Thunder vs. Heat: Most Ridiculous Stats of the 2012 NBA Finals

The NBA Finals provides the biggest possible showcase for talent in the world of basketball. Millions of eyeballs are tuned in as the best players in the sport attempt to do what they do best. 

While that usually produces competitive and entertaining games, it can also produce some crazy statistical anomalies. 

Players catch fire (or the opposite). Streaks are broken and records are set. 

These are the five most ridiculous stats thus far during the 2012 NBA Finals. 

Shane Battier's Downtown Shooting

Even Shane Battier knows that he can't possibly keep up his current performance from behind the three-point arc. As reported by Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins: 

"I don't prescribe to the hot hand theory. I believe in regression to the mean. A guy is going to be who he is. You are who you are." 

What the veteran small forward has been able to do during the NBA Finals has been simply staggering thus far. 

After making six of his nine shots from downtown in Game 1 and scoring 17 points in the process, Battier followed the performance up with another six three-pointers in Game 2, this time on eight attempts. He wasn't as active in Game 3, but he did make both of his shots from behind the arc. 

That means that Battier has drained 14 of his 19 attempts from distance, good for a scorching 73.3 percent.

Before Battier, only 11 other players since 1985 had ever made six or more three pointers in a Finals game. Now, the Miami Heat forward joins Ray Allen as the only players to ever do so twice. While Allen's were separated by two years, Battier's were separated by zero games. 

He's also the first player since the Orlando Magic's Dennis Scott in 1995 to make at least four triples in four-straight postseason games. 

Kevin Durant's Ice Water during the Fourth Quarter

Apparently, Kevin Durant was made to make shots in the fourth quarters of NBA Finals games. If he had a calling, that was it. 

During the first two games of this series, Durant combined for a jaw-dropping 33 points in fourth quarters alone. 

Not only does that make him the first player to score at least 14 fourth-quarter points in consecutive Finals games since the ABA-NBA merger, but it also gives him 10 more points than anyone else in the same time frame. 

Durant also used those 33 fourth-quarter points to score 68 total in Games 1 and 2, giving him more points in his first two Finals games than anybody but Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan. That's not bad company to keep. 

Heat Can't Shoot Jumpers

Apparently the Miami Heat completely forgot how to shoot the basketball from outside of the restricted area during Game 3. 

When shooting from distances that needed two digits to write out, the Heat made only six of their 34 attempts, good (bad?) for 17.7 percent. You'd think that the Heat either would have started making shots or stopped taking them, but that's not at all what happened. 

Was it the role players doing the missing? Nope. 

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined for 3-of-22 shooting from the same range, good (bad?) for 13.6 percent. In fact, since the trio joined forces, the team has never shot so poorly. 

Amazingly enough, Miami was still victorious in Game 3. 

Serge I-Block-a in Game 2

We all know that Serge Ibaka is pretty decent at rejecting shots, seeing as he led the entire NBA in total blocks for each of the past two seasons. 

We also know that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are all pretty good at avoiding having their shots blocked. 

James, Wade and Bosh were in for a shock as Ibaka swatted away shots from each of them. By doing so, the Oklahoma City Thunder power forward joined Jermaine O'Neal and Dwight Howard as the only players to do so.  

Russell Westbrook does it all

For all the Heat (pun intended) that Russell Westbrook takes on a daily basis, he sure knows how to put up some solid numbers. 

Thanks to his ridiculous athleticism and explosiveness, plus the fact that the ball seems to always be in his hands, Westbrook can produce lines like no other. 

Since Charles Barkley did so in 1993, no player in Finals history has recorded 25 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists in a single game. That streak was ended when Westbrook put up 27 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists, which also allowed him to join Michael Jordan as the only two players to go for at least 25 points and 10 assists. 

The list of players who have gone 25, 8 and 10 in a Finals game is pretty exclusive: Michael Jordan, James Worthy (twice), Clyde Drexler, Barkley, Magic Johnson (three times) and Larry Bird (twice). Now you can add Westbrook to the list. 

Can we stop hating on him so much?