many, many disappointments. We’ve only made the playoffs 5 times in the last 20 seasons. But, being a Knicks fan hurts so good.

Reading Time: < 1 minute Here are some more @kirkgoldsberry -inspired shot charts with the leading scorers by zone of the 2008 NBA Champions as well as the most efficient Celtics players from the 1996-97 season to 2020-21.

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Reading Time: < 1 minute Inspired by the NBA visualization master @kirkgoldsberry, here’s a look at the leading scorers by zone of the 2011 NBA Champions, the Dallas Mavericks.

Reading Time: 8 minutes I looked at the shot distribution per quarter for the top 3 players of each team to paint a picture. Moreover, I did some clustering of each team’s shots.

Reading Time: 3 minutes I looked at the shot distribution of each player per quarter to paint a picture. The two graphs below show the total percentage of shots each player took in each quarter. A short description of the key points we noticed, as well as how to read the graphs, follows.

Reading Time: < 1 minute Hello Mid-Range My Old Friend! Suns and Clippers Take Us Years Back.

Reading Time: 5 minutes Milwaukee Faces the Hawks for a Spot in the NBA 2021 Finals The NBA Eastern Conference Finals start on Wednesday with the Milwaukee Bucks having home court advantage over the Atlanta Hawks. Both teams made it to the ECF with Game 7 wins, over the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers respectively. The Bucks are strong … Read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes Phoenix Facing the Kawhi-less Clippers for a Chance at a Championship Ring The NBA Western Conference Finals start on Sunday with the Phoenix Suns having home court advantage over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Suns made it to the WCF after sweeping the Denver Nuggets. A series of great performances, led by Devin Booker and … Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes Suns Continue Amazing Run with Sweep Over Nuggets Jokic was this season’s MVP but his great season ended with a sweep by the Suns. The Suns have an incredibly strong and concise group of players. All 5 of their starters had over 100 points scored each in the series. A large portion of their points … Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute I’ve seen @lukadoncic play live a couple of times while he was at @realmadridbasket. Everyone in Europe knew that this kid would become an amazing NBA player. But did we know how amazing? In just his 3rd year at the @dallasmavs, Luka’s FG% and Effective FG% are better than ever, and his 3P%, 2P%, and True Shooting % are … Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Originally published June 5, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPsxZP0LY8e/ The King tried but failed to put up a one man show. LeBron James failed to maintain his perfect first round NBA playoff series record of 14 series wins and the Lakers are eliminated. Devin Booker put on a great performance with 47 (!!) points scored last night. We … Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Originally published June 1, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPk2NdBrvx6/ NBA Playoff excitement is ON! We now have 4 games played in each series and already a bunch to learn. From the @bucks amazing defensive rating to the @brooklynnets amazing offensive rating, the king @kingjames and the @lakers having a tough matchup against the awesome @cp3 and the @suns, the @laclippers and @dallasmavs series flipping after the first two surprising games, and my @nyknicks greatly underperforming … Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Originally published May 31, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPiWYgbrO8J/ @vasamicic13 was the @euroleague Final Four MVP with 50 (!!) points scored and he did it with good efficiency, leading @anadoluefessk to the title over an @fcbbasket team who saw @nikolamirotic33 underperform. #kudos to Micic for mentioning the great #dimitrisdiamantidis of @paobcgr as his idol ☘️ @olimpiamilano1936 had #vladimirmicov and @shields3uno with strong performances and @cskabasket had @iffelundberg and @thrill_21 trying to cover for @tshengel1a low FG%. How did the other players do in terms of Effective … Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Originally published May 30, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPghAl0rU8c/ The @euroleague Final is on! Glad to see @ncalathes strong and on the court, would’ve been a huge miss for @fcbbasket. Can @vasamicic13 and @shanelarkin_0 do their magic again tonight? #euroleague#final#finalfour#anadolu#efes#barcelona#basketball#cologne#sportsanalytics#datascience#bubbleplot#r#rstudio#analytics

Reading Time: < 1 minute Originally published May 30, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPeeZXPr4OH/ SWEEP!!! The Bucks eliminate the Heat in the 1st round in a series completely different than last year’s Eastern Conference Finals. Middleton stepped up and Giannis was Giannis, while Jimmy Butler and Bam terribly underperformed. The first graph shows the average points vs the eFG%. The other two graphs … Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Originally published May 29, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPb2yq0rJnr/ Where my @nyknicks fans at? This sentiment analysis of the 500 tweets leading up to tonight’s game shows that we Knicks fans are slightly more positive about our team, with a sentiment score of 0.14 vs the @atlhawks ’ fans 0.03. Can you blame us though? Knicks in 6! I hope… #nba#playoffs#tweet#sentiment#analysis#datascience#sportsanalytics#knicks#hawks#r#ggplot2#rstudio#analytics#letsgoknicks

Reading Time: < 1 minute Originally published May 28, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPazdmtB1Qa/ The @euroleague Final Four tips off in a little bit and here are this season’s preferred shooting spots for the teams in the 2nd semifinal @anadoluefessk and @cskabasket. Darker and denser areas indicate that the team takes more shots there over the league average, where lighter or black areas indicate that the team takes … Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Originally published May 28, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPazJOPBUuU/ The @euroleague Final Four tips off in a little bit and here are this season’s preferred shooting areas for the first two teams matching up, @olimpiamilano1936 and @fcbbasket. Darker and denser areas indicate that the team takes more shots there over the league average, where lighter or black areas indicate that the team takes … Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Originally published May 28, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPaqt2uBdjg/ Pace, an important measure of team performance. This year’s @euroleague Final Four looks like a contest between fairly similar teams in terms of pace. Excited to see how it plays out! #euroleague#f4glory#graph#chart#basketball#analytics#sportsanalytics#cskabasket#anadoluefes#olimpiamilano#fcbarcelona

Reading Time: < 1 minute Originally published May 28, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPapnFShl8R/ Here’s a look at how the top 20 players in this year’s @euroleague tournament ranked across various categories. The numbers on the x axis show the ranking in a single category, and the boxes on top show how many times a player ranked in that position in a category. For example, @shanelarkin_0 tops … Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Originally published May 28, 2021: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPaoMlWBxGL/ A well-deserved @euroleague MVP award for @vasamicic13 of @anadoluefessk, as he ranks high across numerous @basketball.reference categories. Congrats! 🎉🎊🍾 Graph inspired by @owenlhjphillips. #euroleague#euroleaguemvp#award ##mvp#basketball#graph#chart#analytics#micic#finalfour