Saturday, March 15, 2008

Houston Rockets' Winning Streak Watch (Full Game-by Game Log)

Length of Current Streak: 21 (following win over Charlotte)

Immediately Prior to Streak: 12-game stretch of 9-3

First Two Months of Season (Roughly): 15-17

Assuming a baseline of .500 play from the team's first two months of play, what is the probability of a .500 team winning 30 of its next 33 games?

Answer: .0000007; if we round up, it's roughly 1-in-1 million. (online calculator)

Another way we could frame the question is to use the 9-3 stretch to provide the baseline and then calculate the probability of a .75 team winning 21 straight. Then, the probability would be .002 (1-in-500).

Gail Goodrich, a member of the 1971-72 Lakers' squad that won 33 in a row, discusses the Rockets' streak and their prospects for seriously challenging the 33 mark.

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Two brief items from Friday night's men's conference basketball tournaments:

UCLA defeated cross-town rival USC 57-54 in the Pac-10 semi-finals; in doing so, the Bruins used a 15-2 run at the beginning of the second half to overcome a steady Trojan lead and get in a position to win the game.

Georgia Tech unleashed a 19-2 run to narrow a big Duke lead to two points, but the Blue Devils reawakened to pull away to an 82-70 victory.

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Finally, a belated acknowledgement of a double streak-buster in the Mountain West Conference's women's tournament. Utah came in as the top seed with a 16-0 conference record, facing last-place Colorado State, whose record was a mirror image at 0-16. Yes, you guessed it, CSU prevailed 60-52. The euphoria was short-lived, however, as the Rams lost their next game, to New Mexico.

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