michael jordan has the most points in nba finals history.
michael jordan has the most points in nba finals history.
who has the most points in nba finals history?
michael jordan
midway through the 1996 nba finals, seattle coach george karl decided to assign payton to play defense as a shooting guard instead of his normal point guard assignment in order to defend jordan. though the bulls won the series, seattle's (and especially payton's) defense held jordan and the bulls to their lowest offensive output in an nba finals and "frustrated the best player in the game." in his first three nba finals, jordan averaged 36.3 points per game and had scored at least 30 points in 14 of his 17 games. however, in the 1996 finals, jordan averaged 27.3 points per game and scored more than 30 points in only one of the six games. in a game 5 preview after payton had held jordan to a career nba finals low of 23, an nba pregame show described the rivalry of two strong defensive players renowned for their competitiveness. "[in game 4, jordan had his] lowest output in a finals game, much of it with payton guarding him. though afterwards, jordan refused to give payton credit, saying 'no one can stop me, i can only stop myself. i missed some easy shots.' the truth is, jordan finds the nba's defensive player of the year [payton] annoying. he views the [young payton] as impudent, and he would love to have a big game at [payton's] expense." (nba on nbc preview, game 5) the sonics won that game by 21 points and payton held jordan to 26 points – jordan's second-lowest-scoring finals game in his career up to that point. in game 6, which the bulls would win to capture the championship, payton played 47 minutes and jordan missed 14 of his 19 shots, getting a career finals low 22 points. bill walton, commentating for nbc at the time, said payton "outplayed" jordan during the second half of the series, and that seattle coach george karl would "rue" the decision to "hide [payton] from 'the king'" in the early games of the series. during this series, payton and his sonics also held jordan's bulls to the lowest-scoring quarter in their nba finals history. michael jordan would never score fewer points in an nba finals game than his 22 points in game 6, and would never be held under 30 points more than twice in a finals series, which the sonics did five times.
gary payton
the spurs were responsible for winning four championships during this time, in 1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007. in the 1999 nba playoffs, the spurs finished with a 15–2 mark, including sweeps of the blazers and lakers. with a defensive squad led by david robinson and tim duncan, san antonio's 84.7 points allowed per game was the fewest average points allowed in the postseason in the last 30 years. in the finals that year, the spurs held the new york knicks, the first #8 seed team to reach the finals in nba history, to an average of 79.8 points per game. during the 2003 nba finals, the spurs defeated the new jersey nets in 6 games, which also marked the first championship contested between two former aba teams. in game 6, duncan was two blocks short of recording the first quadruple-double in nba finals history, finishing with 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, and 8 blocks. the spurs went on to defeat the detroit pistons 4–3 in the 2005 nba finals, as well as sweeping the lebron james-led cleveland cavaliers in the 2007 nba finals. duncan won the finals mvp in 1999, 2003 and 2005. in 2007, tony parker was named mvp, becoming the first european-born player to win the award.
nba finals