Honestly I was just bored last night flipping through playoff highlights when I noticed Dame hitting some wild shots. Thought “How’s this dude really stack up?” Figured I’d actually sit down today and compare his numbers to other big names. Grabbed my laptop, cracked open a fresh spreadsheet like it was 2005 again.
The Starting Struggle
First thing – finding the freaking stats. NBA’s site buried them like treasure. Scrolled forever, clicked fifty filters just to get playoff numbers alone. Wanted guys like Curry, Butler, Tatum, Booker – anyone making noise recently. My coffee went cold during that garbage search. Copied everything messy into Excel, cursing at how the formatting came out all sideways. Tables looked like scrambled eggs.
Excel Nightmares
Tried making charts immediately – big mistake. Clicked “insert graph,” picked bars expecting magic. Got this hot mess instead:
- Stats overlapping like subway crowds
- Butler’s points bar ate Booker’s entire row
- PPG numbers showed in Spanish? Still confused
Bashed Ctrl+Z so hard I worried about keys flying off. Stupid app froze twice. Almost threw my mouse.
The Manual Savior
Gave up on automation. Just plugged numbers manually into a new sheet like a caveman. One stat per cell, sweating over decimals. Accidentally typed Dame’s assists as 75 instead of 7.5 – spent ten minutes wondering why he looked like a basketball god before catching it. Rewatched the coffee pot brew instead for sanity.
The Final Picture
Four hours later… printed it out like a paper receipt. Held it up to the window. Dame’s clutch numbers actually popped against the rest, especially fourth quarter stuff. His scoring spiked like crazy when games got tight – higher than Tatum and Booker in those final minutes. But man, his overall percentages? Middling compared to Curry’s lasers. Defense stats barely registered. Felt like seeing a puzzle finally connect.
Big Lesson?
Never trusting auto-import again. And playoff numbers? They’re messy. One year a guy balls out, next year he disappears. My take? Dame’s got guts when it matters most – but ain’t no all-around monster like others. Whole process felt like doing taxes barefoot on Legos. Pretty sure I’ll never do this again unless whiskey’s involved.
