20 Responses to “BBR Mailbag: Best Records After the All-Star Break”

1. yariv Says:
   March 24th, 2011 at 10:28 am

   I wonder what has stronger correlation to playoff success, all-season record or "after All-Star record". I expect the former, but my impression is that most people believe the latter. Neil, can you run something like this?

   The top ten contain 5 non-champions, top 20 contain 10 (although one might argue the 51 warriors shouldn't be there due to small sample).

2. P Middy Says:
   March 24th, 2011 at 10:41 am

   look at the 97 Jazz. Back when the All Star break was actually played at the halfway point.

3. Kelly Says:
   March 24th, 2011 at 10:49 am

   I love the premise of the question, "If the Lakers win their last 11 games"

   Uhm, yeah.

4. AYC Says:
   March 24th, 2011 at 12:13 pm

   Surprise, Magic's Lakers and Jordan's Bulls tended to dominate down the stretch....

5. Jason J Says:
   March 24th, 2011 at 2:07 pm

   The current Bulls are killing it too.

6. Ben Says:
   March 24th, 2011 at 2:20 pm

   Noticed the same thing, Jason J. Scary. Second best Scoring Margin.

7. Ben Says:
   March 24th, 2011 at 2:21 pm

   Current year teams obviously have smaller sample size, but check out where the Nuggets rank too.

8. Sean Says:
   March 24th, 2011 at 3:08 pm

   ^ And the 2011 Rockets too. Small sample size is indeed at play here.

9. Ed Says:
   March 24th, 2011 at 3:38 pm

   @3 The Lakers have a very easy schedule the rest of the way. Only 4 of their last 11 games are on the road and only one of those is against a playoff team (Portland). So it's hardly inconceivable that they win their last 11 games.

10. Gabe Says:
    March 24th, 2011 at 3:39 pm

    Any way to quickly check if any of these teams didn't make the playoffs? Or if they just squeezed in at the end of the season, and otherwise wouldn't have made it if not for their heroic run?

11. AYC Says:
    March 24th, 2011 at 4:27 pm

    Didn't the Rockets miss the playoffs after winning 22 in a row a couple years ago? Pretty sure that happened after the AS break

12. Will Says:
    March 24th, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    AYC,

    That team, the 07-08 Rockets, is #52 on the list. Their streak started in mid-January. Seeded 4th, they made the playoffs but lost to Utah in the first round.

    The western conference that year (and during the mid-late 2000s) had some dominating teams: Denver, at 52-30, only made the 8th seed !

13. Jason J Says:
    March 24th, 2011 at 5:11 pm

    Even if the Lakers don't lose another game, they'll still have twice as many losses as the 1996 Bulls did. That's ridiculous.

14. false~cognate Says:
    March 24th, 2011 at 5:53 pm

    I find it humorous that my favorite team, the Cavs, appear only once on the expansive list. It seems they were paper tigers all these years with LBJ.

15. Neil Paine Says:
    March 24th, 2011 at 6:30 pm

    #14 - Well, they only had two truly dominant seasons in the Lebron era -- 2009, which shows up 13th all-time after the break, and 2010, when they were resting everybody down the stretch.

    Like Yariv suggests in #1, I'd have to run the numbers on how post-break wpct correlates to playoff success, but I don't think Cleveland's absence from this list beyond '09 is somehow evidence they were "paper tigers".

16. Anonx2 Says:
    March 24th, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    What season did the All-Star game get moved so far late in the season?

17. An Onimous Says:
    March 25th, 2011 at 6:14 am

    Re #10: I know the 2005 Denver Nuggets (#6 on the list) would have missed the playoffs if not for their "heroic" post-all star run. The Nuggets were 17-25 when they fired their coach and hired George Karl, who proceeded to coach the Nuggets (a team well shy of .500) to a 32-8 record in their final 40 games, a run just good enough to earn Denver a #7 seed. He won "coach of the month" in each of the final 3 months of the season, and got serious run for "coach of the year" despite the fact that he didn't even coach half of Denver's games that year. For my money, he should have won it- just like how Cleveland's struggles this year really underscore Lebron's true value, the disparity between Denver's 40% winning percentage without Karl and its 80% winning percentage with him really highlighted just how much of a difference he made to that franchise that year.

18. ucapt Says:
    March 25th, 2011 at 3:37 pm

    @11
    AYC always says something that stupid every post.

19. lol Says:
    March 29th, 2011 at 2:18 pm

    @17, Cleveland's struggles this year indicate the true value of Lebron, Shaq, Z, Varejao who didn't even play half the season, and Delonte. They aren't exactly the same team they were with Lebron.

20. Cort Says:
    April 1st, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    interesting that despite having the most titles with 17, the celtics dont have one of the top 21 2nd half records. suggests that boston may have put more emphasis on the first half historically, and that strong finishes are tied to how tough your schedule and conference/division is. also that such finishes are slightly overrated.
    the 1980s lakers benefited by playing a far FAR weaker west compared to the celtics, 76ers, bucks and pistons of that decade. in general, other than the last decade, the east has boasted more depth.