The Ringer Season Simulation - Pels finish 15-3 for the 8 seed

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Before we dive into those “results” and narratives, here’s a quick explanation of the simulation system. (If you don’t care about the methodology, feel free to skip ahead two paragraphs.) Essentially, using a mix of Cleaning the Glass’s retrospective team ratings—which are based on teams’ net ratings in non-garbage-time situations—and FiveThirtyEight’s forward-looking team ratings—which are based mainly on individual player ratings—I calculated a win expectancy for every team, on a neutral court against a neutral team. (There are separate numbers for regular season and playoffs.) Then, using the Log5 formula invented by Bill James and adjusting for the fact that home teams have won 55.1 percent of games this season, I calculated the percent chance each team would win every remaining game on the schedule.

...Out West, the Jazz surged to the no. 3 seed while the Nuggets fell to no. 5, and the Mavericks beat the Thunder on the last day of the season to gain the tiebreaker at no. 6. The most notable change here comes at no. 8, where New Orleans posted the best simulated rest-of-season record for any team to vault past Memphis into the playoff field.

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LINK

The Simulation also had the Pels losing in 5 to the Lakers.

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First Round, Western Conference
Los Angeles Lakers (1) vs. New Orleans Pelicans (8)

Game 1: Lakers by 10
Game 2: Lakers by 6
Game 3: Lakers by 24
Game 4: Pelicans by 12
Game 5: Lakers by 7

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The Finals was the Clippers over the Bucks in 7.

Of note they had the Pels losing their last game the Grizzlies before finishing with 10 straight double digit wins. Can you imagine the level of melting after losing to the Grizzlies?