Looking at a box score is something anyone can do. Who lead my team in scoring? How'd we shoot from the field? And while that knowledge is useful, does it really earn you bonus points around the water cooler?
That's why I'm here. I'm bringing you the S.W.I.M: Statistics Worth Increased Media. Let Joe from accounting regurgitate what he heard on the way in this morning; you're better than that. Use these nuggets to gain a unique perspective about last night's Thunder/Rockets game.
The Rockets led the league in FTA and FTM, yet Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook made more freebies than the entire Houston roster.
The Thunder have won four straight games when Durant makes 10-plus free throws and lost four straight when he makes less than ten.
Russell Westbrook recorded his sixth straight multi-steal effort, his longest streak since December 2012.
Since the first day of 2013, Serge Ibaka has two 15-rebound 4-block games against the Rockets and one such game against the rest of the NBA.
Oklahoma City has not lost a home game in 2014 when Reggie Jackson turns the ball over less than twice.
For the first time in more than three years, Derek Fisher recorded more assists than FGA (minimum of five points scored).
The Thunder won this game despite scoring 7.3 fewer points than they have averaged over their last four losses.
The Rockets have yet to win a road game in which Dwight Howard fails to record an assist.
Howard is playing more like he did in Orlando than in Los Angeles, but the offensive aggression is still lacking. In 11 games since the all star break, Howard hasn't attempted more than 13 field goals ten times. He averaged over 13 FGA in his final two years in Orlando (not to mention his 9.4 FTA are his fewest since 2006-2007).
Chandler Parsons has scored exactly 19 points in nearly 20% of his games over the last three months.
Francisco Garcia made one two-point bucket, matching his most successful outing from inside the arc in this calendar year.
Houston has won just four of their 16 games when they score fewer than 100 points, with only one such victory since December 8th.
