Halfway between the final score and the play-by-play, there are questions we can ask about a basketball game that tells us much about how it was played: Did a single team dominate or did the lead went back and forth? Were the leads large or usually close? Were there long one-sided point streaks? This is a database of NBA games from 2010 to whenever I last updated it where you can check these parameters for any game you want and see them in context.
Each game is rebuilt from ESPN's play-by-play scoring events (regular season, play-in and playoffs, 2009-10 to November 10, 2026; games with inconsistent feeds are left out). Dominance, churn, amplitude, streak (longest unanswered run) and closeness (time within five points) are measured on the lead over time and expressed as z values against a simulated game with the same times and point sizes, in which each score goes to the side opposite the previous one with the probability seen in real games. Ranks place a game among all games of its season and type, and among all games in the database. Nothing here predicts a result.↑