Confirmation bias can be a tricky thing to navigate. If you believe something, then whenever you see it, it becomes a more fervent belief.<\/p>\n
For some time,\u00a0Lakers\u00a0fans online have felt that players return against them at a high rate. And each time it happens, as it did on Saturday against the Grizzlies when Ja Morant played his first game after nearly two weeks out, their heels dig in deeper.<\/p>\n
Is this a case of it actually being true? Or is this a case of believing it\u2019s true and being emboldened the handful of times it actually does happen?<\/p>\n
Well, head coach JJ Redick had a similar question.<\/p>\n
Prior to Saturday\u2019s game, Redick was asked about the theory and revealed he actually had his staff research the notion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had our analytics group look into it,\u201d Redick said. \u201cI don\u2019t know that it\u2019s been updated. I haven\u2019t looked at it since Dame [Lillard] missed the Milwaukee game. But I think it\u2019s like 86% of payroll has been available [against] us this year, which is, by far, No. 1 in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n
The game he is referencing took place on March 20, so the data would be less than two weeks old at this point. Still, there are some caveats.<\/p>\n
Having players available against your team is not the same as players returning against your team. It\u2019s pretty close! And, really, it\u2019d be a pretty exhaustive study to look at every instance of a player returning from injury and analyzing if it happened more against the Lakers than anyone else.<\/p>\n
To perhaps further back up Redick\u2019s point, though, there are other similar stats that back up the notion that players play against the Lakers.<\/p>\n