Editing 2002: LeBron James and Stephen Curry

At the time of this comic, the {{w|2018 NBA Finals}} were going on, between the {{w|Cleveland Cavaliers}} and the {{w|Golden State Warriors}}. At first glance, the comic looks like an in-depth analysis of two of the star players on those teams, {{w|LeBron James}} and {{w|Stephen Curry}}. The joke is that while comprehensive, all the statistics are completely meaningless - many don't show any correlation, and if there is one, it's extremely unlikely there is any causal link in there.  

The first graph includes a nine-digit {{w|Social Security number}} issued for US citizens which is typically not considered a metric related to athletic ability. As Social Security numbers are essentially random numbers, the graph shows only the free-throw percentage of a large number of players, artificially spread vertically.

The second graph is a graph of points per game vs teammate's APGAR score. {{w|APGAR score}} is used to quickly summarize the health of newborn children, with scores of 7 and above indicating an infant has generally normal health. This graph indicates LeBron's teammates have an APGAR score of approximately 2.1. Scores of 3 and below are generally regarded as critically low and possibly requiring medical attention. Low APGAR scores can also be associated with increased risk of neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy. The joke appears to be that LeBron is a star player carrying a sub average team while their opponents the Warriors are perhaps a more well rounded team.

The shot map shows from what position Curry's shots were scored compared to other NBA players. It shows that he scored several times from outside the playing field, including twice from the {{w|bleacher}}s (which isn't a legal play), and once from the locker room (which is physically impossible due to multiple walls in between). This may be a reference to Curry's "tunnel-shot", which he performs before every home game.[https://www.sfchronicle.com/warriors/article/Stephen-Curry-s-long-tunnel-shot-has-become-10949145.php]

In the "2018 total points" table, the highlighted {{w|Golden State Warriors}} and {{w|Cleveland Cavaliers}} represent the teams of Stephen Curry and LeBron James respectively.

Magnetic north is the north pole of the earth's magnetic field. Certain animals use the magnetic field to navigate and align themselves (including migratory birds, bees, and foxes), but there is no evidence that humans are affected by the earth's magnetic field. This means that there is very likely no correlation between orientation of a basketball court and points scored.

The table at the bottom includes more unrelated comparisons.

The first fact is "have you heard of him". Although both are well known in their native United States, elsewhere basketball is considered a minority sport. So of the 7 billion people in the world it is likely less than 2% of the total population will have heard of either player {{Citation needed}}.

In NBA the top 16 teams qualify for a single elimination play-off to determine the season champion, with each rubber played over 7 games. After the fourth game fixtures are only played as required. Most fixtures are therefore resolved before the last leg. Lebron James has participated in seven playoff games 7 in his career (winning 5 of 7), and the last time his team lost a game seven was on May 18, 2008 (Bush was still President). This also highlights that James is an older athlete yet has been fairly dominant through his career. Stephen Curry's last game 7 loss actually came at the hands of Lebron James in the 2016 NBA Finals (Obama was President). It is notable that both the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers won their respective games 7 in their conference finals to make it to this year's NBA finals.

Both "lebronjames" and "stephencurry" are worth 22 points in {{w|Scrabble}}. {{w|Milk caps (game)|Pogs}} were a {{w|fad}} in the 1990s. In 2027, Stephen Curry will be 39 years old, which is a typical retirement age for NBA players. LeBron James's retirement age is listed as ''unknown''. This may refer to James's high level of play through his mid-30s, when typical players have a decline in their performance {{Citation needed}}.  

 

It is claimed that their best sport is basketball. However, although they have chosen basketball as a career, this does not mean they were not better at a sport that does not offer a professional career.

 

Both are listed as over 6 feet tall which is not at all unusual for professional basketball players. In fact, Stephen is listed as 6'2" or 6'3" and LeBron as 6'8".  

 

{{w|Nate Silver}} is a political commentator and founder of the website {{w|FiveThirtyEight}}, which uses and promotes statistical approaches in explaining the world.  The site's two major areas of focus are in politics (especially on elections - it became famous for correctly predicting for whom 49 of 50 of the 2008 and every US state would vote for in the 2012 US presidential elections, and though it wasn't as accurate in 2016 it had given Donald Trump a larger chance of Electoral College victory than other mainstream media sources) and sports (Silver first got into statistical analysis via baseball). The presence of both sports-related and politics-related topics in the comic, however related they are (or not) with each other, seems to be a nod towards FiveThirtyEight's content.

:[The comic consists of several plots and tables, listed here in western reading order.]

:The Social Security numbers range from 000-00-0000 to 999-99-9999. No pattern discrenable, aside from points being a bit denser in the middle of the plot. Steven Curry is marked as a point on the right edge of the plot with a high free throw percentage.

:The APGAR scores range from 0 to 10. Pattern suggests a somewhat positive link between the two factors. LeBron James is marked as having a lot of points, but a low teammate APGAR score of approximately 2.1.

:A map of a basketball field is shown with dots placed where players have taken shots at the goal. Steven Curry has dots in a separate color. For the all players category the dots generally cluster next to the goal basket and in front of the three point line. Steven has no dots next to the basket, but does cluster next to the three point line. He also has several dots off the side of the playing field, including three in the bleachers and one in the locker room.

:A plot that suggests no relation between the factors because practically all dots are in the zero sandwiches column. 2018 Warriors have one dot marked as a high win % and 4 sandwiches.

:A table listing teams and their total scores with an extra column labeled "When net is within 15° of magnetic north". The row for the Cleveland Cavaliers is highlighted and shows an abnormally high score in the magnetic north column.

This comic was posted the day after the second game in the 2018 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors (Stephen Curry's team) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (LeBron James' team).  It is the fourth consecutive time the two teams faced each other at the finals, which is unprecedented in major sports leagues in North America.  The Warriors won in 2015 and 2017, the Cavaliers won in 2016, and the Warriors are leading the current series 2-0.