How Travel And Fatigue Make Some NBA Games Unwinnable

Welcome to The Lab, FiveThirtyEight’s basketball podcast. On this week’s show (Nov. 8, 2017), Neil and Kyle break down the news that the Phoenix Suns have agreed to trade Eric Bledsoe to the Milwaukee Bucks. We also get into what exactly is going on with the Cleveland Cavaliers — and just how their latest woes may affect their playoff chances. Next, Baxter Holmes joins for a discussion of ESPN’s “schedule alert” project, which identifies games that NBA teams are likely to lose because of the punishing 82-game schedule. Plus, a significant digit on the Detroit Pistons.

Here are links to what we discussed this week:

• LeBron can’t do it all alone, writes Kyle.
• Baxter Holmes’s schedule alert project.
• Neil investigates the Detroit Pistons’ new, improved habits on offense.