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Does Defense Actually Win Championships? Using Statistics To Examine One Of The Greatest Stereotypes In Sports, Thomas Burkett
Does Defense Actually Win Championships? Using Statistics To Examine One Of The Greatest Stereotypes In Sports, Thomas Burkett
Senior Theses
A common saying in sports is that “defense wins championships.” However, the past decade of play in the modern NBA has seen a rise and focus in offensive efficiency and 3-pointers. This thesis tests whether defense can truly predict a championship winning team in today’s NBA through two-sample hypothesis testing and multiple logistic regression models. The results found that both defensive and offensive statistics were significant predictors of championship teams, meaning that a balanced team, rather than one specialized in defense alone, is a more accurate predictor of championship success.