Alright, so I’ve been wanting to really dig into some NBA game data, specifically looking at the Thunder versus the Nuggets. I’m no pro analyst, but I figured, why not try to mess around and see what I can find?
Getting Started
First thing I did was try to find a good source for the data. I mean, where do you even start with this stuff? I poked around a bit, looking for somewhere that lets download raw data.
Finding and Organizing Data
After check data, I found what I have been looking for!
I grabbed a bunch of box score data. You know, points, rebounds, assists, all that good stuff.
- Points: How many points each player scored. Pretty basic, but important!
- Rebounds: How many times they grabbed the ball after a missed shot.
- Assists: How many times they passed to someone who then scored.
- Steals and Blocks: Defensive stuff.
I dumped all this into a big old spreadsheet. It was a bit of a mess at first, a wall of numbers, but I slowly started to organize it.
Digging into the Numbers
Once I had everything sorted, I started looking for, well, anything interesting.
I started comparing the team totals. Which team generally scores more? Who’s better on the boards?
I also looked at individual player stats.
I played around with making some simple charts, just to visualize things. Nothing fancy, just basic bar graphs and stuff to see if any patterns jumped out.
What I Found (So Far!)
Honestly, it’s still early going. It takes time to really sift through all this stuff. But I did start to notice a few little things.
I won’t bore you with all the tiny details, still processing it all. But that’s the fun part, right? It’s like being a detective, but instead of solving crimes, you’re trying to figure out why one basketball team beats another.
I’ll keep poking at this when I have some free time. It’s a cool little project, and who knows, maybe I’ll actually learn something!
