Lots of drama during the Season 4 Regular Season, and last Round wasn't without it either.
I (WAG) lost to EOS by 9, which caused me to lose 2 positions on ORSR-rankings, and face EOS on an away court instead of meeting WMO at home (who I beat on neutral court on RS). 1 point loss to VIV during RS is something I won't forget easily, even though my record in games decided by 6 points or less was positive at 3W-1L.
Then MAD was able to put up a proper fight against a strong VIV team, losing only by 4. Even a win wouldn't have taken them upwards on league table though, as they lost to WMO earlier on RS.
VIV had a strong season, finishing fifth at 13W-5L and being especially good in close games; they had 3W-1L record on games that were decided by 4 points or less.
MAD as well had many even games, but had a 2W-4L losing record on close games, that were decided by 6 points or less.
LGM's season became to a disappointing ending - disappointing due to things being so close. At the end they fell two wins shy of a spot in Playoffs, finishing at 6W-11L (or one win shy, should've one win come against their closest rivals MAD or VDT, right?).
Why was it especially disappointing (from outside perspective)? They fought really well against excellent LMS's team, losing only by 6 in their last RS match, and actually leading the match by 6 before 4th quarter.
Even a win wouldn't help them pass MAD and VDT though, as during RS they lost to them both, but by only 3 and 2 points, respectively.
Talking about a small difference!
FRE finished 14th in league table with their last Round close win against TRO, putting them at 3W-14L, as at the same time HGK's destiny (we can all share that feeling, apart from few teams that could actually challenge VPO properly!) was to be thrown under the train called VPO on the last Round, and therefore was left at 2W-15L after RS (but would've been 15th even if they'd share the same W-L record with FRE, due to losing in RS to them). That would've easily been the biggest shocker of the whole HGL history, as nobody has ever (yes - ever) been able to beat VPO.
Interestingly, for FRE this 8p win was the closest game of the year, all other matches ending in a double digit differences, be it a win or a loss.
From other teams that didn't reach Playoffs on Season 4, TRO had 2 single digit score difference-matches during the whole RS (be it a win or a loss for them), HB two, LGM six, HGK only one, and ALA - who was still left for seeking their first HGL win after Season 4 RS - had none (but smallest losses of the Season 4 RS were 13, 13, 14 and 17 points).
Scoring difference on 4 last ranked teams were on average -27.1 points/match, while top 4 posted total average of +20,6 points/match. So there's a bit of a difference between top and lowest 4, but on the other hand that's just natural - that's often how it's IRL as well, and as we don't have similar monetary restrictions as IRL, it's probably quicker to close the gap in BB than IRL basketball.
HB experienced maybe the most grim destiny in HGL RS history, if we only take a look at teams' Top8-salary. They do have a very good and expensive team, but for some reason the potential wasn't transferred to the court. Therefore, a team fifth in Top8-salaries, at $444K was shockingly left out of Playoffs, finishing 14th at 5W-12L. It wasn't a story of close losses either, as out of those 12 losses only 2 were by less than 12 points. I wish Spela a good Season 5 though, I believe you'll bounce back!
Good luck for all for the First Round of Playoffs, and let's get organizing games ASAP!
Last edited by Wagner at 3/16/2026 3:11:48 PM