Go figure: Stat titles rarely lead to NBA titles

It's already known that Oklahoma City won't win the NBA title, since the Thunder didn't make the playoffs. Odd as it seems, excelling in the regular season doesn't guarantee anything in the postseason - a weird fact as the NBA gets set to open its playoffs on Saturday. The last player to win an NBA championship in the same season that he took home one of the league's top stat crowns - points, rebounds, assists, steals or blocks per game - was Shaquille O'Neal, when he won the scoring race in 2000 and the Lakers won that season's Finals. No rebounding champion has been on the title team since Dennis Rodman in 1998, no assist king since Magic Johnson in 1987, no steals leader since Michael Jordan in 1993 and no top blocker since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1980.