Where the data comes from
Scores, schedules, player box scores and injury reports come from BALLDONTLIE. We request it from our server, never from your browser, and share one copy among all visitors. We do not claim it is official league data, and it can be delayed or corrected after the fact.
How often it updates
The live scoreboard refreshes about every 30 seconds. Player statistics refresh about every 45 to 60 seconds for the game on screen. Standings, ratings and injury reports refresh every few minutes. These are request intervals, not a promise that a basket appears within seconds of happening. We do not have a play-by-play feed, so the live-updates panel is built by comparing each new snapshot with the previous one and shows only what changed between them.
What counts as live
A game is live when the data provider marks it in progress. Finished games move to our results pages and scheduled games appear in previews.
Standings
We calculate standings from completed regular-season games: wins, losses, win percentage, games behind the leader, last ten, streak, home and away records and scoring averages. Teams are ordered by win percentage and then wins. Official tiebreakers are more detailed, so a close tie can differ from the league's own table. Playoff games are not counted.
Power ratings
Every team starts at 1500, the league average, and its rating moves after each game. Beating a stronger team, winning on the road and winning by more points all move a rating further. Between seasons a rating carries over partly and drifts back toward the average. We use the last three seasons of results, including playoffs. It is a simple, transparent model. It does not know about injuries, trades, minutes or lineups.
Win probability and projected scores
For previews we compare two ratings, give the home team a home-court bonus, and adjust when a team is on the second night of a back-to-back. The rating gap becomes a win probability and an expected margin. The projected score splits the league's average total points around that margin. During a live game, the win probability under the scoreboard uses the current lead and the time remaining instead. All of these are estimates. Upsets happen, and a 70% favorite loses three games in ten.
Recaps, previews and the daily digest
These are written by software from the box score and ratings. We pick which facts matter by size: the largest quarter swing, the biggest gaps in shooting, rebounding and turnovers, the leading scorers and notable stat lines. Words vary from game to game but every figure comes straight from the data.
What we do not do
We do not publish betting content of any kind, and nothing here is betting advice. We do not show unlicensed video or copy articles from other publications.
Corrections
Statistics can change after review. If something looks wrong, tell us at hello@tipofflive.com with the game, the date and what you saw. We will check it against the source and fix our pages if they are at fault.