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With the NBA Playoffs starting as the regular season ends, the league’s leaders in statistical categories are sorted out. Among the league leaders this year is Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum, who yet again ranked as the league’s leader in distance ran with 218 miles.
StatMuse outlined McCollum’s three-year reign on top of the distance covered category prior to Portland’s game against the Utah Jazz:
CJ McCollum will finish this season leading the league in total distance ran. He's done this in three straight seasons.
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 10, 2018
2017-18: 215.3 miles
2016-17: 208.4 miles
2015-16: 207.4 miles pic.twitter.com/FfwkeSsbrA
Damian Lillard and Nicolas Batum (in his Blazer days) have appeared near the top of this category in recent years as well.
Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype highlighted the numbers within McCollum’s season in terms of distance:
McCollum, 26, covered more miles on offense (121.3) this year than any other player in the league since the stat was first tracked on NBA.com. For perspective, that’s 1.52 miles per game — just on offense. He added another 1.17 miles per game on the defensive end.
He was also moving fast, too, running an average speed of nearly five miles per hour on offense.
Despite all the running McCollum does, the Blazers have performed poorly in fast break situations. Jeff Siegel here at Blazer’s Edge broke down how this might bite Portland in the playoffs.