Every basketball game is going to have its statistical quirks. Here are some of the head-scratching details from Thursday night's Game 7.
The Weirdest Stats From Game 7 Slideshow
5: Total number of Heat who scored
LeBron James had 37 points, Dwyane Wade had 23, Shane Battier had 18, Mario Chalmers had 14 and Chris Andersen chipped in three. No one else in white scored. Ray Allen, Chris Bosh and Mike Miller were a combined 0-for-14 from the field and 0-for-7 from three. Taking away Andersen's three points, James, Wade, Battier and Chalmers combined for 92 points.
+6: Manu Ginobili's +/-, highest on the Spurs
Manu Ginobili turned the ball over a team-leading four times. He also tied for the team lead with four fouls and looked abysmal down the stretch (as he did in Game 6). Still, the Spurs were at their highest plus/minus total with Ginobili on the floor.
-8: Kawhi Leonard's +/-, lowest on the Spurs
Leonard scored 19 points, pulled down 16 rebounds (four offensive), committed only two turnovers and fouled just twice. Leonard also played stellar defensive, as he had all series. Contrary to Ginobili, Leonard had the team's lowest plus/minus with a -4. One could make the argument Ginobili was on the court with lesser talent, but both started and both played at least 35 minutes.
45: Minutes played by both LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard
Speaking of Leonard's defense, the Spurs made it no secret who they wanted guarding LeBron. Leonard played more minutes than any other Spurs and/or Heat player not named James in Game 7. The only three minutes he sat out were the three minutes James sat out to start the second quarter. When LeBron came in with nine minutes remaining in the half, Leonard reentered and never exited again.
6-for-8: Shane Battier's three-pointers made and attempted
Battier took eight shots, all from behind the arc. He made six threes, scored 18 points and was a +12. He was this year's Mike Miller. The odd part about the statistic is drawn from the rest of the series and the entire postseason. Battier attempted 27 shots in the Finals. All 27 were three-pointers (12-27). Now, get this: Battier took 93 shots in the postseason (27-93). Of the 93, 88 were three-pointers (28-88).
2: Tiago Splitter's steals
Splitter played four minutes, took two shots, scored two points and had one foul. He had zero rebounds, zero assists, zero blocks and zero turnovers otherwise. The one other number that appears in his stat line is two steals. In the first six games of the series, Splitter played 104 minutes and had 3 steals. The guy was a thief Thursday night.
5.2: LeBron James' playoff win shares
With his 37/12/10 performance Thursday, James capped off a postseason of 5.2 win shares (3.7 offensive, 1.5 defensive), tops in the NBA. The total was safely ahead of the second highest player, Kawhi Leonard, who had 3.1 win shares. Two other Spurs, Duncan (2.5) and Tony Parker (2.4) were also in the top five.
214: Tim Duncan's playoff rebounds
Why is that important? Duncan was the top rebounder of the playoffs. James finished a distant second with 193 rebounds. Duncan's existence was the only thing preventing James from a postseason triple-crown. The NBA's MVP led the playoffs with 596 points and 152 assists.
.807: Chris Andersen's playoff-leading field goal percentage
With his 1-for-1 performance Thursday, the Birdman upped his playoff shooting percentage to .807 (46-57). Andersen was far and away the most accurate shooter of the playoffs. Kenneth Faried (.625) and Dwight Howard (.619) were the next two closest players. Andersen was also fifth in the postseason in player efficiency rating behind Chris Paul, James, Kevin Durant and Brook Lopez.
