BrewHoop asked question last week: How would the Celtics do vs. Team USA?. In our post-championship exuberance, I said Celtics in 7. WhatIfSports ran it through their computers 1,000 times, and got a slightly different result:
Using 1,000 separate simulations of a seven-game "NBA Championship"-esque series, we determined the most common result to be a Team USA victory in five games. This outcome occurred 85% of the time, with an average 14 point margin of victory. Our game summaries also revealed that LeBron James (40%) and Kobe Bryant (35%) were the most frequent recipients of Player of the Game honors with superstars Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, and surprisingly Rajon Rondo also being mentioned many times.
If you haven't checked out these things, they're pretty cool. It's not just "oh, our computers say Team USA wins." There are box scores and play-by-play.
I'm sure Team USA would win a series against the C's… but the one problem recent US teams have had is taking down teams that have played together who also have good jump shooters. Its too bad… I'd love to see the matchup.
We'll actually get a little sense about the Rajon Rondo development in this simulation when he practices against Team USA a month from now. Can't wait to see how he does.
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