Next Level Player of the Week

Nowitzki put up 48 points on 12-of-15 shooting in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, easily registering the best true shooting percentage (93.9 percent) in a playoff game in the shot clock era for a player attempting a minimum of 25 shots in a game. True shooting percentage is a way to measure overall scoring efficiency. Nowitzki's true shooting percentage was more than 10 percent higher than the next-highest percentage.

In his three-hit shutout Sunday, Shields struck out a career-high 13 Marlins batters. The performance registered the highest game score (93) in the majors this season. Game score, a metric devised by Bill James, measures a pitcher's single-game performance based on innings pitched, runs, hits, strikeouts and walks.

Bosh had done most of his scoring in close in Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference finals as the Heat split the first two games against the Bulls. In Game 3, Bosh found a good inside-outside balance, scoring 34 points on 13-of-18 shooting from the floor and 8-of-10 from the line. In the first two games, Bosh scored 26 of his 40 points from inside 10 feet. In Game 3, his jumper helped him pick up more points outside 10 feet (14) than inside 10 feet (12).

Peavy pitched a three-hit, complete-game shutout in a 1-0 win against the Indians on Wednesday. Of his 111 total pitches, Peavy threw at least 23 percent to every vertical zone (41 percent up, 36 percent middle, 23 percent down). The Indians went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in at-bats ending with a pitch down despite Peavy throwing 25 pitches in that quadrant.