Statistics
The series was the third straight championship that the Lakers clinched on the road (after 2001 and 2002); the last time the Lakers clinched the championship at home was in 2000. With their team's win, Pau Gasol became the first Spaniard, and D. J. Mbenga the first Belgian Congolese player, to win an NBA championship. Bill and Luke Walton became the third father and son pair to each win a championship as a player; the other father–son combinations are Matt Guokas, Sr. (1947) with Matt Jr. (1967) and Rick Barry (1975) with son Brent (2005 and 2007). Kobe Bryant averaged 32.4 points and 7.4 assists in this series, which was the best combination of those categories since Jerry West averaged 37.9 points and 7.4 assists (1969).
For the Magic, Game 3 marked their first Finals game victory; the franchise lost their first six Finals games after being swept in their first Finals appearance in 1995. In Game 3, the Magic also set the Finals record for the best field goal percentage with 63 percent, and the Finals record for the best field goal percentage in the first half with 75 percent.
This was the first NBA Finals series since 1984 to have two games go into overtime (Games 2 and 4); both were won by the Lakers. Dwight Howard set an NBA Finals single-game record with 9 blocked shots in Game 4. Although the game went into overtime, all blocks were during regulation. The previous record holders were his assistant coach, Patrick Ewing, who had 8 in Game 5 of the 1994 NBA Finals while with the New York Knicks, and Bill Walton who accomplished the same feat in Game 6 of the 1977 NBA Finals while playing for the Portland Trail Blazers.
This is the seventh time in NBA Finals history that a team that lost the championship the previous season has won the Finals the very next year. It is the second time in Lakers history, after the 1984 and 1985 teams.
This is also the first odd season since 2001 that the San Antonio Spurs did not win the NBA Finals; they won in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
This was the last Finals in which a trophy silhouette was painted in mid-court. The tradition began in 2005 and ended for the 2010 series. This was also the last NBA Finals to be played at Amway Arena; the Magic moved to the Amway Center for the 2010-11 season.
| Category | High | Average | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Lakers | Orlando Magic | |||||
| Player | Total | Player | Avg. | Player | Avg. | |
| Points | Kobe Bryant | 40 | Kobe Bryant | 32.4 | Hedo Türkoğlu | 18.0 |
| Rebounds | Dwight Howard Dwight Howard |
21 15 |
Pau Gasol | 9.2 | Dwight Howard | 15.2 |
| Assists | Kobe Bryant | 8 | Kobe Bryant | 7.4 | Rashard Lewis | 4.0 |
| Steals | Dwight Howard Mickaël Piétrus |
4 3 |
Trevor Ariza | 1.8 | Dwight Howard | 1.6 |
| Blocks | Dwight Howard Marcin Gortat Kobe Bryant Pau Gasol |
9 4 4 4 |
Pau Gasol | 1.8 | Dwight Howard | 4.0 |
Read more about this topic: 2009 NBA Finals
Famous quotes containing the word statistics:
“We already have the statistics for the future: the growth percentages of pollution, overpopulation, desertification. The future is already in place.”
—Günther Grass (b. 1927)
“July 4. Statistics show that we lose more fools on this day than in all the other days of the year put together. This proves, by the number left in stock, that one Fourth of July per year is now inadequate, the country has grown so.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“O for a man who is a man, and, as my neighbor says, has a bone in his back which you cannot pass your hand through! Our statistics are at fault: the population has been returned too large. How many men are there to a square thousand miles in this country? Hardly one.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)