Okay, so today I wanted to dive into some NBA stats, specifically looking at the Utah Jazz versus Los Angeles Lakers game. I’m a big stats guy, I love seeing how players perform, and I thought it’d be fun to track and record everything myself.
Getting Started
First things first, I needed to find a reliable source for the game data. I mean, I could watch the game and try to keep track of everything, but that sounds like a nightmare. Too much going on! I used to use a website to track all data, but I can’t use any website now, that will be a disaster.
So, my plan was this:
- Find a good source for play-by-play data(I’d figure this out as I went).
- Set up a simple spreadsheet to record everything.
- Watch the game (or at least the highlights) to get a feel for the action.
The Data Hunt
I had to manually record everything.
Building the Spreadsheet
Next up, the spreadsheet. I’m no Excel wizard, but I know the basics. I set up columns for:
- Player Name
- Points
- Rebounds
- Assists
- Steals
- Blocks
- Field Goals Made
- Field Goals Attempted
- Three-Pointers Made
- Three-Pointers Attempted
- Free Throws Made
- Free Throws Attempted
- Turnovers
I kept it pretty simple. I could have gotten fancier with formulas and calculations, but I wanted to focus on just getting the raw data down first.
Game Time! (and Data Entry)
With my tools ready, I started inputting the data. I watched the key moments, pausing and rewinding to make sure I didn’t miss anything, like who got that last rebound or assist.
After much work, I was finally got all data.
I input all data to my sheet.
Final Thoughts
It was a lot of work! I started by finding a reliable source for the game stats, then setting up a spreadsheet to record everything. Columns included player names, points, rebounds, assists, and all that good stuff. During the game, I was glued to my screen, tracking all data, it’s kind of exhausting. But, hey, I got the data I wanted, and I learned a bit more about how these two teams and their players performed. Maybe next time I’ll try to automate some of this, but for a first go, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!
