Did you know that if you put together the distances of all the made shots in the 2002-03 NBA season, it would total 84,884 feet or 16.07 miles? Did you know Allen Iverson has 20 tattoos? Did you know 146 playoff games in NBA history have been decided by one point? You didn't? Don't worry, one man knows. And that one man is Harvey Pollack, the 76ers' Director of Statistical Information.
You can buy Pollack's book at Sixers.com.

Each season he puts all these succulent statistics into one place: Harvey Pollack's 2003-2004 NBA Statistical Yearbook.

"The first one was in 1994-95," Pollack said. "Originally, half of the Sixers' media guide was dedicated to what's in the book now. Since it became a separate book, I have more than 240 categories."

You can learn a lot about the NBA from Pollack, the only man still employed in the NBA to be associated with the league for every year of its existence. Pollack and his staff of a dozen interns work year round to pack every inch of the 232-page book. And even those 232 pages aren't enough, as Pollack wedges stats onto inside of the back and front covers.

The 2003-04 yearbook has some telling numbers. Here are some of the more interesting stats from that edition.

PLUS-MINUS RATINGS

"One of my favorite stats is the plus-minus," Pollack said. "I think it shows something."

Used in hockey for years, it has become vogue in the NBA. Plus-minus is determined by adding all the points scored by a player's team and the opposition while he was in the game. So, my team scores 45 points and the other team scores 20 points, my plus-minus rating is +25. Here are the top five and bottom five in the plus-minus ratings for 2002-03.

TOP 5 PLUS-MINUS

Duncan
Dirk Nowitzki (Dal.), +753
Michael Finley (Dal.), +649
Tim Duncan (SAS), +571
Steve Nash (Dal.), +559
Doug Christie (Sac.), +521
BOTTOM 5 PLUS-MINUS

Davis
Ricky Davis (Cle.), -645
Carlos Boozer (Cle.), -498
Juwan Howard (Den.), -493
Milt Palacio (Cle.), -468
Trenton Hassell (Chi.), -424


FOURTH QUARTER SCORING

TOP 10 FOURTH QUARTER SCORING

Bryant
1. Kobe Bryant, 578
2. Tracy McGrady, 526
3. Jalen Rose, 510
4. Allen Iverson, 508
5. Paul Pierce, 505
6. Stephon Marbury, 498
7. Shawn Marion, 461
8. Dirk Nowitzki, 461
9. Allan Houston, 434
10. Steve Francis, 421
When you need someone to score in the fourth quarter, who are you going to call? More than anyone, the Lakers' Kobe Bryant poured in the points in the final quarter. He led the league with 578 fourth-quarter points.

Here are the leaders for the other three quarters and the fourth quarter top ten:

First quarter: Tracy McGrady, 686
Second quarter: Tracy McGrady, 588
Third quarter: Kobe Bryant, 655


DUNKS

Pollack separates dunks into seven categories: slam dunks; regular dunks; driving dunks, alley-oop dunks, follow-up dunks; running dunks and reverse dunks.

Shaquille O'Neal led the league with 251 total dunks and 147 slam dunks. Since 1987, O'Neal is the NBA's dunk king. He's stuffed 2,698 shots in his career. That's 5,296 easy points. Here are the leaders in the other categories for 2002-03:

TOP 10 DUNKERS

O'Neal
1. Shaquille O'Neal, 251
2. Kenyon Martin, 166
3. Pau Gasol, 155
4. Amare Stoudemire, 139
5. Nene, 131
6. Jermaine O'Neal, 118
7. Kobe Bryant, 116
8. Richard Jefferson, 111
9. Tim Duncan, 110
10. Andrei Kirilenko, 109
VARIOUS DUNK STATS

Gasol
Regular dunks: Jamaal Magloire, New Orleans, 59
Driving dunks: Pau Gasol, Memphis, 50
Alley-oop dunks: Kenyon Martin, New Jersey, 49
Follow-up dunks: Stromile Swift, Memphis and Stoudemire, Phoenix, 18
Running dunks: Caron Butler, Miami, 8
Reverse dunks: Richard Jefferson, New Jersey, 15


DISTANCE OF 2002-03 FIELD GOALS

VARIOUS DISTANCE STATS

Payton
Layup leader: Gary Payton, Seattle-Milwaukee, 311
Tip-in leader: Erick Dampier, Golden State, 35
Five-foot leader: Jermaine O'Neal, Indiana, and
Antawn Jamison, Golden State, 41
10-foot leader: Jermaine O'Neal, Indiana, 38
15-foot leader: Michael Jordan, Washington, 52
20-foot leader: Chris Webber, Sacramento, 52
22-foot leader: Wesley Person, Memphis, 33
23-foot leader: Shawn Marion, Phoenix, 54
24-foot leader: Allan Houston, New York, 59
25-foot leader: Ray Allen, Mil.-Sea., 69
Going through every team's play-by-play for the season, Pollack's staff calculates the distance of every made shot in the NBA. From dunks, tip ins and lay ups, Pollack will add finger rolls to the 2004-05 edition of the book.

"I started measuring this stat about five years ago when someone said all Shaquille O'Neal does is score his baskets on dunks," Pollack said. "The first year, he scored more on layups than dunks."

From tip-ins (Erick Dampier had 35 in 2002-03) to 29-foot heaves (Stephon Marbury had three), here are some assorted stats regarding distances of field goals last season.



HAVING THEIR SHOTS BLOCKED

HAVING THEIR SHOTS BLOCKED

O'Neal
"This is the stat that no one wants to lead the league in," Pollack said, when asked about another favorite stat.

While the NBA keeps track of who blocks the shots, who exactly is having their shots blocked? The results may surprise you.

The top five guys are all taller than 6-9. And the player who had the most shots blocked last season (drum roll, please): Jermaine O'Neal.

Jermaine O'Neal? Yes, the Pacers 7-0 forward-center had 131 shots rejected in 2002-03. As far as having the most shots blocked in the last 11 seasons, Abdur-Rahim leads that list with 960. Here's last season's top five.