Happy New Year! Here are several basketball items to start off 2008...

Last night's NBA game featuring the Minnesota Timberwolves at the L.A. Clippers presented a number of streak-related storylines (ESPN.com article). Most, but not all, were favorable to the Clippers, who staged a comeback 91-82 victory:

The Clippers snapped three losing streaks: six straight losses overall, seven straight losses at home, and having “lost all 17 games this season when trailing after three [quarters].”

The Clippers pulled off a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter, with Minnesota missing its first 10 shots of the period.

On the other hand, the Clippers set a team record of the embarrassing sort, going 0-for-14 on three-point attempts.

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The Golden State Warriors, a team known for offensive explosiveness, didn't disappoint at Houston, pulling away for a 112-95 victory. Here's an excerpt from the game article:

The Warriors trailed 80-75 after three quarters, then hit six 3-pointers in the first 9 minutes of the fourth to pull ahead. They hit 14 of 25 shots, including 7-for-13 from 3-point range, and didn't commit a single turnover in the final quarter.

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Portland had its 13-game winning streak ended.

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My local newspaper, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, ran an article yesterday about free-throw difficulties being experienced by the Texas Tech University men's team. When you see that player(s) are performing at a lower percentage than they have in the past, further analyses are needed to assess whether the discrepancies are just random fluctuations or something more significant. I conducted such analyses and posted them on the newspaper's website, directly underneath the original article (click here).