Jimmy Butler and LeBron James’ epic duel explained by 4 incredible stats

What a game.

On Friday night, we saw two of the most dominant performances we’ve ever seen in NBA Finals history.

Jimmy Butler and LeBron James went toe to toe in game 5 — it was like watching a prize fight on the hardwood. LeBron was playing for his 4th championship and a Finals MVP. Butler was playing just to keep his team alive for another game.

The end result was epic. Butler played 47 minutes and finished with 35 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and 5 steals. James poured in his own near triple-double with 40 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 6 (!!!!) made three-pointers.

Those numbers are incredible. But the raw totals don’t even begin to tell the whole story. They’re historic.

Just starting with Butler, he’s now one of two players in NBA history to put up a 30-point triple-double with at least five steals. The other is Gary Payton, who did it in 2000.

He also just become the second player in Finals history to record at least two 30-point triple doubles in a single Finals series. The other? Duh. It’s LeBron James.

Moving on to James, he passed Michael Jordan to become the oldest player in NBA Finals history to score at least 40 points in a game.

His 40-point, 10-rebound performance also was the 5th if his NBA Finals career, tying him with Shaquille O’Neal for the most in league history.

What a matchup. What a duel. Just incredible basketball played at the highest level between these two. This is one of the best duels we’ve seen in quite some time.

Please, two more games of this. Thanks.

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