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The 2021 NBA Finals are now poised at 2-1, with the Milwaukee Bucks riding on big performances from Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo to win game 3 120-100. The Greek Freak has been the top-scorer in the series so far, following his two 40+ point games in losing causes during the first two matches.
A 20-point double-double during Game 3 means he has now scored 103 points in the 3 games so far, with a maximum of four games left to play. Giannis is averaging around 34 points per game, which is still some way off in terms of proficiency when compared to some all-time great Finals performances.
In this article, we look at five players with the most points scored in an NBA Finals series.
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NBA Players with most points in a single Finals Series
While the record for the most points in an NBA Finals series is held by former LA Lakers legend Elgin Baylor with 284 points, quite a few all-time greats have delivered when it mattered the most for their teams. Baylor is only third on the list of the highest points scored in an NBA Finals series in terms of average points.
#5 Jerry West, 1969-70
Jerry West enjoyed 14 seasons with the LA Lakers as a player and was then head coach from 1976-79. He won the NBA cChampionship just once, in 1972, and won the Finals MVP once as well.
However, his best-ever performance in a Finals series came in the 1969-70 NBA season, in a losing cause against a Boston Celtics team that had the likes of Bill Russell, John Havlicek and Sam Jones.
The Lakers won the first two games but slumped to a 3-4 series loss despite Jerry West registering 265 points at a whopping 37.9 points per game. He remains the only Finals MVP in the history of the league who was not on the championship-winning team.
#4 Shaquille O’Neal, 1999-00
The LA Lakers won three back-to-back championships from 1999 and Shaquille O’Neal was part of their superstar duo alongside Kobe Bryant. As a matter of fact, it was O’Neal who was chosen as the Finals MVP all three times, although he was most prolific in the Finals series against the Indiana Pacers in 1999-2000.
Shaq scored at least 40 points thrice in 6 games and averaged exactly 38 points as the LA Lakers cruised to a 4-2 victory in the series. The Indiana Pacers had surprised fans with their Finals run and were led by the likes of Jalen Rose and Reggie Miller.
However, they were swept aside by a dominant LA Lakers side that had signed the legendary Phil Jackson as their head coach at the start of the season.
#3 Elgin Baylor, 1961-62
As mentioned earlier, it is another LA Lakers legend in the form of Elgin Baylor who also holds the record for the most points scored in an NBA Finals series. The Lakers went against the free-scoring Atlanta Hawks, then known as the St. Louis Hawks.
They had four prolific scorers in the form of Lenny Wilkins, Bob Petit, Cliff Hagan and Woody Sauldsberry, and came up trumps despite being down 3-2 with two games to go. Elgin Baylor averaged 40.6 points to finish with 321 points in the series despite being on the losing team. He also had 6 double-doubles.
#2 Rick Barry, 1966-67
Nicknamed the "Miami Greyhound," Rick Barry won only one NBA Championship that came in 1975 for the Golden State Warriors. However, Barry also started his career with the Warriors, then known as the San Francisco Warriors, and led them to the NBA Finals in the 1966-67 season.
There, he was up against the Philadelphia 76ers led by the legendary Wilt Chamberlain, who produced 4 double-doubles and 2 triple-doubles and led the Sixers to the championship. Barry scored 260 points in the 6 games whilst averaging 40.6 per game and had 3 double-doubles.
#1 Michael Jordan, 1992-93
On his way to his second championship, a season before retiring from the NBA for the first time, Michael Jordan produced 246 points in 6 games against a Phoenix Suns team that boasted of Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson.
Jordan was on his way to a legacy that would eventually result in 6 championships. But this was his most prolific NBA Finals series, as he scored more than 40 points in 4 of the 6 games including a 55-point performance in Game 4.
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