Sports – FiveThirtyEight — 2015 NBA Playoffs RSS





The Warriors Became Great — Organically

Teams that make the NBA Finals have great players. OK, that’s not exactly news. But teams can get great players in different ways. The 2008 Celtics became great largely by signing Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the offseason. Ditto for the 2011 Miami Heat, by snagging LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Ditto for the […]

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The Warriors Became Great — Organically

Teams that make the NBA Finals have great players. OK, that’s not exactly news. But teams can get great players in different ways. The 2008 Celtics became great largely by signing Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the offseason. Ditto for the 2011 Miami Heat, by snagging LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Ditto for the […]

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LeBron’s Greatest Challenge: The NBA Finals Aren’t Kind To Underdogs

Let’s play FiveThirtyEight Family Feud. Twenty seconds on the clock. Name an animal that begins with the letter ‘F’. Fox! Name a famous Super Bowl upset. J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets. Name a famous NBA Finals upset. I mean… umm, uh. Uhhhhhhrrrrrrrmm. That isn’t an easy question. Didn’t Bill Russell’s Celtics once lose in the finals? […]

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