IN FOCUS
Football Goals for, goals against and goal difference: reading a football table
Identify the scope of each column before applying the competition’s actual points and tie-breaking rules.
OUR EDITORIAL FOCUSRULES & EXPLAINERS
Clear explanations of the rules, formats and statistics behind the game.
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Football & NBA, in contextNews & perspectives
Rules & explainers
Added time, extra time and a shoot-out are different football terms
Keep the match phase attached to a time or score. Similar-looking labels can answer very different questions about the contest.
NBA
The denominator matters when reading NBA shooting percentages
Read the makes and attempts alongside the percentage. The same proportion can come from very different samples.
Rules & explainers
Reading NBA per-possession data: put the comparison in one unit
A shared unit helps separate pace from output. It does not make opponents, roles or game situations identical.