Comments on: BBR Mailbag: Best Records After the All-Star Break

By: Cort

Cort — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 00:50:15 +0000

interesting that despite having the most titles with 17, the celtics dont have one of the top 21 2nd half records. suggests that boston may have put more emphasis on the first half historically, and that strong finishes are tied to how tough your schedule and conference/division is. also that such finishes are slightly overrated.
the 1980s lakers benefited by playing a far FAR weaker west compared to the celtics, 76ers, bucks and pistons of that decade. in general, other than the last decade, the east has boasted more depth.

By: lol

lol — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:18:37 +0000

@17, Cleveland's struggles this year indicate the true value of Lebron, Shaq, Z, Varejao who didn't even play half the season, and Delonte. They aren't exactly the same team they were with Lebron.

By: ucapt

ucapt — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:37:11 +0000

@11
AYC always says something that stupid every post.

By: An Onimous

An Onimous — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:14:11 +0000

Re #10: I know the 2005 Denver Nuggets (#6 on the list) would have missed the playoffs if not for their "heroic" post-all star run. The Nuggets were 17-25 when they fired their coach and hired George Karl, who proceeded to coach the Nuggets (a team well shy of .500) to a 32-8 record in their final 40 games, a run just good enough to earn Denver a #7 seed. He won "coach of the month" in each of the final 3 months of the season, and got serious run for "coach of the year" despite the fact that he didn't even coach half of Denver's games that year. For my money, he should have won it- just like how Cleveland's struggles this year really underscore Lebron's true value, the disparity between Denver's 40% winning percentage without Karl and its 80% winning percentage with him really highlighted just how much of a difference he made to that franchise that year.

By: Anonx2

Anonx2 — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:37:46 +0000

What season did the All-Star game get moved so far late in the season?

By: Neil Paine

Neil Paine — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:30:34 +0000

#14 - Well, they only had two truly dominant seasons in the Lebron era -- 2009, which shows up 13th all-time after the break, and 2010, when they were resting everybody down the stretch. Like Yariv suggests in #1, I'd have to run the numbers on how post-break wpct correlates to playoff success, but I don't think Cleveland's absence from this list beyond '09 is somehow evidence they were "paper tigers".

By: false~cognate

false~cognate — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:53:56 +0000

I find it humorous that my favorite team, the Cavs, appear only once on the expansive list. It seems they were paper tigers all these years with LBJ.

By: Jason J

Jason J — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:11:48 +0000

Even if the Lakers don't lose another game, they'll still have twice as many losses as the 1996 Bulls did. That's ridiculous.

By: Will

Will — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:42:32 +0000

AYC,

That team, the 07-08 Rockets, is #52 on the list. Their streak started in mid-January. Seeded 4th, they made the playoffs but lost to Utah in the first round.

The western conference that year (and during the mid-late 2000s) had some dominating teams: Denver, at 52-30, only made the 8th seed !

By: AYC

AYC — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:27:58 +0000

Didn't the Rockets miss the playoffs after winning 22 in a row a couple years ago? Pretty sure that happened after the AS break