Comments on: BBR Rankings: 2010-01-15 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=4406 NBA & ABA Basketball Statistics & History Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:56:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6 By: Walter http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=4406&cpage=1#comment-14098 Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:57:28 +0000 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=4406#comment-14098 It is interesting that both methods have the Cavs and Lakers as the top two but they don't agree on which team is #1.

I think the reason the Lakers are #1 in the MLE ranking is that the MLE is using purely W-L, where as the BBR is using margin of victory. The Lakers have been super clutch in close games (6-0 in games decided by 3 pts or less) while the Cavs have not (only 2-5). The BBR method will give only a slight advantage to the Lakers for this difference as the scoring margin is only a few points difference where as MLE gives a huge advantage for the Lakers as they win the close games.

Is there any studies out there on whether a teams ability to win a close game has any predictive value or is the result of a close game more of a coin flip type of situation.

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