Which Center was the best at their peak? - playoffs

[AussieSteve]

I analyzed which center was the best at their peak in the regular season, based on a combination of stats and team performance, in this thread...

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=422184

This post attempts to quantify who was the best center at their peak, based solely on playoff performance. That is, which center had the single best 20 consecutive playoff game stretch. (I chose 20 games, because it’s about the minimum you would expect for a championship run)

Using the same formula as I described in the link above, which takes each players average game score and weights it by their teams win %, the best 20 consecutive playoff games by the top 6 centers since 1978 (since all stats became available) were

1. Shaq – 24.15 (17 wins, 32.6ppg, 16.0rpg, 2.9apg, 0.7spg, 2.5bpg, 3.1tov .570 TS%) (7/6/00 -> 10/6/01)
2. Kareem* – 21.82 (13 wins, 31.1ppg, 12.3rpg, 3.7apg, 1.1spg, 4.0bpg, 3.7tov .617 TS%) (13/4/79-> 10/5/80)
3. Hakeem – 21.27 (15 wins, 32.8ppg, 10.5rpg, 4.4apg, 1.4spg, 2.6bpg, 3.4tov, .560 TS%) (5/5/95 -> 25/4/96)
4. Moses* - 18.64 (15 wins, 24.8ppg, 14.9rpg, 1.8apg, 1.4spg, 1.9bpg, 3.2tov, .577 TS%) (25/4/82 -> 17/4/85)
5. Robinson - 17.48 (12 wins, 27.0ppg, 12.0rpg, 3.3apg, 1.5spg, 2.8bpg, 3.5tov, .560 TS%) (30/4/95 -> 9/5/96)
6. Ewing – 15.48 (12 wins, 25.4pg, 11.0rpg, 2.9apg, 1.3spg, 2.2bpg, 3.0tov, .546 TS%) (6/5/93 -> 15/5/94)


So, when considering both individual output and team results, Shaq had the highest peak playoff performance. His level during the 2000 and 2001 playoffs was higher than any other center since 1978.

*Moses and Kareem’s stats are affected by missing data, as I discussed in the link above. Also Kareem’s true peak was obviously before 1978, so this is not indicating that Shaq’s playoff peak was in fact better than Kareem’s.

For the record, Dwight Howard just missed out on 6th spot. His best 20 consectutive games during the 2009 playoffs were

7. Howard – 15.44 (12 wins, 20.5pg, 15.3rpg, 1.9apg, 1.0spg, 2.3bpg, 2.8tov, .636 TS%) (22/4/09 -> 9/6/09)