When you’re already arguably the greatest player in NBA history, it’s tough to find new ways to add to your legend — but LeBron James somehow managed that feat Friday night, as his Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics 109-99 to force a seventh game in the Eastern Conference finals. In a do-or-die contest, all […]
Welcome to The Lab, FiveThirtyEight’s basketball podcast. On Thursday’s show (May 24, 2018), Neil, Kyle and Chris discuss the conference finals yet again. Just how magical is Boston’s home-court advantage? Just how tired is LeBron James? Is the Rockets’ bench too thin for the starters to stay fresh? And what’s with Kevin Durant’s shot selection? […]
With their 96-83 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, the Boston Celtics just got that much closer to becoming the first Eastern Conference team to eliminate a LeBron James-led squad in eight years. (Incidentally, the last team to do it also wore Celtics green.) And once again, it was all about the Celtics’ […]
The Cleveland Cavaliers have plenty of problems right now, and many of them concern their struggles on defense. Through two games in these Eastern Conference finals — both losses — they’re allowing 112.8 points per 100 possessions against a Boston Celtics team that averaged only 105.2 during the regular season (according to Advanced NBA Stats). […]
Welcome to The Lab, FiveThirtyEight’s basketball podcast. On Tuesday’s show (May 15, 2018), Neil, Chris and Kyle discuss Game 1 of each conference finals series. In the East, the Celtics contained LeBron James and spread the offense around — is that a sign of things to come, or is it a fluke? And in the […]