I was looking at the margin of victory and strength of schedule over the last 25 games from Hollinger's Power Rankings. Here's the list: Code: [B]team margin SOS[/B] HOU 12.13 0.456 LAL 11.5 0.427 DET 9.87 0.484 PHI 8.44 0.435 SAS 7.93 0.495 TOR 7.13 0.423 ORL 6.63 0.502 UTA 6.13 0.463 BOS 5.73 0.49 GSW 5.33 0.505 DEN 4.33 0.482 PHO 1.73 0.552 DAL 0.81 0.511 CLE 0.4 0.515 NOH -0.53 0.54 CHI -1.13 0.489 NJN -1.53 0.487 IND -2.73 0.549 WAS -3 0.556 SAC -3.07 0.459 MIN -4.4 0.524 SEA -5.07 0.48 POR -5.21 0.534 ATL -6.13 0.584 NYK -6.53 0.488 LAC -7.6 0.537 MIL -8.47 0.519 MIA -9.47 0.54 CHA -10.53 0.532 MEM -12 0.519 We've been hearing so much about how the Rockets have had their win streak BUT they faced such an easy schedule. At the same time, everyone is slobbering over that Lakers team. Well, I thought it was interesting that over the last 25 games, the Lakers have actually had the easiest schedule in the league according to strength of schedule. How often do you hear that, though? Below I charted every team over their last 25 games. X-axis is standardized margin of victory, while y-axis is standardized strength of schedule. I highlighted the 9 western conference teams that have a shot at the playoffs.
I'm leaving work in a second so I don't have long, but I just wanted to add that I looked at this stuff yesterday and the Rockets have still had the 8th hardest schedule in the league despite their easy stretch. The Lakers have actually had the 3rd or 4th hardest, I believe. Pretty impressive for both, but the reality is that their schedules were both tough early and fairly easy lately.
Good stats. So we had easier schedule than the rest of league, but we took care of business as well. At least, it tells you we are ready to compete with anybody. Lakers on the other hand are a fraud.
Based on your study result, I would like to list the 9 teams in order of achievement as follows: HOU LAL SAS GSW UTA PHO DEN NOH DAL
Only 3 teams have had an easier schedule than the Rockets over the past 25 games. A 15 game NBA winning streak is impressive no matter how you twist it but the coming weeks will show more about this team than the last 2 months.
