Question 1

What is iKnowHoop?

Accepted Answer

iKnowHoop is an NBA stats and analysis site. It shows every game's full stats, how players and teams are playing lately, and our projections for upcoming games — with a record of how accurate those projections have been. Everything is explained in plain language. Wherever you see a small "?" next to a word, tap or hover it for a quick explanation.

Question 2

Is it free?

Accepted Answer

Yes — everything is free right now, and you don't need an account. That includes player projection cards, the "How often do they hit a number?" tool and "What if". If there's something you'd pay for, I'd love to hear it: send feedback.

Question 3

Who can use iKnowHoop?

Accepted Answer

Anyone aged 18 or over, where using a sports-analysis site is allowed. By using the site you agree to our Terms of Use.

Question 4

Where should I start?

Accepted Answer

The home page opens on the day's games (the "slate"). The "Game of the night" is the matchup we think is closest; tap it for the full preview, or tap a player under "Players to watch" to see what we expect from them. From there you can browse all games, players, teams or see who's on a hot streak.

Question 5

How do I find a specific player or team?

Accepted Answer

Use the search box on the home page or the magnifying-glass icon at the top of every page. Type at least two letters of a name, city or team abbreviation (like "BOS"). On the Players and Teams pages you can also filter the list as you type, and narrow players down by team.

Question 6

How do I contact you?

Accepted Answer

Use the feedback form for ideas, bugs or a wrong stat — or email jiniyedeapps@gmail.com for anything, including privacy requests.

Question 7

Does it work on my phone?

Accepted Answer

Yes. On small screens the menu moves behind the ☰ button, game rows become swipeable, and wide stat tables scroll sideways while keeping the player's name pinned on the left.

Question 8

What do PTS, REB, AST and the other short labels mean?

Accepted Answer

They're standard basketball abbreviations: PTS = points, REB = rebounds, AST = assists, STL = steals, BLK = blocks, TOV = turnovers, MIN = minutes, GP = games played, 3PM = three-pointers made, PF = personal fouls, OREB = offensive rebounds. FG, 3P and FT show makes out of attempts (e.g. 8-15 means 8 made out of 15 tried) for all shots, three-pointers and free throws. FG%, 3P% and FT% are the same as percentages. The full list is in the glossary at the bottom of this page.

Question 9

What is P+R+A (Pts + Reb + Ast)?

Accepted Answer

Points, rebounds and assists added together. It's a quick way to measure a player's all-round contribution in one number — a player with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists has a P+R+A of 34.

Question 10

What does +/- (plus/minus) mean?

Accepted Answer

How many points the team won or lost by while that player was on the court. +8 means the team outscored the opponent by 8 during that player's minutes; −5 means they were outscored by 5. It's a rough signal — it depends a lot on teammates and opponents — so it's best read over several games rather than one.

Question 11

Why do you show "Last 5" and "Last 10" as well as season averages?

Accepted Answer

Season averages tell you what's normal for a player or team. Recent stretches show current form — whether someone is playing above or below their usual level right now (after an injury, a role change, a trade, and so on). Comparing the two is often more useful than either number alone, which is why player pages show "Last 10 games: 24.4 (+0.4 vs usual)".

Question 12

What are "Best games this season"?

Accepted Answer

The highest points, rebounds, assists and threes the player recorded in a single game this season. Tap one to open that game.

Question 13

Why are some players on a team page marked "former"?

Accepted Answer

They played for that team earlier this season but are no longer on its roster — usually because of a trade, release or signing elsewhere. Their stats for the team still count in the team's averages, so we keep them listed.

Question 14

What does "Did not play" mean in a game log?

Accepted Answer

The player was listed for the game but didn't get on the court — because of a coach's decision, rest or injury. Those games don't count towards their averages.

Question 15

What are net rating, offense rating, defense rating and pace?

Accepted Answer

They measure team strength in a way that's fair to both fast and slow teams. Offense rating is points scored per 100 possessions (higher is better). Defense rating is points allowed per 100 possessions (lower is better). Net rating is the difference — the single best quick measure of how good a team is. Pace is how many possessions a team plays per game; a higher pace means a faster, more up-and-down style.

Question 16

What do the colours mean?

Accepted Answer

Colours on iKnowHoop always mean the same thing, so you can read a page at a glance: Green with ▲ means better than usual, and red with ▼ means worse than usual — from your point of view as a reader. For stats where fewer is better (turnovers, fouls, points allowed), a rise shows in red. Grey with – means about the same; small wobbles aren't highlighted. Arrows and words always go with the colour, so you never have to rely on colour alone. Team colours are only used to show which team is which — on badges, stripes and page backgrounds. They never mean good or bad, so a red team's numbers aren't "bad". In head-to-head charts (win chance, team comparison) the away team is always blue and the home team violet, whatever their real colours. These colours only tell the sides apart. On a player's projection card, green means likely: a greener bar is a higher chance of reaching that number, and in "How often they did it before" green means they did it in 60% or more of those games (red means 40% or less). Amber (yellow-orange) is our brand colour for buttons and links — it doesn't mean good or bad.

Question 17

What timezone are times shown in?

Accepted Answer

Times — tip-offs and when a projection was made — are shown in your own time zone, which your browser tells us (the zone name is at the bottom of every page). Game dates follow the NBA schedule, which uses US Eastern Time. A game listed for "Nov 8" is the night of November 8 in the US. If that's already Nov 9 where you are, the tip-off shows your local date too, e.g. "Nov 9, 12:30 AM".

Question 18

How do you make projections?

Accepted Answer

For players, we estimate how many minutes they're likely to play and how productive they are when they're on the court, based mainly on recent games and falling back to season numbers when there's little recent data. Together these give the expected points, rebounds and assists. For games, we look at how well each team has been scoring and defending recently, how fast both teams play, and home-court advantage. That gives a projected score for each side and each team's chance to win. It's a consistent, rules-based method rather than guesswork — the same information always produces the same projection.

Question 19

What does "usually 15–36" (the likely range) mean?

Accepted Answer

No projection is exact, so alongside our best guess we show where the number lands in most games. If we expect 25 points and say "usually 15–36", a 30-point night or an 18-point night would both be unsurprising. Players with steady output get narrow ranges; streaky players get wide ones.

Question 20

What does "Chance to get at least…" mean on a player card?

Accepted Answer

Our estimated chance that the player reaches at least that number in the game. For example, "20+ points: 78%" means we think they'll score 20 or more about 78 times out of 100 in a game like this one.

Question 21

What's the difference between "chance" and "how often they did it before"?

Accepted Answer

The chance is our projection for this game. "How often they did it before" (the hit rate) is simply history: in how many of their recent games did they actually reach that number — for example 6/8 means 6 of their last 8 games. When the two agree, that's a stronger signal. When they disagree, it's worth looking at why (a change in minutes, a tough opponent, and so on).

Question 22

How do I use "How often do they hit a number?"

Accepted Answer

Open any player and tap "How often do they hit a number?". Pick a stat (say, rebounds), a number to beat (say, 8), and how many recent games to look back over. You'll get an answer like "Did it in 6 of 10 games". You can narrow it to home or away games, games against one team, or games where the player played at least a certain number of minutes (useful for ignoring early injury exits or blowouts).

Question 23

What are the expected winning margin and combined points?

Accepted Answer

The expected winning margin is how many points we think the favourite wins by — "DEN by 13" means we expect Denver to win by about 13. Combined points is the total we expect both teams to score together.

Question 24

How is the "Game of the night" chosen?

Accepted Answer

It's the game where our win chances are closest to 50/50 — the matchup with no clear favourite, which usually makes for the most interesting watch.

Question 25

What does "What we considered" on a card mean?

Accepted Answer

It lists what moved the numbers and what's worth knowing: whether the player has been getting more or fewer minutes lately than usual, how much the opponent's defence and pace change things (a team that allows more points than average raises points expectations; a faster team raises rebounds and assists), and — early in the season — how much comes from last season. Home or away and any injury status are shown for context; we tested a home/away adjustment and it didn't make projections more accurate, so it isn't applied.

Question 26

Do projections account for injuries?

Accepted Answer

We show a player's listed injury status on their page and card, and our injury list updates throughout game days. Projections are based on recent playing time, so a player returning from injury or moving into a bigger role can be under- or over-estimated for a game or two. Always check the latest team news.

Question 27

Why doesn't a player have a projection card?

Accepted Answer

Cards are made for players whose team plays that day and who we have games to work from. Players listed as Out on the injury report don't get one, and neither do rookies before their first game. When there's no card for today, the player page shows their most recent one so you can see how it turned out.

Question 28

What is "What if"?

Accepted Answer

On a player's projection card, "What if…" shows how the projection changes if one to three teammates sit out, or if you set the player's minutes. On a game page you can also see who benefits if a player sits. It's free for everyone. We look at real games this season and last where those teammates didn't play, and how this player's minutes and scoring changed. With only a few such games we keep the change small, and the result says how much evidence there is ("Solid sample", "Some evidence" or "Thin evidence"). It's a guide, not a promise: it treats each absence separately and doesn't account for the opponent or other lineup changes.

Question 29

Can I look at past projections?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every game page shows what we projected next to what actually happened. On a player page, "How our projections did" lists their recent projections and results. You can also open a player's card for a specific date by following a player link from that game's page.

Question 30

How accurate are your projections?

Accepted Answer

We save every projection before tip-off and check it against the final stats once the game ends. The "How accurate are we?" section on the home page shows the results for the most recent month of games, and every game page shows our projections next to what happened. We'd rather show you our misses than hide them — that's the best way to know how much to trust a number.

Question 31

What do "average miss", "on target" and "leans" mean?

Accepted Answer

Average miss is how far, on average, our projection was from the real result — lower is better. An average miss of 5.5 points means our points projections were typically about 5 or 6 points off. On target means the result landed inside the usual swing we expected around our projection. If we projected 25 with a usual swing of 7, anything from 18 to 32 counts as on target. Leans tells you whether we've tended to guess too high or too low on average. "Guesses 1.2 too low" means real results came in a little above our projections overall.

Question 32

What happens to projections for players who didn't play?

Accepted Answer

They're marked "Didn't play" and left out of our accuracy numbers — we can't fairly score a projection for someone who never got on the court. Projections for players who had no stats in that game at all (for example, they'd left the team) are marked "No stats" and also left out.

Question 33

Why does a projection say "Waiting"?

Accepted Answer

The game hasn't finished yet, so there's nothing to check it against. It's scored automatically once the final stats are in.

Question 34

How do the rankings work?

Accepted Answer

Rankings show who's in form right now. Players are ranked by how far their recent average (last 5 or last 10 games) is above their season average — adjusted for how much they normally vary, so a steady player jumping 4 points counts for more than a streaky one doing the same. Teams are ranked by their recent number itself, such as net rating over the last 5 games. Each row also shows the season average ("Usual") and the difference, so you can see the change for yourself. Players on a hot streak on the home page are ranked by points over their last 5 games; teams in form are ranked by net rating over their last 5.

Question 35

Where does your data come from?

Accepted Answer

Scores, schedules, rosters, box scores and injury reports come from a third-party sports data provider. We store them, check them, and calculate everything else — averages, form, projections and accuracy — ourselves.

Question 36

How often is the data updated?

Accepted Answer

On game days we check for new scores, injury updates and schedule changes about every 10 minutes from around noon ET through late evening. Once games finish, final stats are collected every 15 minutes overnight, and a full refresh of averages, rankings and projections runs early each morning. Pages refresh their data roughly every minute, so a change usually appears within a couple of minutes. The "Updated" time on a section tells you when its numbers were last refreshed.

Question 37

Do you show live scores?

Accepted Answer

Games in progress are marked "Live" with the latest score we have, which refreshes about every 10 minutes. We're not a play-by-play live tracker — full player stats appear once the game is final.

Question 38

Why is the home page showing an older date?

Accepted Answer

When there are no games today (for example in the off-season or on the All-Star break), the home page shows the most recent day that had games, and says so under the heading.

Question 39

What happens when a new season starts?

Accepted Answer

Nothing is wiped — past seasons stay available. Season averages and records start fresh with the new season, so for the first couple of weeks they're based on only a few games. Team pages keep showing last season until the new one has a finished game. For each player's and team's first 10 games, projections blend last season with this one: before the first game they're based entirely on last season, and this season counts for a bit more with every game played. The player card says how much came from last season, and "How often they did it before" adds a Last season column until there are enough games this season. Play-in games and the NBA Cup final don't count toward records or season averages, just like in the official standings. Preseason games appear on the scoreboard with their box scores, marked Preseason, but they never count: no projections, and they're left out of form, averages, hit rates and game logs.

Question 40

I think a stat is wrong. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

Stats are occasionally corrected by the league after a game, and corrections made within a day or so are picked up automatically. If something still looks wrong, tell me with the feedback form or at jiniyedeapps@gmail.com.

Question 41

Do I need an account?

Accepted Answer

No. There are no accounts right now — every page and tool is open to everyone.

Question 42

Are there any limits?

Accepted Answer

No daily limits. The only rule is speed: if one visitor sends a lot of requests in a short time, the site briefly slows them down so it stays fast for everyone. "How often do they hit a number?" can look back over up to 82 games — a full regular season.

Question 43

Why did I see "You're going a little fast"?

Accepted Answer

To keep things fast for everyone, one visitor can only make so many requests in a short time. Wait a few seconds and try again — there's no daily cap, so you'll be straight back in.

Question 44

Will it stay free?

Accepted Answer

The core of iKnowHoop — scores, box scores, player and team pages, projections — is meant to stay free. Later I may add optional paid extras. If I do, I'll say so clearly first, and anything that costs money will be opt-in. Tell me what you'd find worth paying for with the feedback form — it genuinely shapes what gets built.

Question 45

What cookies do you use?

Accepted Answer

Only essential ones: one remembers your time zone so times show in your local time, and browser storage remembers that you've dismissed the cookie banner. No advertising, analytics or cross-site tracking cookies. The details are in the Privacy Policy.

Question 46

What do you know about me?

Accepted Answer

There are no accounts, so I don't know who you are. Like almost every website, the server handles technical data such as your IP address and browser type to run the site and protect it from abuse. If you send feedback, I keep what you write (and your email, only if you choose to add it). There's no analytics or tracking on the site. See the Privacy Policy for details.

Question 47

What are my rights over my data?

Accepted Answer

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 and similar laws, you can ask to see, correct or delete the personal data we hold about you, object to or restrict how we use it, and complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission. See Your rights in our Privacy Policy for how to make a request.

Question 48

Is iKnowHoop a betting site?

Accepted Answer

No. iKnowHoop is a basketball stats and analysis site for information and entertainment. We don't take bets, link to betting sites or give advice of any kind. Our projections are estimates based on past games, and they're sometimes wrong — which is why we publish how accurate they've been.

Question 49

Are you connected to the NBA or its teams?

Accepted Answer

No. iKnowHoop is independent and isn't affiliated with or endorsed by the NBA or any team. Team names and colours belong to their respective owners and are used only to identify teams. See our Terms of Use for details.

Questions & answers

Getting started

Reading the numbers

Projections

Accuracy & our track record

Data & updates

Free use & limits

Privacy & cookies

About iKnowHoop

Glossary

Getting started

What is iKnowHoop?+

Is it free?+

Who can use iKnowHoop?+

Where should I start?+

How do I find a specific player or team?+

How do I contact you?+

Does it work on my phone?+

Reading the numbers

What do PTS, REB, AST and the other short labels mean?+

What is P+R+A (Pts + Reb + Ast)?+

What does +/- (plus/minus) mean?+

Why do you show "Last 5" and "Last 10" as well as season averages?+

What are "Best games this season"?+

Why are some players on a team page marked "former"?+

What does "Did not play" mean in a game log?+

What are net rating, offense rating, defense rating and pace?+

What do the colours mean?+

What timezone are times shown in?+

Projections

How do you make projections?+

What does "usually 15–36" (the likely range) mean?+

What does "Chance to get at least…" mean on a player card?+

What's the difference between "chance" and "how often they did it before"?+

How do I use "How often do they hit a number?"+

What are the expected winning margin and combined points?+

How is the "Game of the night" chosen?+

What does "What we considered" on a card mean?+

Do projections account for injuries?+

Why doesn't a player have a projection card?+

What is "What if"?+

Can I look at past projections?+

Accuracy & our track record

How accurate are your projections?+

What do "average miss", "on target" and "leans" mean?+

What happens to projections for players who didn't play?+

Why does a projection say "Waiting"?+

How do the rankings work?+

Data & updates

Where does your data come from?+

How often is the data updated?+

Do you show live scores?+

Why is the home page showing an older date?+

What happens when a new season starts?+

I think a stat is wrong. What should I do?+

Free use & limits

Do I need an account?+

Are there any limits?+

Why did I see "You're going a little fast"?+

Will it stay free?+

Privacy & cookies

What cookies do you use?+

What do you know about me?+

What are my rights over my data?+

About iKnowHoop

Is iKnowHoop a betting site?+

Are you connected to the NBA or its teams?+

Glossary