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pilight
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 Posted: 04/08/08 5:24 pm ::: When is a lead safe? |
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http://www.slate.com/id/2185975/
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* Take the number of points one team is ahead.
* Subtract three.
* Add a half-point if the team that is ahead has the ball, and subtract a half-point if the other team has the ball. (Numbers less than zero become zero.)
* Square that.
* If the result is greater than the number of seconds left in the game, the lead is safe. |
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Youth Coach
Joined: 23 Mar 2008
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| Posted: 04/08/08 6:39 pm ::: |
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There's no complicated scenario needed to figure out when a lead is safe.
The answer is: When a game is over. And not before. |
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mercfan3
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Youth Coach
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| Posted: 04/08/08 8:39 pm ::: |
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Again, a lead is only safe when the clock reads 0:00 at the end of the game.
Coaching MY Lady Vols this year, I made it a point to make sure they played each half as if it was the first one.
At the end of the first half I'd ask them what the score was and they would all immediately reply "0-0". |
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pilight
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pilight
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| Posted: 04/08/08 9:36 pm ::: |
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| This lead is now safe
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LadyDevilFan
Joined: 19 Mar 2006
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| Posted: 04/08/08 10:16 pm ::: |
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| Youth Coach wrote: |
| The answer is: When a game is over. And not before. |
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The ASU men's team scored 21 points in the last 1 minute and 21 seconds of a game this year. They made 7 of 10 three pointers. The punchline is that they lost the game by 3, because Cal had a 12 point lead and then made 13 of 16 free throws in that same 1:21. The moral of the story, though, is that you CAN score 21 points in less than a minute and a half, so it ain't over 'til it's over.
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beknighted
Joined: 11 Nov 2004
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| Posted: 04/08/08 10:23 pm ::: |
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| LadyDevilFan wrote: |
| Youth Coach wrote: |
| The answer is: When a game is over. And not before. |
X____________________
The ASU men's team scored 21 points in the last 1 minute and 21 seconds of a game this year. They made 7 of 10 three pointers. The punchline is that they lost the game by 3, because Cal had a 12 point lead and then made 13 of 16 free throws in that same 1:21. The moral of the story, though, is that you CAN score 21 points in less than a minute and a half, so it ain't over 'til it's over. |
Bill James, who wrote the Slate article, would argue that your example proves his point, since Cal won.
Anyway, it's interesting to see him apply the kind of analysis he applies to baseball to another sport.
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LadyDevilFan
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beknighted
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