Sports-Reference.com Widgets - Our Stats, Your Site

We've just launched the first stage of our new Sports Reference Widget tool. By clicking the "Embed" tooltip just above any stats table on the site you can now get the code to add our daily updated stats to your site.

See the widgets page for a description of the various features.

We've always had this option with our "Share" tool, but the widgets have the advantage that they'll update daily as our stats pages update.

In the future, we expect to launch additional widgets, like milestone countdowns, division standings, team and league leaders and more. Any suggestions will certainly be considered.

This is a little late, but here is a link to my latest column for the New York Times:

Clippers on a Roll With Paul at the Point

Via the Shot Finder, this season's best 2-point jump shooters from 15 feet and out:

Thanks to the PI+ Lineup Finder, here are the 5-man units with the best +/- in a single game this season:

Today I would like to take a closer look at one of the tools available in Play Index+: the Lineup Finder. With the Lineup Finder, you can search through thousands of 5-man lineups to find the best offensive units, the best defensive units, the best overall units, and much, much more.

Let's start by taking a look at the search form:

First you should select the query type. You have five options:

1. Single Game queries will look for single games that match the parameters you have specified.
2. Cumulative Season Game queries will summarize the results of games in a single season that match the parameters you have specified.
3. Cumulative Multi-Season Game queries will summarize the results of games across all seasons that match the parameters you have specified.
4. Number of Season Game queries will count the number of games in a single season that match the parameters you have specified.
5. Number of Multi-Season Game queries will count the number of games across all seasons that match the parameters you have specified.

The next step is to select the output type. There are three options:

1. Totals will output the raw totals for each lineup.
2. Per 48 Minutes will summarize the results for each lineup on a per 48 minute basis.
3. Per 100 Possessions will summarize the results for each lineup on a per 100 possession basis.

After selecting the output type you can select a season range. Please note that these queries can take up to five seconds per season, so the maximum time span is five seasons. If you would like to select a single season, set the first season, then click the red "to" and the second season will be set equal to the first season.

The rest of the parameters should be fairly easy to figure out, although I should note that the game numbers are reset for the playoffs. For example, if you're searching for the best performances in a team's first playoff game, you would select "Playoffs" as the Game Type and "1" for each Game Number.

The Additional Criteria section allows you to filter the search results (e.g., you can select minimum playing time requirements). Here are a few things you should be aware of:

• Minutes Played (MP), Possessions (Poss), and Opponent Possessions (Opp Poss) should be entered in integer form (e.g., 123).
• Shooting percentages (FG%, 3P%, eFG%, and FT%) should be entered in decimal form (e.g., .456).
• Rebounding percentages (ORB%, DRB%, and TRB%) should be entered in percentage form (e.g., 78.9).
• All other criteria should be entered in units corresponding to the output type. In other words, if you selected "Totals" as your output type, then you should enter totals here; if you selected "Per 48 Minutes" as your output type, then you should enter per 48 minute averages here; and if you selected "Per 100 Possessions" as your output type, then you should enter per 100 possession averages here.
• Net statistics are always computed as team value minus opponent value. For example, a net field goal percentage of .123 means that a team outshot its opponent by .123 from the field and a net field goal percentage of -.123 means that a team was outshot by its opponent by .123.

To complete the search form, select the "Sort By" statistic and then decide if you want the results in descending order (the default) or ascending order. To sort the results in ascending order, check the "Use ascending order" box.

To wrap this up, here are five example queries:

• Most net points in a single game in the 2011 playoffs
• Best shot defense in the 2010-11 regular season (minimum 250 minutes played)
• Most efficient offenses from 2006-07 through 2010-11 (minimum 500 minutes played)
• Most games in a single season from 2006-07 through 2010-11 with at least 10 minutes played and a net effective field goal percentage of at least .100
• Most games across all seasons from 2006-07 through 2010-11 with at least 10 minutes played and a scoring average of at least 120 points per 48 minutes

As always, please let us know if you have any comments or questions.

Linsanity has taken over New York, but Tyson Chandler's contributions should not be overlooked:

Chandler Overshadowed as Spotlight Follows Lin

This column also appeared in the Sunday version of the New York Times.

It is with great pleasure that I announce the debut of Basketball-Reference.com's latest and greatest set of research tools: Play Index+. Play Index+ utilizes over ten years of play-by-play data, allowing the user to sift through and summarize millions of plays with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Before I go any further, let me note that at this time we are not able to update the current season play-by-play data on a daily basis. However, we will be updating the play-by-play database at least once per week, and the date of the last update can always be found near the top of each PI+ page. While this may be an inconvenience to some, the positives of providing access to over ten years of historical play-by-play data far outweigh the negatives of providing weekly (rather than daily) updates.

There are obviously an unlimited number of things we can do with the data — and we plan on adding even more features in the future — but for the time being the four main tools are:

• Event Finder
  Search through millions of events to find all field goals for a team, all steals for a player, and much, much more.
• Lineup Finder
  Search through thousands of 5-man lineups to find the best offensive units, the best defensive units, the best overall units, and much, much more.
• Shot Finder
  Search through millions of shots to find the most prolific dunkers, the best clutch shooters, and much, much more.
• Shooting Splits & Shot Charts
  Examine a wide variety of shooting splits and shot charts for every player from the 2000-01 season forward.

In the coming days we will take a closer look at the four tools listed above, but for now take a look around and let us know what you think.

Features: PI Batter vs. Pitcher Tool

Features: CFB Player Gamelogs

Features: CBB AP & Coaches' Polls