[FiveThirtyEight] How the Golden State Warriors are Breaking the NBA

Even if you agree with those probabilties ESPN has for each game, it leads to only a 10% chance of Golden State sweeping the set.

Honestly, the 33 game winning streak by those Lakers and Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak are two of the most remarkable statistical outliers in American sports history. It's just so improbable, even considering how good that Lakers team was and how good a hitter DiMaggio was, that those two things would happen.

These Warriors might be as good or better than the 1971-72 Lakers, but they have an incredibly tiny chance to break that record.

 

Most teams are "scrub teams" if you consider any non-elite team a scrub. Which teams would you consider legitimate teams to play? The Spurs, Cavaliers, Thunder? Who else? The Clippers? They've played them twice. They've played the Grizzlies twice. They've played some of the decent East teams like the Raptors and Bulls, and they play the Pacers in this coming stretch (and the Raptors again).

The 1996-97 Bulls also generally played far inferior teams. Every year, the league is mostly bad/mediocre/above average teams, with just a handful of excellent teams. Last year was a notable exception in terms of how many very good/great teams the West had and the Warriors won 67 despite going into cruise control for about 40% of the regular season.

 

This is the first season I just can't even watch. I can root for my team as they give their all and fail - but this? I just can't even watch. I know how much talent is on the team. I don't know what the hell is going on but I certainly know this isn't them giving their all.

 

This should have been the season where many fans can't watch due to TV giants not agreeing to terms. They would have been doing us a favor.