It is all about flow VS duration. The more degrees you are accessing higher flow the more power you can make, you also do not want flow from intake to exhaust or cylinder back up the intake, this is the big secret to all the power the OEMs are making with baby cams duration speaking. They are not afraid to build a head with tremendous low/mid lift flow and use cams to access the higher lifts faster.

.050 lift is less than a penny thickness BTW and will have very little effect on flow if the peak lift is the only change thats why all the duration numbers are needed.