by Lauren Tobin on SportsRaid.com
When Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving went down with season-ending injuries, nobody thought the Cavaliers stood a chance in the NBA Finals. But they made a series out of it through a super-human effort by LeBron James. Up until the moments after the Warriors wrapped up the NBA title, there was still talk that LeBron should be the MVP of the series ? even though his team lost. That?s happened only a handful of times in NBA history.
While the MVP title for the Finals went to Andre Igoudala, a player that hadn?t started a single game during the regular season, most of the series focused on the match-up of LeBron and regular season MVP Stephen Curry. So, how did their stat lines look after play ended?
LeBron?s NBA Finals performance was incredible. He led both teams in Points-per-Game, Assists-per-Game, and Rebounds-per-Games. That?s never happened before. When he either took a shot or facilitated a shot, the team shot nearly 50%. When he wasn?t involved in a play, the team shot closer to 30%.
In fact, according to Elias Sports, when you look at 30 point triple-doubles in NBA Finals since 1955, here?s how it stacks up:
LeBron James: 3Rest of the NBA: 3
How good was Curry? While he seemed to struggle at times early in the season, he came through when it mattered. His 10.8 Points-per-Fame in the 4th quarter of the Finals is the third best in the last 40 years.
Plus, he?s got the ring now.
