4 major sports, which one is the hardest to hold a lead?

[Unocal 76]

Of the major sports, what's the hardest one when a team is trying to hold onto a big lead?

In baseball, you can't run out the clock. As long as you have outs, you're never out of it even if it's a 5-6 run deficit (Red Sox a few weeks back had a 5-run deficit in the bottom of the 8th with 2 outs, but came back).

In football, two/three touchdown deficits are not as insurmountable as they once were with passing and the offensive rules (Patriots came back from 28-3 in the Super Bowl by basically throwing on every down and going quick no-huddle).

In basketball, a 20+ point lead can dissapear quickly if you can get hot from three (See: Utah/OKC Game 5. Also, the Cavs had trouble holding onto double digit leads vs. the Pacers)

In hockey, 2-3 goal leads aren't safe if your goalie suddenly can't make saves (Sharks/Knights last night).

[sfvega]

Baseball is probably the easiest, because you're almost always a groundball away from getting out of the inning and the bullpens have become so specialized (except Cincy's) that 3-5 run leads are very hard to give up.

Football is next because usually if you have a decent sized lead, they can't stop your offense. So even if the opposing team goes ham on offense, they still have to stop you on offense. And they've legislated a lot of defense out of the game. So most of the time when NFL teams lose leads, it's because they don't have any balls and went conservative being terrified of losing. It's self-inflicted and avoidable.

Hockey is different in that the scoring is way lower, but they always say the worst lead in hockey is the 2-goal lead. There's just something unsettling about being up 3-1 or 2-0, like the game is bound to be tied eventually. And the margin is so slim. One bad bounce off the boards and one weird deflection and the game is tied.

Basketball is the easiest to mount a comeback in, either in college or the pros. The momentum is so obvious that once some shots start falling that it feels like the game has changed even before the score is tied, and sometimes well, well after. It feels like the floor is slanted when one team starts to go on a run, and it only takes a couple possessions and it can happen at any time. You pretty much have to have your foot on the gas every possession even with a lead, which is why so many teams suffer from the pratfall of large momentum shifts. It's almost impossibe not to.

[The Barber]

Apr 29, 2018 23:53:25 GMT -5 sfvega said:

Baseball is probably the easiest, because you're almost always a groundball away from getting out of the inning and the bullpens have become so specialized (except Cincy's) that 3-5 run leads are very hard to give up.

Football is next because usually if you have a decent sized lead, they can't stop your offense. So even if the opposing team goes ham on offense, they still have to stop you on offense. And they've legislated a lot of defense out of the game. So most of the time when NFL teams lose leads, it's because they don't have any balls and went conservative being terrified of losing. It's self-inflicted and unavoidable.

Hockey is different in that the scoring is way lower, but they always say the worst lead in hockey is the 2-goal lead. There's just something unsettling about being up 3-1 or 2-0, like the game is bound to be tied eventually. And the margin is so slim. One bad bounce off the boards and one weird deflection and the game is tied.

Basketball is the easiest to mount a comeback in, either in college or the pros. The momentum is so obvious that once some shots start falling that it feels like the game has changed even before the score is tied, and sometimes well, well after. It feels like the floor is slanted when one team starts to go on a run, and it only takes a couple possessions and it can happen at any time. You pretty much have to have your foot on the gas every possession even with a lead, which is why so many teams suffer from the pratfall of large momentum shifts. It's almost impossibe not to.

You wont believe how many basketball games I've seen with a 20 point lead at the half and tied at the start of the 4th quarter.

[Push R Truth]

Runs in basketball are a crazy thing. You miss 3 shots in a row, opponent makes 3... suddenly you are thinking about trying to nail this next shot and you get the ball stolen... then you force up a 3 because you need to score...


they feed on themselves and they happen so fast.

[fw91]

basketball

[unc40]

Baseball is the hardest to hold a lead for two reasons:

1. There is no clock so no team has lost until the game is over.

2. In most sports even if the defense of the team ahead plays poorly the team that's losing still has to make shots and complete passes to catch up. In baseball it's possible for the team ahead to lose a game by just making mistakes and the team behind not have to do much. The NCAA playoff game between N.C. State and TCU is proof of that. Wit TCU behind 8-1 in the eigth inning N.C. State walked batters, committed errors, committes balks and gave the game away to TCU.