Impact of a Fraction of a Second: Lesson Learned from Last Night's Celtics-76ers Game 4

Last night's NBA playoff game between the the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers was an instant classic.

Although the 76ers were up by 15 points with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Celtics managed to chip away at the lead and forced overtime. Then things got really exciting.

During overtime in Game 4 of their second-round Eastern Conference Semifinals series, the two teams traded three-point buckets at the end of the game. The problem, however, was that Celtics point guard Marcus Smart's three pointer, which would have won the game, came just a faction too late.

So instead of the Celtics taking control of the series with a 3-games-to-1 lead, the series is now tied at two games apiece.

In NBA postseason history, teams that go up 3-1 in the first round have a 95.2% chance of winning the series, according to DK Nation. In other words, a team has come back from a 3-1 deficit just 13 times in playoff history.

Think about this: the Celtics were less than a second away from having a 95.2% chance of winning the series.

Now, at least according to FiveThirtyEight's 2022-23 NBA Predictions, the Celtics' chances of moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals is now 64%. That's a 31-point drop ... simply based on a fraction of a second!

If only the Celtics had just a bit more time on the clock, they would be in complete control of the series. But now, it's almost either team's series to win or lose at this point.

When you're studying for the bar exam, think about how adding just a few minutes of extra study time to your schedule can significantly impact the overall amount of time you're studying ... and perhaps improve your chances of passing the bar exam.

For example, just studying an extra 5 minutes a day potentially means an extra 500 minutes of studying over the course of your bar preparation (based on 100 days). That's a little more than 8 hours of studying, just by doing an additional 5 minutes each day. Imagine how your chances of passing the bar exam would improve if you studied a little more than 8 additional hours. And imagine how your chances of passing would improve if you studied just an additional 10, or 15, or 20 minutes each day.

Small additions can certainly mean big improvements in your performance.