Knicks' 2026 Championship Report Physicality, playing hard, head-to-head matchup data, and player profiles for the full playoffs.

Zach LaVine: the $48 Million Mystery Is there a path to a better (plus/minus positive!) LaVine? A Physicality and Playing Hard deep dive says yes.

Lakers' Playoff Recap Physicality, playing hard, head-to-head matchup data, and select player profiles.

NBA FINALS Game 4 Report Physicality & playing hard stats, plus the player of the game profile! Physicality = who wins the contact, leverage, and space battles. Playing Hard = who creates extra advantages through effort, pursuit, recovery, and second actions. NYK 107, SAS 106 -- OG Anunoby Also see Tom Haberstroh on Wemby's game four physicality NBA FINALS Game 3 Report SAS 115, NYK 111 -- Victor Wembanyama NBA FINALS Game 2 Report NYK 105, SAS 104 -- Mikal Bridges NBA FINALS Game 1 NYK 105, SAS 95 -- Karl-Anthony Towns

Game seven road win: San Antonio-Oklahoma City Game 7 Full Physicality + Playing Hard breakouts with Wemby/Shai/Chet/Harper profiles

Portland's Playoff Takeaways A deep dive featuring detailed Physicality, Playing Hard, and Shotmaking. ...plus Portland Player Profiles Physicality + Playing Hard player profiles.

New Orleans Pelicans Physicality & Playing Hard Profiles Taken from a sample of regular season games, Physicality + Playing Hard player profiles.

Knicks-Sixers Hard Play Report A deep dive featuring detailed Physicality, Playing Hard, Shotmaking, and Roland Hard Play ratings

Game seven road win: Philadelphia-Boston Game 7

Detroit-Orlando Game 6

Guest Post: Who should the Kings draft at #45 ? ... Guest Post: Who should the Kings draft at #7 ? Charles Jeffrey Danoff thinks Sacramento should ignore the consensus, and take...

NBA 2025-26 Case Study — LA Lakers

How Dangerous are the Lakers? In what feels like LeBron's last year in LA, how far can the Lakers go? Surprisingly strong team "net results" in Physicality and Playing Hard, both wins and microwins Very top-heavy RHP production though from their players Can the roleplayers go "Hugo Gonzalez" and make the Lakers a dark horse contender? » Full 8-game Lakers Physicality & Playing Hard Report

NBA 2025-26 Case Study — Miami Heat

Back in the Play-In Again: Where Does Miami Go From Here? Three straight years of battling Chicago in the Play-In to make the Playoffs, and having missed out (at least for now) on landing Giannis via trade, what do they have going forward? Only 4 rotation players with 85+ RHP in this sample Struggles with Playing Hard/Physicality albeit missing their two top scorers Two top players age 32 and 28, so not exactly a youth movement... » Full 4-game Heat Physicality & Playing Hard Report

Trade Bait: What Ja, Zion, and Quickley Actually Bring Three of the more interesting names being bandied about as we approach the trade deadline are Zion, Ja, and Quickley. All three show strong on-court impact when available, including real physicality and effort that translates on film. The trade decision comes down to how often teams can count on it... → Ja/Zion/Quickley report

Is Jaylen Brown the Best Two-Way Player in the NBA? Jaylen has been making some bold claims lately, we break down his fine effort vs Detroit under the Physicality/Playing Hard framework → Jaylen Brown Hard Play game report (vs DET 1/19/2026)

NBA 2025-26 Case Study — Atlanta Hawks

Post Trae Young, what are the Hawks? They traded away Trae for an underwhelming "get off the money" return. Some are rumbling the team is simply better off without him anyway. What do some recent games show for the Hawks going forward... Seven rotation players with 85+ RHP is decent Inconsistent Playing Hard/Physicality results night to night Solid core: Johnson / Daniels / Alexander-Walker players to believe in, but still 'works in progress' » Full 6-game Hawks Physicality & Playing Hard Report

The Secret Behind OKC’s Defense: Microwins Devin Booker wasn’t kidding: “The secret is out. They speed you up.” We charted thousands of physicality and playing-hard microwins across a series of Thunder games — revealing exactly why opponents are suffocating under OKC’s pressure. → Full OKC Microwins Report

NBA 2025-26 Case Study — Portland Trail Blazers

How do the Blazers get better? After a promising 6-5 start, with Jrue Holiday lending a veteran savvy to a young roster, the Blazers have gone 6-12 since then with Jrue sidelined. Putting the Blazers through an 8-Game Physicality & Playing Hard Case Study, some things are clear: 1–7 in Physicality (net wins on a game by game basis) 0–8 in Playing Hard: — flashes of effort, and four strong individual performers, but need more from the full rotation. Quiet positives: foundational pieces in place, and very fixable player development opportunities abound. » Full 8-game Blazers Physicality & Playing Hard Report

Dec 14: New Orleans vs Chicago Physicality/Playing Hard Game Report Karlo Matkovic played the entire fourth quarter and led all players in RHP36 (and net Physicality Wins) to spark the Pelicans → NOP vs CHI Game Report (New Orleans perspective) → NOP vs CHI Game Report (Chicago perspective)

NBA 2025-26 Case Study — New Orleans Pelicans

Why the Pelicans Are Losing — 5 Coaching Factors (9-Game Case Study) After an 0-6 start, with Zion listed as out for the next 7-10 days, and Willie Green under pressure, it felt like the right time to put the Pelicans under the Roland 5 Coaching Factors microscope. I tracked nine straight games, logging every physical play, effort play, decision, make/miss and whistle. In that 2–7 stretch the data tells a very clear story: 0–9 at the rim (-53 Physicality wins) — opponents own the restricted area every night. Decision-Making: 2–7 (-152 wins) — young guards and non-Zion lineups gift too many easy possessions. Playing Hard: 4–5 (-51 wins) — flashes of effort, but losing overall and especially on the offensive movement energy plays. Quiet positives: four strong Physicality sub-categories and very encouraging early signs from rookies Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears. Games in the Study: New Orleans 116, Charlotte 112 New Orleans 101, Dallas 99 San Antonio 126, New Orleans 119 Phoenix 121, New Orleans 98 Portland 125, New Orleans 117 LA Lakers 118, New Orleans 104 Golden State 124, New Orleans 106* Oklahoma City 126, New Orleans 109* Denver 125, New Orleans 118* * Borrego as interim HC » Full 9-game Pelicans 5 Coaching Factors Report Can you really measure heart, hustle, and toughness? The Roland 5 Coaching Factors tracking system aims to do exactly that: Physicality, Playing Hard, Decision Making, Shotmaking, and Referee Effects. Across many games from the 2024–25 season and playoffs the numbers have been highly predictive of who wins: Winning the “Playing Hard” effort count won the game about 85% of the time. The better “Decision Making” team has been winning at roughly 80%. More Physicality Wins has meant a win around 75% of the time.

Roland Five Coaching Factors: EUROBASKET

Often you hear it said that you can’t measure heart, hustle, or toughness. The Roland 5 Coaching Factors tracking system aims to prove otherwise — breaking every game down into five key areas: Physicality, Playing Hard, Decision Making, Shotmaking, and Referee Effects. Germany 88, Turkey 83 (F.Wagner 23 RHP Score, Sengun 19) Greece 92, Finland 89 (Giannis 56, Papanikolaou 24) Turkey 94, Greece 68 (Sengun 30, Osman 25) Germany 98, Finland 86 (Schroder 30, Jantunen 27) Greece 87, Lithuania 76 (Giannis 38, Valanciunas 24) Turkey 91, Poland 77 (Larkin 26, Sengun 24) Germany 99, Slovenia 91 (Theis 36, Doncic 29) Finland 93, Georgia 79 (Jantunen 28, Bitadze 20) In these eight games, the team winning the "Decision Making" is 8-0, the "Playing Hard" winner is 7-1. The better Shotmaking team is 6-1 (one tie), the Physicality winner is 6-2, and it is also 6-2 for the Referee Effects winner. Is Eurobasket more physical than the NBA? Too small a sample to tell, but by one simple measure — Falls — the answer is yes (so far). There have been 48.6 Falls per 48 minutes in these Eurobasket games, compared to 39.3 falls per 48 minutes in the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Top Player Performances: (single game)   — Physicality Net Wins: Giannis +27, Theis +15   — Playing Hard Wins: Schroder 28, Giannis 25   — Decision Making: Schroder +17, Schroder +17   — Shotmaking: Osmani +9, Osman +8   — Referee Effects: Giannis +5, Kostas Antetokounmpo +5   Raw Physicality Wins — Giannis 48, Sengun 34   Ref Argues — Doncic 10, Sengun 7   Knockdowns — Giannis 12, Theis 7   Falls — Schroder 10, Giannis 9

The Roland Five Coaching Factors: Quantifying Effort, Physicality, and Decision-Making in the NBA

Often you hear it said that you can’t measure heart, hustle, or toughness. The Roland 5 Coaching Factors tracking system aims to prove otherwise — breaking every game down into five key areas: Physicality, Playing Hard, Decision Making, Shotmaking, and Referee Effects. “What’s Possible” – Single-Game Highs Seen So Far: Factor Regular Season Playoffs Physicality Wins   Sengun 46   Giannis 46 (vs IND, Gm 5) Physicality Net Wins   M.Williams +27   LeBron +22 (vs MIN, Gm 4) Playing Hard Wins   LaMelo 28   Hart 25 (vs DET, Gm 4) "20/20"   Adebayo +20 Phys. net wins, 20 PH wins (vs ATL, Play-In) Shout-out to LaMelo Ball who also has the highest Decision Making game seen so far at +21 net wins -- if he stays healthy (a big IF) can Charlotte surprise in '25-26 against the low expectations? And in case you are wondering, Nikola Jokic has the second highest playoff raw Physicality Wins we've seen at 45 (vs OKC, game 5), while Jimmy Butler III had a huge +21 net wins game (vs MEM in the play-in). Second highest playoff Playing Hard wins? That was also Josh Hart ! Sample Game Reports: Milwaukee at Indiana (Giannis 46 Phys. Wins) Lakers/Timberwolves (LeBron +22 Net Wins) New York at Detroit (Hart 25 PH Wins) Miami at Atlanta (Bam 20/20) Houston at Dallas (Sengun 46 Phys. Wins) Charlotte at Utah (Mark Williams +27 Net Wins) Phoenix at Charlotte (LaMelo 28 PH Wins)

"ROLAND PHYSICALITY RATINGS" Revolutionary tracking of what EVERYONE is talking about -- the PHYSICALITY in the NBA Playoff games. Tracking over forty types of contact, aggression, and resilience to produce groundbreaking new stats and ratings! PACERS/THUNDER NBA Finals Report A series that sadly ended with a crushing injury that left us with a lot of "what ifs" -- but congratulations to the Thunder on an amazing season. What can we learn from the Physicality/Playing Hard numbers? Quick Overview Oklahoma City won the physicality on a game by game basis 4-3. They also took the "playing hard energy" wins by the same 4-3 margin. The team with the better Physicality score was 5-2, while the team with the most "Playing Hard Wins" was 7-0. Shai led all players with 226 Physicality Wins, followed by Siakam (164), Turner (140), Holmgren (134) and Jalen Williams (132). Siakam led in Net Wins with +33. Hartenstein led in Net Wins per 36 min. Siakam was the top "playing hard energy plays" leader with 63 PH Wins, followed by Caruso (55), Holmgren (52), Haliburton (47), and Nembhard (43). Siakam dominated Jalen Williams Head-to-Head (+19 wins), while Shai was +20 net wins against the five IND starters (only losing H2H to Siakam).

Minnesota/LA Lakers Series Notes Yes the T'Wolves took it 4-1, but the games were closer than that suggests, and one player stood out on the Physicality front (and no it wasn't Gobert, Rudy's dominant game 5 performance notwithstanding) Player Physicality Stats Per 36 Minute stats Player Wins Net Wins RPR Wins L2+ Net Wins LeBron James 140 +66 63.3 24.7 6.4 +11.6 Rudy Gobert 110 +22 65.7 27.7 5.0 +5.5 Anthony Edwards 119 +15 51.2 20.9 3.7 +2.6 Mike Conley 43 +4 29.2 12.9 0.6 +1.2 Luka Doncic 151 +6 60.4 26.1 2.4 +1.0 Julius Randle 111 +5 52.6 21.1 6.3 +1.0

NBA Physicality: Now vs Then To try and understand how the game may have changed through the years we recently charted twenty playoff games from the 1990's for the same falls and knockdowns data we compiled for the complete 2024 playoffs...

2024 NBA Playoffs "Falls & Knockdowns" Our game charting team has collectively watched all the playoff games, recording such novel data points as Player Falls and Knockdowns, along with relevant context and nuance. A clean, relatively objective physicality rating can be constructed with Falls+Knockdowns per 36 Minutes... Most Physical Least Physical 12.3 - Daniel Gafford 12.0 - Lu Dort 11.9 - Joel Embiid 11.8 - Devin Booker 11.4 - Kyle Lowry 11.1 - Jalen Suggs 10.7 - Aaron Nesmith  9.7 - Khris Middleton  9.6 - Tyrese Maxey  8.9 - Isaiah Hartenstein 1.8 - D'Angelo Russell 1.8 - Tobias Harris 1.9 - Sam Hauser 2.0 - Rui Hachimura 2.9 - Cason Wallace 3.0 - Tim Hardaway Jr. 3.0 - Aaron Gordon 3.0 - Austin Reaves 3.0 - Christian Braun 3.1 - Ben Sheppard See the full stats for every player, the top ten leaderboards in a variety of categories, and more in this groundbreaking series. Which player gets a foul call the most when he falls? the answer is...