Boxplot analysis of 1998 first round
playoff data for three NBA teams.
Pro
Basketball is a very popular sport in the United States,
especially in the month of
May when the playoffs begin and the "Race for the Ring" is
in full swing. In this
activity, you will generate a boxplot
to analyze the scoring averages of three NBA teams in the
first round of the 1998 playoffs. Using the Boxplot Program and Instructions,
construct a boxplot
of the data to analyze the distribution of the points scored while paying
close attention to outliers. You can also use a TI-83
calculator.
One Text
file is available for this activity with
The median is
middle score of the players on team. A balanced
boxplot has a median centrally located in the boxplot. This means that the scoring was evenly distributed with half of the team members' scoring averages being above the median and half of the team having scoring averages below the median.
Which team has the most balanced boxplot? The worst? The
left hinge is the median of the bottom half of the data.
What is Original work on this document was done by Central Virginia Governor's School students
Ashley Tucker, Mark Allen, and Amit Nithian (Class of
'00). We would also like to thank Copyright © 1999 Central Virginia Governor's School for Science and Technology Lynchburg, VA
The NBA playoffs are
always filled with surprises, like will the #8 team upset
the #1 team, or will the Chicago Bulls win another title.
There are four "rounds" in the NBA
playoffs: the first round, conference semi-finals,
conference finals, and finally the NBA finals. The first
round is a 5 game series, 2-2-1, where the first two
games, and the possible 5th game are played in the better
team's arena. The conference semi-finals and conference
finals are both 7 game series, 2-2-1-1-1, where the first
two games are played in the better team's arena, the
second two games are played in the other team's arena and
then it alternates from one arena to the next. In the
end, the better team should have played 4 out of 7 games
on their home court. The NBA finals are structured differently
since the teams usually come from different regions of the
US. In the NBA finals, there are 7 games but the
structure is 2-3-2, where the first two games and the last
two games are played in the better team's arena.
all 3 teams.
Also, all three teams are available in TI-83
Group format. You may
either enter the data into your calculator manually or
you may import
the data through a TI-Graph link. 
the median of the
Blazers first round data and why do you think that it is
so far from the left hinge? The whiskers are the maximum
and minimum points in the data set. The boxplot for the
Pacers shows that there is a long right whisker. After
looking at the data, explain why this is so. Assume that
Reggie Miller and Rik Smits, the two highest scoring
players, struggled in the third game of the first round
and now their average scores are both 14.5 points. How
will this drastic change in scoring average affect the
boxplot of the Pacer data and why?
for
allowing us to use the logos and pictures that you see here.