The long-awaited conclusion to our coverage of the 2004 Lakers season. We go behind the scenes of the Western conference finals against the Timberwolves and the NBA Finals against the Pistons. We also compare defensive metrics for the Lakers and Pistons based on a game plan from Phil Jackson.

Time to talk about the Lakers in the 2004 PLAYOFFS! Plus, inside Shaq's free throw trouble and a potential fix with whom the team parted ways.

We discuss the NBA's worst-kept secret--teams tanking for top draft picks-- and what the league can do about it.

We chronicle the soap opera-like drama--and relate it to the data--of the 2003-04 Lakers regular season. This was the NBA's first "superteam" that I can remember. Also, if statistics are not your cup of Mountain Dew, this episode is for you.

We are taking a break due to statistics tutoring business, but we still have the 2004 Lakers episode coming up, which resembles a soap opera. We also have Linsanity ahead. Stay tuned!

We break down six teams in Elo and Four Factors projections and show why defense wins championships.

We discuss the Four Factors model as it applies to the 2004 season. We also compare it to the previous Elo model. Finally, we talk about the state of the NBA All Star Game.

We break down six teams in terms of Elo achievement. We also briefly discuss the groundbreaking trade that went down in the current NBA.

Finally talking about PLAYOFFS! We had some epic Western conference clashes; especially Lakers-Spurs in second round. Also an epic matchup in the Eastern Conference Finals that unfortunately invokes a painful memory for the NBA.

We continue to explore the dichotomy between the East and that Wild Wild West. Specifically, we look at the Atlantic Division in the East and Pacific in the West. We discuss an absurdly high number of overachievers, underachievers, and accurate achievers for the season. Your host then leaves to tutor statistics before he can talk about PLAYOFFS! You'll hear about those in the next episode.