The article by Harold and Daniel Sackrowitz contains much that ought to tickle the minds of sports fans settling in to watch the NBA and NHL playoffs or awaiting the start of the football season. Conventional wisdom, even when it comes from esteemed commentators, doesn't necessarily reflect the true state of a game. The Sackrowitzes have a different view. In that game, a great defense helped to create the illusion that ball control is effective. Copyright 1996 by Ivars Peterson.
Comments are welcome.
Vintage Books, 1996. Ivars Peterson is the mathematics and physics writer at Science News. He is the author of The Mathematical Tourist, Islands of Truth, Newton's Clock, and Fatal Defect.