NBA Finals 2015: Most Important Stats from Warriors vs. Cavaliers Series

People lie all the time.

They spit untruths when they say LeBron James wasn’t the most valuable player in a series in which he averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.3 assists. Each of those numbers is double—two times!—what the guy with the trophy put up.

They tell fibs when they say the Golden State Warriors didn’t have an easier run to the title than most others, being that they experienced virtually no injuries while their opponents were all severely hampered every round.

Numbers, though, do not lie. And they never will.

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest and most important stats from what was a tremendous 2015 NBA Finals.

Number: 28.4

Significance: Combined shooting percentage of J.R. Smith, Matthew Dellavedova and Iman Shumpert

Ben Margot/Associated Press

J.R. Smith (31.2 percent), Matthew Dellavedova (28.3) and Iman Shumpert (25.6) were horrible.

Granted, Delly had his moments early in the series. He went toe-to-toe with league MVP Stephen Curry, made that insane floater in Game 3 and helped close out the games that Cleveland did win.

But as a statistical whole? Horrible.

All together, the trio averaged a combined 25.5 points per game, which is still over 10 points less than what James poured in. The King simply didn’t have enough offensive help, and Smith, Dellavedova and Shumpert were three guys who were supposed to give him some.

It’s not like they were total scrubs either. Smith, especially, has shown the ability to get scalding hot with the rock throughout his career. He even set a Cavs record for made three-pointers in a game in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images

So, what happened when the lights were their brightest and the pressure its strongest? Why did they come up so small?

The former New York Knicks just didn't come to play Finals basketball. Even Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tried to remind Shumpert where he was after a poor defensive play in Game 6:

Shump did play decent defense at times, but far too often Curry or Klay Thompson destroyed him. Smith’s contribution was mainly a few garbage-time triples that kept fans from turning away from Game 6. And, of course, we all know about Delly’s quick, but brief rise to stardom.

These guys choked, plain and simple—there’s no other explanation for that 28.4 combined shooting percentage.

Number: 15.8

Significance: Klay Thompson’s scoring average

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Thompson really didn’t have a good series.

Like, at all.

The second Splash Brother missed a lot of shots and wound up with an ugly 15.8 points per game after averaging 21.7 in the regular season.

Thompson hit just 30 percent of his three-point attempts in the Finals, well lower than his 43.9 mark during the 2014-15 campaign.

And therein lies the difference between the Warriors and Cavaliers: Golden State is so deep that it can handle a bad game (and, in this case, a series) from one of its top guns.

Curry stepped up. Finals MVP Andre Iguodala, despite being undeserving of the award, rose to the occasion. Draymond Green thrived in his jack-of-all-trades role.

Ben Margot/Associated Press

“That's just the offense,” Thompson said after a nine-point performance in Game 4, per Jeff Faraudo of the San Jose Mercy News. “It's an equal-opportunity offense. If they want to take away one thing, we're very comfortable with the other guys beating you, because they've been doing it all year.”

Thompson wasn’t horrible, by any means, but he simply wasn’t his usual assassin self. Still, all those factors allowed him to stay engaged and ready when the moment came. In the closing minutes of Game 6, it came—and the shooting guard was prepared.

Curry was dancing around the perimeter when he, apparently on a whim, slung an over-the-head pass to his fellow Splash Bro in the opposite corner. Thompson buried the three, his second bucket of a five-point night, and uncharacteristically celebrated as he ran back on defense:

Thompson knew it, and so did the Cavs and the rest of the world—that series was over.

The 25-year-old’s poor performance will fly mostly under the radar, especially now that Golden State has won the title.

And while there is something to be said for playing alongside a legend like James, Smith, Delly and Shumpert probably wish they were in Thompson’s shoes—on a team so rich in talent that its top players can struggle on the biggest stage…and still win.

All stats are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.