December 12, 2011; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry (30) types on the computer for Twitter during media day at the Golden State Warriors Practice Facility. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Of the four major sports leagues, the NBA has embraced has embraced social media the most tightly.  In that spirit, it seems fair to evaluate the influence each team’s social media holds over its audience.  Klout, while not perfect, is the most well known method for measuring such social media impact.

Klout scours social media accounts, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and measures their data to create a “Klout Score.” Klout scores range from 1 to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a broader online social influence. The data below are broken up by NBA division, with measurements taken in June 2011 and May 2013.

A few notes:  Klout has reformulated its algorithms and measurement scales since 2011, so the scores of 2011 are not directly comparable with the scores of 2013.  Also, the scales aren’t linear — in fact, they’re probably closer to something logarithmic — so a score of 89 is actually better than a score of 88 by a good bit more than 1%.

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Southeast Division

Pacific Division

Northwest Division

Southwest Division 

Other team-based notes and trends:

• There is likely a fair bit of playoff bias in measurements taken in June and May; for example, in 2011, the Mavericks and Heat topped the league during their respective runs to the NBA Finals.  Out of the playoffs in 2013, Dallas finished with a score much closer to the league average.
• With a score of 95, Chicago finished with the highest 2013 score; Portland finished last with a mark of 84.
• Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Utah finished in a surprising tie for the sixth-highest score, following five teams from bigger markets with more television exposure: the Bulls, Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, and Heat.

Mar 6, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Milwaukee Bucks point guard Monta Ellis (11) dunks in the first half against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Blake Griffin pummeled the Bucks all night long en route to his third career triple-double, but in the end, it was letting Matt Barnes do work on them that ended Milwaukee’s winning streak.

Griffin dunked his way to 23 points to pair with 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Matt Barnes released his ten three-point attempts long before the Bucks’ defense could challenge the shots and made six of them.

Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings continued their roles from the now-ended winning streak. Ellis attacked the basket and made his shot more often than not. He finished with 22 points on 15 shots. He did turn the ball over five times without nabbing any steals though.

Jennings went into a pass-first mode before looking for his shot in a late, failed comeback bid. He tossed around 12 assists and scored 18 points primarily by taking the three-point shots that were there to be had. It’s a style that suits him well.

The Bucks tried to run with the Clippers in a brisk first half, and it pretty much only worked for Ellis.  (Ersan Ilyasova, in particular, looked particularly overmatched trying to keep up with Griffin and Jordan. He labored on defense for the game’s entirety.) Monta made 7-of-9 shots on his way to 18 points.  But Los Angeles had their way with Milwaukee offensively, throttling the Bucks in three key areas: fast break points (14), offensive rebounds (7), and three-point shots (8/16, including four by Matt Barnes).

The Bucks hung close thanks to hitting 7-of-15 three-pointers of their own, plus they strung together a 13-3 run late in the second quarter just when it looked like they would get blown out by LA again.

Gustavo Ayon made his Bucks debut when the game was long decided. He scored his first points on a reverse layup in the final minute.

Two video clips:

DeAndre Jordan starts out this play further from the basket than the other nine players, then he makes up ground quickly.

And Blake Griffin ended the game with this one.  Trite kudos to DeAndre Jordan for the fake “I can’t stand up anymore, my legs are weak” reaction. Hadn’t seen that one before.

Some tweets

Eddie Doucette has nicknamed Brandon Jennings the Compton Comet. “He can fly”.#MILvLAC

— Nick Monroe (@nmonroe) March 7, 2013

Aaron Rodgers sitting courtside for #Clippers vs #Bucks, right beside Clippers owner Donald Sterling instagr.am/p/WiuM1PuWMh/

— Madelyn Burke (@MadelynBurke) March 7, 2013

Mike Dunleavy is at the Clippers-Bucks game, sitting in front of Andy Roeser, watching his son play.

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) March 7, 2013

Love watching the bucks. Lob city was unreal tonight. Gotta be sportscenter #1 Crawford to griffin. Wow. @drewgooden best midrange in arena

— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) March 7, 2013