There are only a few players in NBA history who have managed to elevate their game to another level in the playoffs, and Michael Jordan did it better than anyone else.
Jordan is widely regarded as the GOAT thanks to his postseason dominance, where he averaged an NBA record 33.4 PPG for his career. He was so consistently great in the playoffs that he never averaged under 29.0 PPG in any of his playoff runs.
Here, we take a look at Jordan’s lowest to highest-scoring average in his 13 trips to the playoffs.
13. 1984-85 Season: 29.3 PPG
12. 1995-96 Season: 30.7 PPG
11. 1996-97 Season: 31.1 PPG
10. 1990-91 Season: 31.1 PPG
9. 1994-95 Season: 31.5 PPG
8. 1997-98 Season: 32.4 PPG
7. 1991-92 Season: 34.5 PPG
6. 1988-89 Season: 34.8 PPG
5. 1992-93 Season: 35.1 PPG
4. 1986-87 Season: 35.7 PPG
3. 1987-88 Season: 36.3 PPG
2. 1989-90 Season: 36.7 PPG
1. 1985-86 Season: 43.7 PPG
That’s just some remarkable consistency right there, to basically put up over 30 a night for 12 of his 13 playoff runs. A comparison of Jordan’s lowest-scoring playoff run to that of other NBA greats makes this all the more impressive.
LeBron James: 22.1 PPG (2022-23 Season)
Kobe Bryant: 8.2 PPG (1996-97 Season)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 11.1 PPG (1988-89 Season)
Allen Iverson: 22.8 PPG (2006-07 Season)
Kevin Durant: 25.0 PPG (2009-10 Season)
Larry Bird: 11.3 PPG (1991-92 Season)
Wilt Chamberlain: 10.4 PPG (1972-73 Season)
Stephen Curry: 23.0 PPG (2013-14 Season)
Magic Johnson: 15.3 PPG (1995-96 Season)
Tim Duncan: 5.9 PPG (2015-16 Season)
While some of this certainly has to do with these legends having their play decline in the latter years of their careers, Jordan’s last season in the playoffs came when he was 35 years old. He was still able to perform at a high level at an age when a lot of his contemporaries at that time had already fallen off.
One can only wonder what kind of numbers he would have put up had he not decided to retire for the second time in 1998, following his sixth championship and sixth Finals MVP. That triumph in 1998 over the Utah Jazz meant MJ remained perfect in the Finals at 6-0. That perfect record is another big reason why many consider him to be the GOAT, and we ranked his best performances on the biggest stage of them all in the sport.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
