By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
This year’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague is shaping up to be the most competitive edition of the competition ever! This is not just speculation, but is proven through numbers in Eurohoops.net’s analysis.
As Albert Einstein said, “the measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” The EuroLeague has changed the way the competition is conducted several times, but now it seems that the this year’s model – which is the model for the future, too – generates the most competitive, close and thrilling games in history!
The derbies are continuous, there are upsets on a daily basis, and very often in the first four rounds, the contests were decided by margins of fewer than 3 points!
Eurohoops.net counted the point differences in every game through the first month this season and compared the results with those of the last six full seasons – and the findings are impressive!
For the comparison to be thorough, we counted the games that ended with a difference higher than 20 points in favor of the winners. Which is to say, games in which the margin between the two teams was really huge.
This season, this happened just two times in the first 32 games (6,3% of them). Last season, for example, this occurred in 18,4% over the course of the season, 46 games in total.
Reducing the teams to 16 increased the level of competitiveness and instituting a unified championship of 30 games definitely increased the number of big showdowns each round between teams that are favorites for the title.
Victories by single-digit margins this season are running at 65,6% of games! In the previous six years, the single-digit margins had reached 57,4% in the 2014-15 season, but last year it was only 48,8%, which means that in more than half the games the victors won by a double-digit margin.
Respectively, the percentage of games that end with a difference that is smaller than 5 points is also very high this year, while the games that were decided by a single basket this year have a rate of 28,1% when that percentage in previous seasons was between 13,2% and 22,9%!
The sample of games thus far compared to all the games the schedule (a total of 256 to 264 EuroLeague games are still to take place) is small. It is, however, indicative as to the trend that is taking shape in the competition.
Multiple competitive, top-level teams mean that the games between them are decided by a single shot, a turnover, a rebound, like last year’s dreamlike championship game at the Final Four in Berlin.
But now, this is how the whole season is going to unfold in the EuroLeague, from October until May!
Infographics: Giorgos Soulas