#1 NBA Playoff Series Performance Of All-Time

[LongLiveTheKing]

LeBron James in game six of the WCF was the best performance of any athlete I have ever seen.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Jordan vs. '90 76ers (5 games)
43/7/7/4 stls on 55/39/85 (61.6 TS%)

Jordan vs. '91 Lakers (5 games)
31/11/6.6/2.8 stls on 56/50/85 (61 TS%)

[Deuce Bigalow]

Okay... not taking my vote unless I vote for a single series? Fine.

Kobe Bryant

2001 Western Conference Finals.

Biggest Margin of Victory for any Western Conference Finals Series in League History!!, against a great Spurs team.

33.3 PPG, 7 RPG, 7 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.8 BPG, 51% FG, 36% 3FG, 77% FT.

He literally destroyed a championship caliber team in a manner that has never been done before, and never has been done since, in a Western Conference Finals. Ever.

Nothing personal man it's just that you had one series then 3 other series so I didn't really know if you wanted one of them counted or was listing some.

[Odinn]

Nothing personal man it's just that you had one series then 3 other series so I didn't really know if you wanted one of them counted or was listing some.

I think we should pick who are going to vote much more carefully.

I mean, as you know, Duncan is my all-time favourite and if I vote for Duncan just because of this?
A stan will vote for his favourite player without considering any other player.

Also;

There are so many all-time great series. It's too hard to pick just one.
I think doing this decade by decade would be much healthier. Then we can discuss the greatest.

[necya]

C'mon !
Hard to pick one, will go with Bernard King against the Pistons in 1984

[eurobum]

Jordan 1993 finals: 41 ppg / 8.5 rpg / 6.3 apg / 1.7 spg / .508 FG

[bdreason]

Probably Hakeem's 95 WCF against the Spurs. Or maybe Shaq's Finals appearances in 2000 and 2001.

[LAZERUSS]

How about Chamberlain's '64-65 ECF, when he took his 40-40 Sixers to a game seven, one point loss, against Russell's 62-18 Celtics?

Thanks to Julizaver for this info:

Game 1 - 04.04.1965 - Boston win

Chamberlain 48 min 33 points (13-22 FG and 7/12 FT) 31 rebs, 3 assists
Russell 48 min 11 points (5-13 FG and 1/5 FT) 32 rebounds, 6 assists

Game 2 - 06.04.1965 - Phila win

Chamberlain 48 min 30 points (12-19 FG and 6/9 FT) 39 rebs, 8 assists, 8 blocks
Russell 48 min 12 points (5-12 FG and 2/3 FT) 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks

Game 3 - 08.04.1965 - Boston win

Chamberlain 48 min 24 points (7-21 FG and 10/15 FT) 37 rebs, 1 assist, 1 steal
Russell 48 min 19 points (9-17 FG and 1/4 FT) 26 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals

Game 4 - 09.04.1965 - Phila win

Chamberlain 53 min 34 points (11-24 FG and 12/20 FT) 34 rebs, 3 assists
Russell 52 min 18 points (8-19 FG and 2/7 FT) 25 rebounds

Game 5 - 11.04.1965 - Boston win

Chamberlain 30 points (13-23 FG and 4/8 FT) 21 rebs, 2 assists, 2 blocks
Russell 12 points (4-7 FG and 4/5 FT) 28 rebounds, 7 assists, 12 blocks, 3 steals

Game 6 - 13.04.1965 - Phila win

Chamberlain 48 min 30 points (13-22 FG and 4/8 FT) 26 rebs, 4 assists, 6 blocks *at least
Russell 22 points (8-19 FG and 6/10 FT) 21 rebounds, 5 assists

Game 7 - 15.04.1965 - Boston win

Chamberlain 48 min 30 points (12-15 FG and 6/13 FT) 32 rebs, 2 assists, 1 block
Russell 15 points (7-16 FG and 1/2 FT) 29 rebounds, 8 assists, 6 blocks


The series averages:

W. Chamberlain - 30.1 ppg, 31.4 rpg, 3.3 apg 55.48 FG % and 58.33 FT%
B. Russell - 15.6 ppg, 25.3 rpg, 6.5* apg 44.67 FG % and 47.22 FT %

* no data available for Game 4, so averages for 6 games

Incidently, and thanks to fpliii, we now know that Chamberlain recorded 11 blocks in game one, and 13 in game six.

[LAZERUSS]

Or how about Wilt's 63-64 WCF's, when he took a pathetic roster to a 48-32 record, and then a game seven series win over a 46-36 St. Louis team that was considerably better, players 2-6. That Hawks team featured a Pettit who was still averaging 27.4 ppg and 15.3 rpg, Cliff Hagen, Richie Guerin, Lenny Wilkens, Bill Bridges, and their center, Zelmor Beaty, who would go on to be a 5-time all-star player in his career.


In game three he scored 46 points, on 19-36 shooting from the floor, with 23 rebounds. In game five he scored 50 points, on 22-32 shooting, and with 15 rebounds and 6 assists. And in the clinching game seven win, he scored 39 points, on 19-29 shooting, with 30 rebounds, and an estimated 12 blocks.

For the series, Chamberlain averaged 38.6 ppg, 23.0 rpg, and shot .559 from the field.

[TheTenth]

Or how about Wilt's 63-64 WCF's, when he took a pathetic roster to a 48-32 record, and then a game seven series win over a 46-36 St. Louis team that was considerably better, players 2-6. That Hawks team featured a Pettit who was still averaging 27.4 ppg and 15.3 rpg, Cliff Hagen, Richie Guerin, Lenny Wilkens, Bill Bridges, and their center, Zelmor Beaty, who would go on to be a 5-time all-star player in his career.


In game three he scored 46 points, on 19-36 shooting from the floor, with 23 rebounds. In game five he scored 50 points, on 22-32 shooting, and with 15 rebounds and 6 assists. And in the clinching game seven win, he scored 39 points, on 19-29 shooting, with 30 rebounds, and an estimated 12 blocks.

For the series, Chamberlain averaged 38.6 ppg, 23.0 rpg, and shot .559 from the field.

That, the 1997 Finals by Jordan, or the 1988 series by Olajuwon are the three greatest series I can think of off the top of my head.

[KOBE143]

LeBron 2011 NBA finals..

[OldSchoolBBall]

Jordan's '91 Finals is as perfect a series as a player can have: 31.2 pts/6/7 reb/11.4 ast/2.8 stl/1.4 blk/56% FG and absurd defensive impact even beyond those numbers. Dude was everywhere this series. Hit 13 straight FG's in game 2. Epic.

Aside from that, Jordan's '90 series vs. Philly is the most dominant I can recall: 43.0 pts/6.6 reb/7.4 ast/4.0 stl/1.2 blk/55% FG. And those defensive numbers don't tell half the story about how good he was defensively this series - dude got his hands on the ball like 6-10 times each game, caused bad/hurried shots, broke up transition opportunities singlehandedly etc. Just a terror.

He has a had a few other series on that level offensively too:

45.0 pts/9.7 reb/6.7 ast/3.0stl/1.0 blk/61% FG vs. Miami in 1992

39.8 pts/5.8 reb/8.2 ast/3.0 stl/52% FG vs. Cleveland in 1989

36.8 pts/8.0 reb/7.0 ast/2.5 stl/1.0 blk/54% FG vs. Milwaukee in 1990


And a few others too (his '92 and '93 Finals, for instance, were not far off from this level offensively).

[fpliii]

jlauber - What are Wilt's best 10 series, in your opinion? It's really tough for me to pick the 64 WDF or 65 ECF over the 67 Boston series. Yes, his team was better (largely because of Wilt himself) but he averaged a likely quad double and knocked off the 8-time defending NBA champs.

[TheTenth]

jlauber - What are Wilt's best 10 series, in your opinion? It's really tough for me to pick the 64 WDF or 65 ECF over the 67 Boston series. Yes, his team was better (largely because of Wilt himself) but he averaged a likely quad double and knocked off the 8-time defending NBA champs.

Lol I'm not jlauber but I can help out here.

His series vs. the Royal in 1967 was the best all around/most efficient.
His first ever playoff series against Nats was 2nd best scoring but the worst rebounding one.
His 1964 series vs. Hawks was probably the best scoring/rebounding/efficiency combo he put up.

[jlauber]

jlauber - What are Wilt's best 10 series, in your opinion? It's really tough for me to pick the 64 WDF or 65 ECF over the 67 Boston series. Yes, his team was better (largely because of Wilt himself) but he averaged a likely quad double and knocked off the 8-time defending NBA champs.

His '67 ECF's was likely his greatest. Not just his numbers, either, but the fact that he so thoroughly outplayed Russell in every facet of the game. He outscored Russell, per game, 21.6 ppg to 10.2 ppg; he outassisted Russell. per game, 10.0 apg to 6.0 apg; he outrebounded Russell, per game, 32.0 rpg to 23.4 rpg; and he outshot Russell from the field by a .556 to .358 margin.

That was a known triple double series, and while I don't believe he averaged double-digit blocks, in the four known games, he averaged 7.3 bpg, which included a know game performance of 24-32-13 and 12 blocks (on 10-16 shooting.) And he just crushed Russell in the clinching game five win, outscoring him, 29-4; outshooting him, 10-16 to 2-5; outassisting him, 13-7; and outrebounding him, 36-21.

And as The Tenth stated, how about his performance in the previous series against the Royals? 28 ppg, 26.5 rpg, 11.0 apg, .612 FG%, and an estimated 12.3 bpg. In that series, he had scoring games of 41, on 19-30 shooting, and 37 points, on 16-24 shooting, too. And if the estimated figure is anywhere close to correct, his game three was a sensational quad-double (16 points, 30 rebounds, 19 assists, and 20 blocks.)

And finally, he then absolutely destroyed Nate Thurmond in the Finals, too. And this was a prime Thurmond, in arguably his greatest season (he finished second in the MVP voting.) He outscored Nate, per game, 17.5 pg to 14.3 ppg; outrebounded Thurmond, per game; 28.5 to 26.7 rpg; and outshot Nate by an eye-popping .560 to .343 margin. And those numbers don't come close to illustrating his overhwleming dominance against Thurmond. He outscored Thurmond in five of those six games, and outrebounded him in five of the six (including one game by a 38-31 margin.) And in the clinching game six win he outscored Thurmond, 24-12; outrebounded him, 23-22; and outshot him from the field, 8-13 to 4-13. Once again, though, that .560 FG% against Thurmond was unbelievable. Kareem faced Thurmond in three playoff series, and shot .486, .428, and .405 against him.

He also added 6.8 apg, which included two games of 10...or two more triple-doubles. And, he had a known 10 block game in that series, and the estimated total was 61, or 10.2 bpg, and two estimated games of 15 and 13. If the blocked shots were correct, that would have given him another quad double game in game two of 10-38-10-10.

If the blocked shots were correct, Chamberlain would have averaged a triple-double in all three playoff series, and a quad-double in one of them. His complete playoff averages would have been, 21.7 ppg, 29.1 rpg, 9.2 apg, 10.0 bpg, and all on .579 shooting. Furthermore, he just buried all three of his opposing centers in the process, including HOFers Thurmond and Russell.