ca,
<< I've never seen so many meaningless and twisted stats before, >>
Whoa. What curmudgeon is twisting fact here? Mudge Apollo methinks.
The fact is that Allen Iverson led the NBA in scoring this year. He was the leading scorer in the playoffs, and he was the leading scorer in the Lakers v. Sixers Series.
That is an absolute fact. You have to "twist" stats to alter it.
We are not talking about League MVP, that was Iverson. We are not talking about playoff MVP which was most deservedly won by Shaq, without question.
In the final series Iverson shot .407% from the field and "scored" 178 points (35.6 PPG) to 165 points (33.0 PPG) for Shaq, and 123 points (24.6 PPG) for Kobe, who shot .415% from the floor.
The one two punch of Shaq & Bryant outscored Iverson and Mutombo 288 (144 PPG) to 262 (131 PPG) and that was a huge scoring differential, that combined with the Lakers rebounding advantage that took away some portion of the potential conversion opportunity the Sixers are used to enjoying off Iverson putting the ball up, on > 50% of his shots.
Perhaps more importantly, and accounting for the above, the top 3 Lakers rebounders outbounded the top 3 Sixers (one of whom was 6' Iverson) 146 (49 RPG) to 122 (41 RPG). Big differential and that took away some portion of the potential conversion opportunity the Sixers are used to enjoying off Iverson putting the ball up, on > 50% of his shots.
There was a better "team" - a much better "team" - on the floor for the 5 games of the series than the Sixers fielded. The Sixers brought the "game" that almost got then the best record in the league this year, before the late season injury slump. and the Lakers streak in the final games of the season. They didn't bring the team that got them there. A contributing Aaron McKie or George Lynch would have even the table a bit, but might well have not have made a difference in the series. It would have made a difference however. in what you call Iverson "missed opportunities", because conversions of those are what make the Sixers game. PPG & RPG would have had a smaller differential.
As for field goal percentages Shaq shot ,573% to Dikembe's .600%, and Bryant shot .415% to Iverson's .407%.
On the line, Kobe shot a sizzling .842% to Iverson's .729%, Dikembe's .692, and Shaq's .513%
<< you continue to exaggerate when you intimate Iverson sinks crucial free throws, as a great scorer. He didn't sink them when he precisely had to, in this series. >>
I'll agree that he could have sunk more, however no missed or sunk FTs really decided the outcome of a game, except for game one. Iverson shot well off his regular season .814%. Put it down to fatigue or a little extra adrenaline pump.
Iverson missed 13 of 48 FTs. Shaq missed 37 of 76, and that would and could have been huge against a healthier Sixers club. That will cost Shaq and the Lakers one of these days, if he doesn't improve and it is what cost him a scoring title this year, in the playoffs, and in the final series.
Here are the top NBA scorers of all times. Expect to see Iverson on this list of players with more than 5 seasons shortly, and eventually Kobe, and some other young players. I do think that it is a tad early to count Iverson as one of the great scorers of the last 20 years, so we sort of agree on something (albeit for different reasons) which is most unbecoming two curmudgeons:
G FG FT PTS PPG
1. Michael Jordan 930 10,962 6,798 29,277 31.5
2. Wilt Chamberlain 1,045 12,681 6,057 31,419 30.1
3. Shaq O'Neal 608 6,709 3,393 16,812 27.7
4. Elgin Baylor 846 8,693 5,763 23,149 27.4
5. Jerry West 932 9,016 7,160 25,192 27.0
6. Bob Pettit 792 7,349 6,182 20,880 26.4
7. George Gervin 791 8,045 4,541 20,708 26.2
8. Karl Malone 1,273 12,105 8,636 32,919 25.9
9. Oscar Robertson 1,040 9,508 7,694 26,710 25.7
10. Dominique Wilkins 1,074 9,963 6,031 26,668 24.8
11. K. Abdul-Jabbar 1,560 15,837 6,712 38,387 24.6
12. Larry Bird 897 8,591 3,960 21,791 24.3
12. Adrian Dantley 955 8,169 6,832 23,177 24.3
14. Pete Maravich 658 6,187 3,564 15,948 24.2
15. Rick Barry 794 7,252 3,818 18,395 23.2
... and as Dr. Id would be quick to point out, there is Kareem with 6,000 more career points than Karl Malone, 7,000 more than Wilt. Dr. J and Artis Gilmore are conspicuously absent from the list because ABA totals are not included.
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