The Informer’s 2014 NBA Playoff Preview Part I: Fun Facts, Stats and Useless Information

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Ladies and gentlemen it is that time of the year again. The time of year where legacies are cemented, dynasties are formed and champions rise up.

The Informer is talking about the 2014 NBA Playoffs which are set to begin Sunday April 20th. This year, like the past three years, The Informer is going to be there for every driblle, shot and rebound providing the most in depth coverage on the internet.

Now obviously, this journey can’t begin without The Informer doing an over the top multi-part playoffs preview. The Informer is thinking something along the lines of a 10,000 word 10-part preview covering everything from fun facts, stats, useless information, rising stars, most important players, past comparisons, gambling advice and even some bold predictions.

The reason we are going to break it into 10-parts is because The Informer was once told that people do not have time to read 10,000 word NBA articles from obscure sport bloggers who refer to themselves in the third person. So with that in mind; welcome to “The Informer’s 2014 NBA Playoff Preview Part I: Fun Facts, Stats and Useless Information”

Heading into the postseason Oklahoma City Thunder guard Derek Fisher has played in 240 playoff games. If Fisher plays in just five more playoff games he will pass Robert Horry (244) for the most playoff games played in NBA history.

Miami Heat star LeBron James needs 26 points to pass Larry Bird for ninth place on the all-time playoff scoring list.

Speaking of playoff scoring, Kevin Durant’s career 28.63ppg is the fourth highest average in playoff history. Durant better not get comfortable in the fourth spot though, as he only has a half point lead over LeBron who is fifth all-time with a 28.05ppg average.

(FYI – Michael Jordan (33.45) Allen Iverson (29.73) and Jerry West (29.13) are the top three scorers in NBA playoff history.)

This next stat is being used to remind everybody that NBA history has a weird way of repeating itself. You should keep that in mind before making any bold predictions this season.

From 1990-92 Michael Jordan won the regular season and Finals MVP awards. However, in 1993 a guy out west named Charles Barkley took home the regular season MVP award before being out-dueled by Jordan in the Finals. The win over Barkley gave Jordan and his Bulls their third straight NBA Championship.

From 2011-13 LeBron James won the regular season and Finals MVP awards. However, in 2014 a guy out west named Kevin Durant is going to take home the regular season MVP award. This “history repeating trend” leaves The Informer with one very important question: Does this mean LeBron is going to out-duel KD in the finals while leading the Heat to their third straight NBA Championship?

If Miami does in fact three-peat, it will be just the fourth time since the NBA/ABA merger that a NBA team won three consecutive championships. Jordan’s Chicago Bulls (2x) and the Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O’Neal Los Angeles Lakers were the other teams to accomplish the historical feat.

One last Miami note: The Heat are looking to become the first team since the 1984-87 Boston Celtics, and only the third team since the ABA/NBA merger, to make the finals in four consecutive seasons. The 1982-85 Lakers were the other team to reach the finals in four consecutive seasons.

The Lakers/Celtics both went 2-2 during their impressive runs, while the Heat are currently 2-1 in the last three Finals.



Moving on from the Heat; by now everyone has probably heard that this season Tim Duncan won 50 games for the 16th times in his career. What you may not have heard is that only four NBA franchises (Lakers, Celtics, San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns) have more 50+ win seasons than Duncan.

(The Informer note – The only time in his career Duncan didn’t win at least 50 games was the strike shortened season of 1999. You all may remember that was the year Duncan won the first of four NBA Championships.)

Keeping with Duncan’s winning ways; if “The Big Fundamental” leads his team the Western Conference Finals it will be his ninth trip in 17 years. The only team since 1970 to reach the conference finals more than the Duncan-Spurs are the Magic Johnson led Lakers from 1980-91? Those “Show-time” Laker teams reached the WCF ten times.

In the Eastern Conference the eighth seeded Atlanta Hawks are making a trip to the postseason for the 44th time in team history. Did you know that only the Lakers (60), Celtics (51) and Philadelphia 76ers (47) have more playoff appearances than the Hawks?

Now even though the Hawks are the only team to reach this year’s playoffs with a losing record, history tells us that there is still a chance they could make the 2014 NBA Finals. In fact, there have been two teams in NBA History (1958-59 Lakers, 1980-81 76ers) who made the Finals after finishing the regular season under five hundred.

Sticking with history, in the past 34 years (Since 1980) there have only been nine teams that have won the NBA Championship. The Informer is not making this up. Just in case you don’t believe me, here is the list; Lakers (10x), Bulls (6x), Spurs (4x), Celtics (4x), Detroit Pistons (3x), Heat (3x), Houston Rockets (2x), 76ers (1x) and the Dallas Mavericks (1x).

Of those nine championship teams, the Kobe Bryant led 2001 Lakers own the best postseason record after going 15-1 en route to their second of three straight NBA titles.

While the 2001 Lakers were the most dominate champion: Did you know the 1994-95 Rockets are the lowest seed (6th) to ever win a NBA Championship? They are also the only team to beat four 50+ win teams in the same postseason (If the Thunder win the finals this year, they would become the second team to beat four 50+ win teams en route to a title).

Chris Paul has never beaten Tony Parker in the playoffs. As it stands now, the only way these two would meet is in the Western Conference Finals.

And finally, the last person to win the NBA scoring title and then lead his team to the NBA Championship was Michael Jordan in 1998.

Some might think this spells doom for scoring champion Kevin Durant; The Informer is not one of those people. The thing we all have to remember is Durant just had the greatest scoring streak in the past 50 years while becoming the first person since MJ to average 32-7.5-5.5 for an entire season. Trust The Informer, a historic seasons like the one Durant just had is going to lead to a deep playoff run for OKC.

Furthermore; when healthy, Russell Westbrook and Durant have never failed to improve from the previous season.

In 2008-09 the Thunder finished with a 23-59 record, but the next season (2009-10) OKC won 50 games before losing in the first round. In 2010-11 OKC again improved by advancing all the way to the Western Conference Finals before losing to Dallas. Then in 2011-12 they reached the NBA Finals before losing to the Heat.

Just saying, if Westbrook hadn’t gotten injured a year ago the natural progression would have suggested a Thunder championship. Well this year, both Westbrook and Durant are healthy. Mix good health in with Durant playing historically great and naturally one should be predicting . . .

You know what, let’s save our predictions for a future article and wrap this thing up.

Before we go; here is one last useless stat: This article was 1,219 words long, which means we have 8,781 words left in The Informer’s 2014 NBA Playoff Preview.