Once again it's time to check-in with "the key stat battles".
The largest mismatch across all 5 key stat battles in round 1 was......................................
OKC over Mavs --- result 4-0 sweep.
Round 2................................................
Heat over Pacers --- result 4-2 series win.
Regular Season stats....................................................................
Across all 5 "key stat battles --- OKC by an ave of .96 per stats
Heat by an ave of 1.45 per stat
Playoff stats.........................................................................................
Spurs by an ave of 2 per stat
Heat by an ave of 2.22 per stat
Strength of opponent in playoffs..........................................................
Celtics opponents ave per stat --- 11.63
OKC --- 11.25
Heat --- 10.73
Spurs --- 10.51
Factor in strength of opponent..........................................................
Spurs 2 pts better - OKC .74 advantage in opp strength = Spurs by 1.26
Heat 2.22 pts better - C's .9 advantage in opp strength = Heat by 1.32
The info suggest OKC played better during the regular season but it's the Spurs who've stepped up their game in the postseason.
The Heat played better than the C's in both the regular season and the playoffs and by quite a bit.
The largest "key stat battle" mismatch of the conference finals is...................Heat over Celtics.
Using this info I'm now 25-12 ATS in the NBA Playoff contest on the site. All my picks will be there 5 minutes prior to each game.
I'll be riding the Heat big in game 1.
Good Luck guys and enjoy all the great games before it all comes to an end........................................................................