I looked at Kyrie’s entire NBA career and compared his 67 road games in five of the NBA’s northernmost cities, Portland, Minneapolis, Toronto, Milwaukee and Boston, with his other 326 road games.

Credit for the idea: https://np.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/6q5fgb/oc_does_kyrie_irving_play_worse_closer_to_the/

Northern Kyrie averages:

22.6 PTS / 3.6 REB / 4.85 AST

Everywhere else on the road:

24.1 PTS / 3.9 REB / 5.55 AST

The difference in assists is statistically significant (p = .018). Even after controlling for season and minutes played, playing in the northern group is associated with about 0.67 fewer assists per game (p = .017).

Kyrie’s career stats in northern NBA cities:
at POR: 22.⁶⁄₃.0/3.9, 30.0% win rate
at MIN: 21.⁴⁄₃.⁷⁄₅.2, 77.8%
at TOR: 20.⁸⁄₃.⁶⁄₅.1, 50.0%
at MIL: 25.²⁄₄.0/5.4, 52.9%
at BOS: 22.⁵⁄₃.⁵⁄₄.4, 46.2%

Total: 22.⁶⁄₃.⁶⁄₄.85 with a 50.7% win rate.

Most importantly, his turnovers are almost literally identical: 2.57 per game in both groups.

So Kyrie isn’t losing control of the basketball as he approaches the North Pole.

He’s just significantly less willing to give it to somebody else, perhaps to appease the gods.

tl;dr: The closer Kyrie gets to the North Pole, the less he passes.

ClarenceWithHerSpoon | 76ers

208 | 13 hours ago

Is this an application for a job in RFKs cabinet?

StrategyTop7612 [OP] | Clippers

105 | 13 hours ago

I’m too smart for those bums.

somuchforsubtlety656

23 | 13 hours ago

Okay which part of a sphere is the edge

Ok-Adeptness-5834

12 | 12 hours ago

The part past the North Pole

m1j5 | Cavaliers

6 | 11 hours ago

All the parts? It’s a circle you idiot it’s 360 degrees of edges

Ok-Name-5504

7 | 10 hours ago

Just edging all the way around

somuchforsubtlety656

1 | 11 hours ago

You could’ve just said the surface or something instead of being a meanie head

Thehealeroftri | UTA

2 | 10 hours ago

¹⁄₂ of the rhetoric related to flat earth is being a meany head dont you know ball smh my head

ChristianLesniak | Nuggets

1 | 5 hours ago

He’s probably a flat earther that’s why

iDEN1ED | Celtics

1 | 8 hours ago

You ever look at a map? It’s in the Pacific Ocean.

Giuseppe_exitplan | Australia

2 | 11 hours ago

overqualified

wedontliveonce | Bucks

76 | 13 hours ago

Best off season post I’ve seen! You have taken analytics to the next level.

On r/geology everybody’s favorite answer is “Canadian Shield”. Have you considered bedrock type as a contributing factor? /s

Ok_Pineapple_Num | Warriors

19 | 11 hours ago

Unfortunately, OP straight ripped this post idea from one posted 9 years ago: https://np.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/6q5fgb/oc_does_kyrie_irving_play_worse_closer_to_the/.

Not great to plagiarize a post and then frame the idea as your own. I don’t mind OP reposting/remixing it bc the vast majority of users today probably weren’t around back then, and it’s quality content… but at least give credit/acknowledgement for the idea, maybe?

Edit: And now OP has added a “credit for idea” URL after being called out. When I first commented, the original post made zero mention of any inspiration (i.e., blatant plagiarism).

Ok-Name-5504

3 | 10 hours ago

That post was about Western teams, this post is about northern teams. They might’ve stolen the idea (debatable, that was 9 years ago), but they still made it their own

wedontliveonce | Bucks

1 | 10 hours ago

Meh, shit’s too funny for me to care.

StrategyTop7612 [OP] | Clippers

10 | 13 hours ago

Yeah, I gotta add bedrock geology, geomagnetic field strength, and fault lines. Am I right? LMAO

wedontliveonce | Bucks

6 | 13 hours ago

I’m betting the magnetic pole shift is a factor.

YoHoochIsCrazy | Bulls

40 | 13 hours ago

OP i like the cut of your jib and this post and i hope you go on to dig even deeper for statistical significance within the seemingly meaningless

TrickPerformance4433 | Lakers

3 | 10 hours ago

He definitely wrapping up the offseason in style lol

Cold_Tower_2215 | Timberwolves

30 | 13 hours ago

This made me chuckle. Maybe he gets nervous about falling off the edge.

TraderJake09 | Bucks

5 | 12 hours ago

Same 😆

I am a bit confused where Flat Earthers believe the edge(s) are though? Based on the OPs excellent breakdown, north of Canada is the closest? I was assuming one of the drops was in the Pacific Ocean?

My knowledge here is in need of some burning sage I guess lol

camfa | SAS

1 | 9 hours ago

No, you are entirely right. The analisis is for the cities farthest from the edge, so it’s even more meaningless than done right.

CheeseburgerTornado | Wizards

24 | 11 hours ago

a quick google image search has revealed another shocking correlation - the highest U.S. vaccination rates by state are largely states in the north

kyrie, known for his scientific mind, is likely aware that more vaccines per capita are present in arenas in northern states that he plays in, and are therefore more contagious. this may cause him to be more reluctant to pass, as more objects in contact with vaccines could potentially spread to him

StrategyTop7612 [OP] | Clippers

12 | 11 hours ago

Wow, how did I miss this in my research?

OlorinDK | Warriors

2 | 10 hours ago

But more vaccines leading to more contagious?? I would think the implication is that more vaccinated people, are people he doesn’t like, so he won’t pass to them?

AngelOwnsBricklyn

11 | 13 hours ago

indeed.com

zaepoo | Wizards

2 | 12 hours ago

Indeed is a scam. Jobs are a scam by big job to make you get jobs. Everyone who has ever had a job has died. You think that’s just a coincidence?

-XanderCrews- | Timberwolves

7 | 13 hours ago

If it’s a flat earth the center isn’t where we think it is. So you got to look at it through his eyes.

SeaGrocery678

6 | 13 hours ago

Finally a good fucking post

LackeyNo2

3 | 12 hours ago

Real ones calculate this by approximating modern city locations in Pangea and then calcule their distance to the nearest edge of the continent and use that to correlate with the basketball analysis.

Jwiley92 | Grizzlies

3 | 11 hours ago

According to their worldview, northern America is actually the farthest from the edge. They basically say that Antarctica is an ice wall and stretch it around the outside.

Edit: so when closer to the center he feels more secure in himself and passes less.

Jarvis_Jarvison

2 | 13 hours ago

flat earthers believe the south pole is the edge, not the north

Ok-Adeptness-5834

2 | 12 hours ago

It’s actually a donut with a smaller hole in the north

wistful_grace | Raptors

2 | 12 hours ago

how’s he fare in the west

Schubes17 | Knicks

2 | 7 hours ago

You should either properly describe these as just updates of old posts or come up with your own ideas for OC.

StrategyTop7612 [OP] | Clippers

0 | 7 hours ago

Literally gave credit and the original did west and I did North so different analysis completely

Schubes17 | Knicks

2 | 7 hours ago

Saying “credit for idea” with a URL link truly is the least you could do. /u/ohmate deserves this post being labeled as simply an update. You probably only started doing this “crediting” because your post that plagiarized mine from 10 years ago got taken down.

Also “completely” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here lol.

ohmate | DEN

2 | 6 hours ago

Hahahaha so random seeing this pop up after posting this nearly a decade ago

Schubes17 | Knicks

2 | 6 hours ago

lol this user posts like twice a day and a good chunk are just ripping off old OC posts that popped off. They stole one of mine and ripped lines word for word, and only after getting it deleted for plagiarism does he now “credit” these.

Ok_Pineapple_Num | Warriors

1 | 5 hours ago

Btw – he only added the “credit for idea” URL after I first called him out in my comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1vkx9b8/does_kyrie_irving_play_worse_closer_to_the_edge/p2xdsix/.

Before my comment, the original post made zero mention of any inspiration, and was blatant unadulterated plagiarism.

Obviously this is just reddit and so it’s not that deep, but I just hate plagiarism on principle… and this OP just keeps fucking doing it. It’s stupid as hell. Stop ripping other people’s creative work and presenting it as your own.

Schubes17 | Knicks

1 | 4 hours ago

Completely unsurprised since they straight up plagiarized one of my posts from 10 years ago and “updated” it to be about a different player. Copied some work I put a lot of effort into and gave me zero credit. Mods took it down for plagiarism, but I feel like a ban is the only way to stop this user.

I totally agree that it’s not that serious, but it really stung to have a bunch of jokes I wrote get copy/pasted and credited to someone else who thinks just because a post is old, they can repost it without crediting.

Ok_Pineapple_Num | Warriors

1 | 4 hours ago

Absolutely, 100% agreed. You put the actual effort, thought, and creativity into that post; and it was genuinely your original content. For someone to just rip it and repost it, framing it as their own, is both shitty ethically and hurtful towards you as the original author.

I also agree that OP seems to believe he has free rein to do this as he specifically rips posts from 5-10 years ago, knowing that very few users from back then remain now to remember them. And that the original OP’s are likely inactive and thus won’t be here to castigate him.

It’s pretty sly and nefarious. I don’t want to be “that guy” making a stink about it, but it’s shitty behavior. Even if you’re a kid in middle school/high school — which I think this OP is — you already know what plagiarism is and that it’s wrong to do.

Schubes17 | Knicks

1 | 4 hours ago

1000%

MidnightMarketing | Raptors

1 | 13 hours ago

He’s scared of falling off the edge

Maik09

1 | 12 hours ago

this is amazing 👏

awesomesauce615 | Raptors

1 | 12 hours ago

Wouldnt the western teams be closer to the edge? You know how much canada is still left north?

oblmov | Nuggets

1 | 12 hours ago

The continents are laid out in a big circle so western teams are no closer to the edge than eastern teams. Real question is whether the edge is in the north, the south, or both (ring-shaped flat earth). Personally I think the south is the edge and the north is Hyperborea, which is where Santa Claus lives and where Yakub created white people.

awesomesauce615 | Raptors

1 | 4 hours ago

Yeah to be honest i had no idea the flat earthers map looked like that. I had to Google an image just to see lol. In my mind I was just using the standard meridian projection square map lol.

DogeSadaharu

1 | 12 hours ago

If you were a 4D being then you would see the Earth as flat too /s

jgab145 | Bucks

1 | 12 hours ago

Yes

A320neo | Celtics

1 | 12 hours ago

The most amazing thing here is that Kyrie has a 46% win rate against Boston on the road. It feels like he hasn’t won since he left.

ReySombra73

1 | 12 hours ago

Nah, if Earth was flat then cats would have thrown the shit out of everything off the edge

guzzler_bennett_jr

1 | 12 hours ago

ok, now this is a good one

Regress10nToTheMean | Celtics

1 | 12 hours ago

This is why he had to leave Boston

AngelOwnsBricklyn

0 | 11 hours ago

it was probably the racism

Swaggamuffins | 76ers

1 | 11 hours ago

It’s a mental thing: when you’re playing a court with a steep hill, you play away from that side so you don’t have to chase the ball. He’s worried about sailing a pass and getting off balance and we all fall off

cromulent_weasel | SAS

1 | 10 hours ago

How close is it to the edge of the earth going east or west?

coolbean024

1 | 10 hours ago

Well since he thinks the earth is flat, he’s probably worried about falling off the edge.

MountainTwo3845 | Rockets

1 | 9 hours ago

Til Kyrie isn’t really as good at being a pg as I thought. 5 ast per game as your average is kind of wild. he’s like ai I guess.

Ornery_Vermicelli_69

1 | 9 hours ago

I’m confused what sub I am in. I just want to talk about Sophie

bloodrider1914 | Spurs

1 | 6 hours ago

How does elevation affect his game? Is he great or shit against the Nuggets?

TouchMint | Nets

1 | 4 hours ago

Top tier I approve.

laz10 | DEN

1 | 3 hours ago

He’s just significantly less willing to give it to somebody else, perhaps to appease the gods.

Obviously it’s so he doesn’t accidentally throw the ball off the earth

itsme32

-3 | 13 hours ago

School is back in session where I live, so the good news is a lot of these Nephews will be back in school. Will they be paying attention to learn facts like the Earth no being flat? Hard to say.

StrategyTop7612 [OP] | Clippers

3 | 13 hours ago

yeah, I’ll be back at school soon.

econom0 | Lakers

-1 | 13 hours ago

Kyrie: I have a ~~father~~ Earth. Its name is ~~Julius Irving~~ flat round.

Unable-District-3042

-12 | 13 hours ago

Mods ban this person or ban me this sub is garbage

StrategyTop7612 [OP] | Clippers

2 | 13 hours ago

You’re that person who’s always complaining about posts: https://np.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1vhi0rj/comment/p25d6us/?context=3. You know nobody forced you to click right?

Unable-District-3042

-2 | 13 hours ago

Yes because the sub has potential if it is not filled with garbage like this

StrategyTop7612 [OP] | Clippers

2 | 13 hours ago

Dude, who are you? Sub has potential LMAO, it’s the offseason man, you post the content you want then. Be the change you want to see.

Does Kyrie Irving play worse closer to the edge of the Earth?