[dude1394]

Nice stuff.... read the rest...
http://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2011/8/...-dirk-nowitzki

In the wake of one of the most impressive playoffs in recent memory, nearly everyone was jubilant, respectful and ready to lavish the plaudits so long denied. A couple of people did take the time—not harshly, usually—to point out that numbers-wise Dirk’s amazing postseason actually wasn’t so impressive (but impressive, still!). Dirk himself has had, they said, better postseasons. Statistically, that’s accurate. In reality, these statements are an insult to basketball.
I’m a guy who’s really pro advanced stats. No luddites here. But no account of how many points Dirk scored can tell you how he scored them. No recounting of his best lines can tell you when those shots went in. There simply are no numbers to describe how every time it mattered, Dirk made the shot. Sometimes more than one.
Take Game 2 against the Heat. You could say that Dirk was 10-22, for 24 points, and say pretty good game. Wade had 36 points, but pretty good, Dirk. However, there’s no stat that will tell you that, in the last five minutes, with a 15 point lead, Wade missed three long three-pointers, while Dirk went 4-4 for 9 points. Even if there was, there would be no stat that told you that Dirk hit the tying bucket, the go-ahead bucket, and the winning bucket all within 57 seconds. As well as the bucket which brought it within two in the first place. It was breathtaking.

There would be no stat that told you that Dirk scored what should have been the game-winning three-pointer with 26 seconds left, but Jason Terry left Chalmers wide open to tie it two seconds later, so Dirk went ahead and made a layup with 3 seconds left, just so it stayed won. Two game-winners in 26 seconds. There's no stat for that.
Did the same thing in game 4 against the Thunder. Yes, his 12-20 for 40 points dents the stat sheet some anyway. But that’s not going to tell you anything about another 15 point deficit, with 5 minutes left, another 4-4 spree for 10 points.
There won’t be a number that will tell you that when Russell Westbrook made a two-pointer with 2:30 left to give a ten-point lead, apparently on route to a 2-2 split in the series, Dirk lined up a three-pointer ten seconds later that didn’t come close to the rim, then followed it with two long jumpers and two clutch free throws to send it into OT, where it’d be won.
Certainly his 9-27 for 21 points in Game 6 against the Heat won’t tell you that he scored 18 of those in the second half, and NOTHING will tell you that the Heat, rather than folding in the fourth scored 18 points in the last 7:30 of the game, only to see Dirk score 10 of his own in that span to keep that lead just as comfortable as we all remember it being. That's not even a narrative that exists now, but it's true. The Heat fought like crazy to get to a game 7. Dirk said no.
And numbers won’t tell you that even that one shot, that one game-winner he missed, the only one in the entire playoffs that I can remember, came after he scored 12 points in 5 minutes to tie the thing up in the first place.