Oklahoma City Thunder: Playoff leaders - NewsOK.com (blog)

on May 9, 2012M at 4:44 pm

The NBA playoffs near the end of the first-round series, and here are the statistical leaders in the post-season so far:

Scoring: 1. Kobe Bryant 31.2; 2. LeBron James 27.5; 3. Dirk Nowitzki 26.8; 4. Kevin Durant 26.5; 5. Carmelo Anthony 26.0; 6. Chris Paul 23.5; 7. Russell Westbrook 22.3; 8. Paul Pierce 21.8; 9. Rudy Gay 21.8; 10. Blake Griffin & Dwyane Wade 21.5; 16. James Harden 18.3.

Can you believe Paul is sixth in scoring? CP3 is having a heck of a series against Memphis. Of the top 11 scorers, only Griffin is shooting better than 50 percent (56.9). Durant is shooting 45.5 percent. LeBron is shooting 48.6 percent. Kobe 42.9.

Rebounding: 1. Josh Smith 14.8; 2. Paul Millsap 11.0; 3. Roy Hibbert 10.8; 4. Andrew Bynum 10.4; 5. Kenneth Faried & Kevin Garnett 9.8; 7. JaVale McGee & David West 9.6; 9. Derrick Favors 9.5; 10. Carlos Boozer & Glen Davis 9.2; 22. Kevin Durant 7.5; 27. Serge Ibaka 6.8; 34. Kendrick Perkins 6.3.

Josh Smith is a heck of a player. Can’t make foul shots worth beans, but he scores and he rebounds and he defends. Smith threw away that inbounds pass that Rajon Rondo stole in the final 10 seconds Tuesday night, but did you see the defense Smith played on Rondo going upcourt? Refused to let him get in the middle of the court, making the  double-team easier. Rondo never got off a shot or a decent pass.

The Thunder doesn’t have one of the top 21 rebounders in these playoffs, but one reason is the Thunder spreads the wealth. The Thunder starts four solid rebounders â€" Durant, Ibaka, Perkins and Westbrook.

Assists: 1. Rajon Rondo 12.8; 2. Chris Paul 8.8; 3. Mike Conley 7.5; Jameer Nelson 6.6; 5. Tony Parker 6.5; 6. Andre Miller 6.4; 7. Jason Kidd & Ty Lawson 6.0; 9. LeBron James 5.3; 10. Jrue Holliday 4.8; 18. James Harden & Russell Westbrook 4.3; 23. Kevin Durant 3.8.

What a ballplayer is Rondo. Averaging four assists more than anyone else in these playoffs. Averaging more assists per game than Westbrook, Harden and Durant combined.

Blocked shots: 1. Roy Hibbert 3.8; 2. Andrew Bynum 3.6; 3. Serge Ibaka 3.3; 4. JaVale McGee 3.2; 5. Elton Brand 2.6; 6. DeAndre Jordan & Paul Millsap 2.5; 8. Pau Gasol 2.4; 9. Marc Gasol & Kenyon Martin 2.0. 11. Kevin Durant 1.8.

Big upset â€" Ibaka does not lead the playoffs in blocks. Of course, it’s tough to block shots against Dallas. Not that many Mavs drive the ball, Dallas has little low-post game and the one guy that does have a low-post game, Dirk Nowitzki, shoots the ball straight up, it seems.

Steals: 1. Rajon Rondo 4.0; 2. Jason Kidd & Dwyane Wade 3.0; 4. James Harden & Chris Paul 2.5; 6. LeBron James & Russell Westbrook 2.3; 8. Andre Iguodala 2.0; 9. Mario Chambers & Blake Griffin 1.8;

Griffin is in the top 10? What’s that all about? And how about Kidd, 39 years old and still a cat burglar? Harden and Westbrook are getting better on defense, let me tell you.

Three-point shooting: 1. Derek Fisher .625; 2. Mike Conley & Nick Young .615; 4. Steve Novak .571; 5. Keyon Dooling & Gary Neal .556; 7. Stephen Jackson .533; 8. Matt Bonner, Jason Terry, Delonte West & Thabo Sefolosha .500; 13. James Harden .462; 35. Kevin Durant .346.

That’s right. Derek Fisher is the hottest 3-point shooter in the playoffs, having made five of eight. You’d think the Thunder would rank near the top in team 3-point shooting for these playoffs, but OKC is just fifth out of the 16 teams, shooting 38.1 percent.

Free-throw percentage: 1. Brandon Bass & Gordan Hayward 1.000; 3. Kevin Garnett .933; 4. Danilo Gallinari & Chris Paul .917; 6. Dirk Nowitzki .905; 7. Jason Kidd & Shawn Marion .900; 9. Jeff Teague .895; 10. O.J. Mayo .882; 11. James Harden .871; 21. Kevin Durant .818; 24. Russell Westbrook .810.

No surprise, the Thunder leads all teams in foul shooting â€" .844. Dallas is next at .832. Some teams just can’t consistently make foul shots; the Bulls are .622 and the Clippers .640.

Field-goal percentage: 1. Joakim Noah .731; 2. Serge Ibaka .645; 3. Andrew Bynum .603; 4. Blake Griffin .569; 5. Amar’e Stoudemire .552; 6. Spencer Hawes .548; 7. Dwyane Wade .545; 8. Darren Collison .543; 9. Roy Hibbert .535; 10. Al Jefferson .529; 13. James Harden .500; 25. Kevin Durant .455; 27. Russell Westbrook .453.

The Thunder needs to get Ibaka more shots; he’s had 31 in four playoff games. I’d like to see that move up to about 10 per game. Get him 10 shots per game, and his percentage won’t suffer; he’ll still shoot over 60 percent. That’s an extra 5-6 points a game. That will come in handy the deeper into the playoffs the Thunder goes.

-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.