This isn't the 'juiced' era of basketball
Luka Doncic notches the second 70-poiner of the week. Is that too many?
The flu found its way to The Finder HQ this week. Hit me baaad. Apologies for the down time on the site. I’m getting back into it, slowly but surely. Like Luka Doncic with a basketball in his hand.
Luka Doncic poured in 73 points on Friday night in Atlanta.
He shot a ridiculous 17-of-20 on 2s, 8-of-13 on 3s and 15-of-16 on free throws.
73 points on 39 true shots is absurd (true shots are all attempts to score via field goal attempts and fouled shots). That’s a 91% true-shooting percentage. Insane efficiency.
This would normally be cause for widespread coronation. But we do not do this as a society anymore. After all, we just saw Joel Embiid do this four days ago, with 70 of his own. Kinda feels like we’re on the cusp of Kobe Bryant’s 81-point modern-day record being shattered, doesn’t it?
There’s another larger conversation going on. With NBA ratings tumbling this season and scoring skyrocketing throughout the league, many have wondered if the two things are related. (Ethan Strauss sees a connection).
One thing I want to see for myself: is this scoring abnormal?
It certainly seems like these 50, 60, 70 pieces are happening more than ever, but is that true? Or are we a victim of recency bias?
I plotted 50+, 60+, 70+, 80+ and 100+ (well, just Wilt’s 100) scoring games by individual players since 1958.
Here’s what I found: