Sports – FiveThirtyEight — Usage Rate RSS



How Mikal Bridges Went From Supporting Player To Star

The Brooklyn Nets dropped both Games 1 and 2 of their series with the Philadelphia 76ers on the road, and they face a tough climb to come back and make this a competitive series — let alone advance to the second round. The Nets were heavy underdogs coming into the matchup, so their 2-0 deficit […]

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Nikola Jokić’s MVP Case Is Hidden In Plain Sight (Again)

Nikola Jokić has a tendency to make the spectacular look mundane. Take this play during the third quarter of a recent game against the Boston Celtics, just one of the 40,904 passes he’s slung as a member of the Denver Nuggets. With a running start near the top of the key, Jokić took one brisk […]

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Giannis Is Doing More Work In Less Time

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer is under fire for how much he has played his star, Giannis Antetokounmpo, throughout the postseason. Though the Bucks beat the Orlando Magic 4-1 in the first round of the NBA playoffs, their 0-2 start in their conference semifinals matchup against the Miami Heat has the questions and criticisms […]

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How Did Basketball End Up With Four Versions (And Counting) Of One Stat?

Quick — which NBA player is most integral to his team’s offense? Which player shoulders the biggest offensive burden? And to what degree are those questions even equivalent? Statistically, such concerns fall under the umbrella of “usage rate,” a term that colloquially describes an entire class of metrics tasked with quantifying the size of a […]

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