Breaking Down the Top NBA 2017 Playoff Stats and Player Performances

I still remember that electric feeling watching the 2017 NBA playoffs unfold. As someone who's analyzed basketball statistics for over a decade, I've rarely witnessed a postseason that blended raw athletic dominance with such profound human drama. The quote from the knowledge base - "Akala natin nu'ng panalo na tayo, grabe yung sigaw ng mga tao, nakaka-overwhelm. Almost. Ang sakit" - perfectly captures that razor-thin edge between triumph and heartbreak that defined these playoffs. Translated from Filipino, it speaks to that moment when you think victory is secured, the crowd's roar becomes overwhelming, only for the pain of what might have been to set in. This emotional rollercoaster manifested statistically in ways that still fascinate me years later.

LeBron James delivered what I consider arguably the most complete postseason performance of his career, and that's saying something. His Cavaliers raced through the Eastern Conference with a stunning 12-1 record before the Finals, with James averaging 32.8 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 7.8 assists while shooting 57% from the field. What gets lost in those numbers is the efficiency - his 64.9% true shooting percentage remains the highest for any player averaging over 30 points in playoff history. I've revisited the tape countless times, and what strikes me isn't just the statistical dominance but the sheer control he exerted over every possession. He wasn't just playing basketball; he was conducting a symphony of destruction against opponents who seemed powerless to respond.

Meanwhile, out West, Kevin Durant's first postseason with Golden State created a statistical anomaly that still boggles my mind. The Warriors went 16-1 through the Western Conference playoffs and Finals, the most dominant postseason run in NBA history. Durant's numbers - 28.5 points on 55.6% shooting, including 44.2% from three-point range - only tell part of the story. What the stats can't capture is how his presence transformed Golden State's offense into an unstoppable force. I remember watching Game 3 of the Finals thinking Cleveland had finally found an answer, only for Durant to hit that cold-blooded three-pointer over LeBron with 45 seconds left. That moment perfectly encapsulated the "nakaka-overwhelm" feeling from our quote - Cleveland thought they had it, the crowd was deafening, and then came the dagger that brought the pain.

The supporting casts delivered historic performances that often get overshadowed. Kyrie Irving's 25.9 points per game don't adequately reflect his clutch gene, particularly his 40-point explosion in Game 4 of the Conference Finals against Boston. Stephen Curry's 28.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 6.7 assists look impressive enough, but his plus-minus numbers were ridiculous - he was +14.3 per game, meaning the Warriors outscored opponents by nearly 15 points whenever he was on the floor. As an analyst, I sometimes get too caught up in advanced metrics, but watching Curry's gravity transform defensive schemes reminded me that some impacts transcend traditional statistics.

Kawhi Leonard's injury in the Western Conference Finals remains one of the great "what if" scenarios that still keeps me up at night. Before going down, he was putting up 27.7 points on 52.5% shooting while playing his typically elite defense. The Spurs were up 23 points in Game 1 when he re-injured his ankle, and I genuinely believe that moment altered NBA history. That's where the "almost" from our quote hits hardest - San Antonio thought they had Golden State, the crowd was overwhelming, and then came the injury that changed everything. The Warriors would go on to win that game and sweep the series, but we'll never know what might have been with a healthy Leonard.

Russell Westbrook's playoff run deserves more appreciation than it typically receives. Yes, his efficiency dipped from his MVP regular season, but averaging 37.4 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 10.8 assists in the first round against Houston was historically significant. The Thunder ultimately fell in five games, but Westbrook's Game 2 performance - 51 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists - stands as one of the most remarkable individual efforts I've ever witnessed in a losing cause. Sometimes we get so caught up in team success that we forget to appreciate historic individual achievements, even in defeat.

What fascinates me most about the 2017 playoffs in retrospect is how they represented basketball's evolution toward positionless basketball and three-point dominance. The Cavaliers and Warriors combined for an incredible 412 three-pointers throughout the playoffs, shattering previous records. The game was changing before our eyes, and these teams were at the forefront of that revolution. Golden State attempted 36.2 threes per game while Cleveland took 34.7 - numbers that would have been unthinkable just five years earlier but have since become the standard for contenders.

Looking back, the 2017 playoffs represented both the culmination of superteam dominance and the beginning of its inevitable decline. The Warriors and Cavaliers were so far ahead of the competition that it sometimes felt predetermined, yet the individual performances within that framework reached historic levels. That tension between team dominance and individual brilliance created moments that still resonate - the overwhelming cheers, the almost victories, the sudden pain of defeat. Statistics can quantify performance, but they can never fully capture the emotional journey that makes playoff basketball so compelling. The numbers from 2017 tell a story of historic excellence, but the human drama behind those numbers is what we truly remember years later.