What makes me write this article is the New York Team. With being the second worst defensive team of NBA how did the Knicks manage Pistons hold to 65 points. It was their most lopsided victory of the season. Contrarily, scoring 65 points against any team is worth to think about the reason(s). Here is a breakdown of most likely reasons which will help us see why such results in the NBA are not as stunning as they seem.
(1) In fact, it's not a rare occasion that elite teams have motivation problems against lowly opponents. At most of the times, they are being favored heavily and opponent's hopes for pulling out a victory rise up automatically.
(2) We again know very well that some players are choosing games to play hard. Can you name me a few Pistons choosing the games or having some of the game dates circled? They may guranSHEED victories before the game time as well.
(3) Tired legs? Most likely the dominant reason we have. At MSG, the Pistons were playing their 4th game in 5 nights. What's more; they had a game which went overtime one night ago. "The rest days" issue will be taken care of business by NBAstuffer.com, so check back in later!
(4) Detroit was having the last game of their four game road trip and players got homesick. Doesn't this reason sound as reasonable as the being tired. The Pistons went 2-1 before playing at New York, son ending the road trip with a 2-2 record could not be considered as a bad record.
I have researched how NBA teams performed in the last game of a at least a three game road trip. The teams playing at least a three game road trip ender have a 19-37 W/L record. Average offensive efficiency becomes 105.35 which is 1.05 lower than offensive efficiency on the road. Defensive efficiency increases to 110.79 which is 1.09 higher than average defensive efficiency on the road. In other words, offfense and defense go worse for NBA teams when they play the last game of road trips. You would like to take a look at team by team breakdown; here's is the results:
| ROAD-TRIP ENDERS | ||||
| W | L | Δ OEFF | Δ DEFF | |
| Atlanta | 0 | 2 | -6.95 | 4.06 |
| Boston | 1 | 0 | 0.07 | -9.59 |
| Charlotte | 0 | 1 | -6.98 | 11.37 |
| Chicago | 0 | 1 | -10.01 | 2.56 |
| Cleveland | 0 | 2 | -9.91 | 0.22 |
| Dallas | 0 | 2 | -2.18 | 5.50 |
| Denver | 1 | 0 | -3.19 | -13.57 |
| Detroit | 0 | 1 | -2.99 | 10.43 |
| Golden State | 2 | 1 | -0.75 | 2.88 |
| Houston | 1 | 2 | 2.35 | 1.67 |
| Indiana | 1 | 0 | -1.95 | -8.95 |
| LA Clippers | 0 | 2 | -6.55 | 9.47 |
| LA Lakers | 1 | 0 | -8.70 | 2.26 |
| Memphis | 0 | 3 | -8.14 | -4.43 |
| Miami | 1 | 0 | 25.95 | 5.11 |
| Milwaukee | 0 | 1 | 1.28 | -4.43 |
| Minnesota | 0 | 1 | -7.18 | -11.25 |
| New Jersey | 1 | 0 | -0.92 | -8.51 |
| New Orleans | 1 | 1 | 5.37 | 8.99 |
| New York | 1 | 1 | 3.80 | 4.56 |
| Orlando | 2 | 0 | 0.99 | -5.88 |
| Philadelphia | 0 | 1 | -6.18 | 2.09 |
| Phoenix | 1 | 2 | -6.93 | 1.13 |
| Portland | 2 | 2 | 0.57 | -5.52 |
| Sacramento | 1 | 2 | 9.05 | 5.41 |
| San Antonio | 0 | 0 | ||
| Seattle | 0 | 3 | -2.21 | 3.54 |
| Toronto | 1 | 1 | 6.81 | 8.05 |
| Utah | 1 | 3 | 8.33 | 10.16 |
| Washington | 0 | 2 | -3.42 | 4.26 |
| LEAGUE | 19 | 37 | -1.05 | 1.09 |
Δ OEFF: Differential between offensive efficiency on playing road-trip enders and offensive efficiency on the road average.
Δ OEFF: Differential between defensive efficiency on playing road-trip enders and defensive efficiency on the road average.