Where It All Started
So Wednesday rolls around, and I’m scrolling through old NBA highlights when this question pops into my head: What were LeBron’s ACTUAL key numbers during that brutal 2014 Finals against the Spurs? Everyone talks about the legacy, the sweat dripping off his nose in Game 5, but the stats? Fuzzy. Needed to nail ’em down myself.
The Dig Begins
Grabbed my coffee and fired up the laptop. Headed straight to the NBA’s official stats archive – figured that’s the holy grail, right? Started with that forgettable Game 1 blowout loss in San Antonio. Had to dig through pages. Manually typed every box score line into a Google Sheet:
- Points: That one was easy, right on the top row.
- Rebounds: Scrolled down, found the total.
- Assists: Had to squint, almost missed it tucked between turnovers.
- Rinse and repeat for Games 2 through 5. Tedious? You betcha.
Triple-checked each game. Found a couple older fan forums quoting different assists totals for Game 3 – sent me down a rabbit hole comparing Sportscaster sources for 20 minutes just to confirm I had it right.
Putting the Pieces Together
Once all five games were punched into the spreadsheet, hit the SUM button like it was the game winner. And just like that, the big picture emerged:
- Total Points: Big number, felt like he carried the entire offense.
- Total Rebounds: Another big number, surprising how much work he did on the glass.
- Total Assists: Significant number, proved he was still setting guys up even when shots weren’t falling.
Then averaged them out per game. That’s where the real story hit me. Seeing those figures all together laid bare how heavily the whole damn Heat offense leaned on him every single night, especially when the supporting cast went ice cold.
Why It Matters
Numbers don’t lie. That raw total? Insane. But the per-game averages? That’s the real gut punch. It wasn’t just one bad game. It was system collapse under pressure, and LeBron desperately trying to plug every leak himself. Crunching these myself made the struggle tangible, far more than just reading a summary ever could. This wasn’t just stats, it was context. Brutal, honest context.
