All that Glitters is Gold: The 2015 NBA Finals Numbers Game, Part I

It was the first time in two score years that the team from Bay Area, the Golden State Warriors clinched their fourth NBA title beating four time MVP LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers. The Warriors joined the Celtics, Bulls, Lakers and the Spurs to be only the fifth team to win at least 4 NBA titles. Steve Kerr was only the fourth head coach to win the Finals after winning five as a player and only the first rookie coach to win the Finals since Pat Riley, having joined the season in 2014. No oracle's crystal ball had foreseen the greatness the Warrior's were destined for. Welcome to the two part series covering the NBA Finals 2015 with all interesting stats.

The win percentage for Steve Kerr's Warriors ousting 81.6 of Coach Auerbach.

Both teams entered the Finals with a title drought of four decades. The Warriors came in with a record breaking 67-15 and a 39-2 home record. Cavaliers had a sour start to the season with 19-20 in the first 39 games despite having James, Love and Irving: the ‘Big Three’. The Warriors won 4-2 without prior finals experience from any player on the team.

Only 5 teams have won at least 4 NBA titles or more and the Warriors came to the party this year

Steph Curry was declared the most valuable player of 2015 with 23.8/4.3/7.7 while his veteran teammate Andre Iguodala was crowned the MVP of the Finals. The Splash Brothers, Klay and Curry scored 525 three pointers surpassing their own record by 41.

The first game was won by the Warriors 108-100 in overtime. The Cavs started strong with a 29-15 lead. James got a 44 point high but couldn’t change the Cavaliers’ fate. In a turn of events, Irving was ruled out with a fractured knee-cap and joined the other ‘Big Three’ Kevin Love on the injured list.

It was first time since 1998 that neither the Heat, Spurs or Lakers had made it to the Finals.

The first game was won by the Warriors 108-100 in overtime. The Cavs started strong with a 29-15 lead. James got a 44 point high but couldn’t change the Cavaliers’ fate. In a turn of events, Irving was ruled out with a fractured knee-cap and joined the other ‘Big Three’ Kevin Love on the injured list.

The Cavs bounced back in the second game to tie the series 1-1. LeBron got his fifth Finals triple double only second to Magic Johnson’s eight. The tides had turned and Dellavedova became an impenetrable wall for Curry. Curry had got only 5-for-23 and missed 13 3-pointers. The Cavaliers walked with a win to play the third game at home. The way the Warriors crushed the opposition reminded us of the Jordan-era at the Chicago Bulls. Things would turn out to be more interesting as the the two teams turned up the heat to be crowned Champions.Read the second part of this two part series on the NBA Finals 2015 with some more exciting d3.js visualizations and how the rest of the Finals panned out for both the teams.

Due to some problem with Blogger the map is not working as it was supposed to, check out the actual interactive version here.