Off The Scale

An amazing night in the NBA with 28 of the 30 teams in action. Only Denver and Oklahoma City were idle, and both play tonight - at home to the Los Angeles Clippers and away to the New York Knicks respectively.

But that wasn't the amazing part. No less than seven of the 14 games saw a team lead by double figures and went on to lose. I can't think of one occasion when this has happened in football... 

These comebacks, which happen more often than you might think, are what make the NBA such a perfect sport for trading with the reward to risk ratio very favourable when laying at short odds. 

The worst losers were the New Orleans Hornets who led by 25 at home to the inconsistent Los Angeles Lakers, before losing by six. That must have stung. The full list of shame (or opportunity, depending on your point of view) is:

Two other teams (Sixers and Wizards) led by 8, and the Magic led the Heat late in the fourth quarter by five (and going odds-on after Miami had traded at 1.01) before the Heat came back to win by one. Golden State (up 10 at one point) also trailed in the final minute after trading at 1.08 but came back to beat the Sacramento Kings by four. A key win in the race for the play-offs, with both Houston and Utah losing, and plenty of home games to come.

For what it's worth, the Denver Nuggets have a big advantage playing at home tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers. Denver are good enough at home as it is (26-3 with the three losses all against East teams, and unbeaten since January 18th), but factor in that the Clippers played last night, and have to fly west. They also beat the Clippers 92-78 at home on January 1st. I'm just saying.   

I always thought that on a scale of 1 to 10, the low was 1, but per the below report on ESPN, apparently the rules of mathematics have changed since I was at school: 

While the New York Jets may be determined to trade Darrelle Revis, it would be a mistake to count the San Francisco 49ers as a serious suitor, according to a team source. The 49ers' interest in Revis is ".001 on a scale of 1-10," the source said via text message. That remains consistent with the same team source who previously stated the 49ers were not inclined to pursue a Revis trade.

Perhaps the .001 was after the deduction of commission?