Who are the 25 greatest NBA playoff performers of all-time?
The NBA playoffs create countless opportunities for the great and not-so-great to shine when the world is watching. Our Top 25 NBA Playoff performers of all time include some greats and no-so-greats who all have one thing in common – a championship. The ring remains the thing. No one on this list is without at least one NBA championship ring.
Of our Top 25, all but four won at least two championships. Not included here are great players who enjoyed longevity and playoff success but never won a title. Sorry. That means John Stockton, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, Allen Iverson and Charles Barkley failed to make this cut. Great players all. Great playoff performers, too. But to crack the elite of the elite when it matters most, you have to win it all.
Among the numerous sources used for this piece was an excellent and purely statistical breakdown of the Top 100 NBA playoff performers of all time by Bleacher Report columnist Adam Fromal. Enjoy our list of Top 25 Playoff Legends and, as always, feel free to let us know what we got right and who we missed.
Next: No. 25
25. Paul Pierce
Paul Pierce was a Celtics mainstay from 1998 through the 2012-13 season. Until the Celtics re-created the Big Three with the addition of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, Pierce was basically a one-man show for Boston’s ill-fated postseason ventures. In 2002, the 49-win Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, losing to New Jersey in six games. Before Boston’s title run in 2008, The Truth appeared in 37 playoff games and averaged 24.5 points.
It was in the 2008 playoffs when he was at his best. In an epic performance against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Pierce scored 41 points in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. In Game 1 of the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, Pierce suffered was carried off the court after an apparent injury in the third quarter only to return a few minutes later to nail a three-pointer and score 15 points in the third quarter. Pierce was named NBA Finals MVP after the Celtics crushed the Lakers 131–92 victory in Game 6 on June 17, 2008. When asked if Kobe Bryant was the “best player in the world”
Pierce was named NBA Finals MVP after the Celtics crushed the Lakers 131–92 victory in Game 6 on June 17, 2008. When asked if Kobe Bryant was the “best player in the world” Pierce responded: “I’m the best player. There’s a line that separates having confidence and being conceited. I don’t cross that line but I have a lot of confidence in myself.”
Next: No. 24
24. Bob Pettit
Bob Pettit enjoys rare status as being part of the only team that defeated a Bill Russell-led Celtics team in the NBA finals. He scored a then-record 50 points in 110-109 series-clinching Game 6 victory in 1958. Overall, Petit made four Finals appearances, losing to Boston the three other times (1957, ’60 and ’61). (Russell’s other playoff loss occurred in the Conference Finals.)
Had it not been for Red, Russell and Company, Petit and the St. Louis Hawks would have been considered an early NBA dynasty. Petit put up solid playoff numbers in his 88 games, averaging 25.5 points and 14.8 rebounds, a rebounding average topped only by Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970.
Next: No. 23
23. Derek Fisher
Derek Fisher posted very pedestrian stats in his 259 playoff games: 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists. But he played in 259 playoff games, the equivalent of more than three full seasons. More importantly for our consideration, he won five NBA titles 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010) while playing for the Lakers. Fisher himself admitted in a Sports Illustrated/Cauldron article this past week that his success was due to the presence of Kobe Bryant as a teammate.
“Kobe showed me that limits upon performance exist only in our minds … His belief system — which became my own — was crucial to my success. I played nine, full, 82-game seasons in the NBA. I was not satisfied with just one championship; I wanted to win multiple rings.” That he did.
Fisher was a regular on those late-night NBA playoff telecasts nearly every May. He played in the Western Conference Finals 11 times with the Lakers, Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder. He only failed to advance three times. Fisher wasn’t just along for the ride. He deserves high marks somehow always being around when trophies were being presented.
Next: No. 22
22. Ray Allen
Ray Allen was usually open for a crucial shot when his teams needed most it in the postseason. The 10-time NBA All-Star and gold-medal winning Olympian never blinked in the spotlight. He was a pillar of Boston’s Big Three that rampaged through the 2008 playoffs and destroyed Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in six games in the NBA Finals.
Allen nailed a record seven three-pointers in Boston’s title-clinching victory. Allen’s “most shining moment” came, however, when he was a member of the Miami Heat during the 2013 Finals. The Heat were trailing by three points with their title hopes dwindling in Game 6. Chris Bosh desperately fed Allen after a rebound as Allen backed up toward the right corner. Secure behind the arc, Allen heaved a game-tying shot with 5.2 seconds left.
It was a move that Allen had been practicing for more than a year. It paid off, the Heat won 103-100 in overtime and clichéd their second-straight NBA title two days later. As Allen reportedly told coach Erik Spoelstra: “You never know when you’ll be in a situation where you have to find the three-point line without looking down.
Next: No. 21
21. Jerry West
“The Logo” remains one of many Naismith Hall of Famers who might have three or four or five more championship rings had it not been for the Dynastic Celtics of the 1960s. West captured his lone NBA ring in 1972, at the tail end of his brilliant 14-year career.
A point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, West put up nearly 30 points per game in 153 playoff appearances. He earned the ignominious honor of being the only NBA Finals MVP who played for the losing team in 1969. He averaged an amazing 37.9 points per game against Boston in that series and scored a Herculean 42 points in Game 7.
His lifetime 29.1 points per game average in the playoff ranks him third all-time just behind Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson for those who have qualified with enough appearances.
Next: No. 20
20. Kevin McHale
Boston forward Kevin McHale had the distinct privilege of playing alongside Larry Bird and Robert Parish during his five appearances in the NBA Finals. McHale and the Celtics won three times as the 6-foot-11 Minnesotan took full advantage of his immovable position in the low post.
McHale was able to softly scoop in rebounds or take a feed from Bird or Dennis Johnson to deliver a near-certain layup. Only Shaquille O’Neal has a higher lifetime shooting percentage in the playoffs than Kevin McHale (among those qualify). Whether it was as a starter or coming off the bench, McHale was a potent and at-times unstoppable offensive force.
And his defensive attributes far outweighed his ability to clothesline Kurt Rambis. That play in Game 3 of the 1984 Finals turned the series eventually won by Boston. He averaged 20-plus points during the playoffs six times during his career.
Next: No. 19
19. Tony Parker
After the Statue of Liberty and fries, point guard Tony Parker may be France’s most enduring gift to the United States. Parker has been an integral part of the Spurs model for 21st century NBA success. San Antonio has won four NBA championships since 2003. With help from Tim Duncan, whose name you will be seeing later on this list, Manu Ginobili and under the guise of Gregg Popovich, San Antonio has reached the Western Conference Finals six times, losing only once.
With mundane yet spectacular consistency, Parker’s Spurs have reached the post-season in every year of his 15-year NBA career. He was taken by San Antonio in the 2001 draft. This season, the Spurs tied the 40-1 regular-season home record set by the 1985-86 Boston Celtics and appear poised for both a deep playoff run as the lone threat to Golden State in the West.
Next: No. 18
18. Julius Erving
Dr. J earns his spot on our list for both his play in the ABA and NBA. In the 1970s, the ABA was loaded with potent stars and provided a harbinger of the wide-open NBA game that surfaced in the 1980s and beyond. He won a pair of championships with the-then ABA New York Nets (1974 and ’76) and was ABA playoff MVP both times.
Dr. J. shone in the months of April and May. Dr. J. left more than one NBA title on the table thanks to the brutal task of often having to face the great Celtics and/or Lakers teams during the playoffs in 1980s. Dr. J’s 76ers were finally able to get over the NBA title hump – and past Boston and Los Angeles – in the 1982-83 season for their lone title. With help from Finals MVP Moses Malone “fo, fo, fo” cleaning up inside and Andrew Toney bombing away from the outside, Dr. J and the Sixers rampaged through the playoffs with a 12-1 for the championship.
Next: No. 17
17. John Havlicek
John Havlicek was the protagonist in one of the most infamous moments in Celtics history. He was immortalized on April 15, 1965. Havlicek stepped in to steal Philadelphia’s ensuing inbound pass from Hal Greer after a Bill Russell turnover. Havlicek tipped the ball ahead to Sam Jones and Johnny Most’s call became an integral part of New England and NBA folklore:
“Havlicek stole the ball! It’s all over! It’s all over!” The Celtics went on to win the NBA title that season. It was one of eight titles won by Hondo in his 13 years with Boston. Havlicek was a 6-foot-5 shooting forward from Ohio State who exhibited many of the same in-game offensive and defensive traits as Larry Bird would do in later years. In his 172 playoff games, Hondo averaged 22 points and 6.9 rebounds. He was also named 1974 NBA Finals MVP.
Next: No. 16
16. Isiah Thomas
Isiah Thomas’ run of playoff brilliance scorched the earth between the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird dominance of the 1980s, and the Decade of Michael Jordan in the 1990s. Thomas led his Detroit “Bad Boy” Pistons to back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990. In order to reach that pinnacle, the Pistons first had to get eliminate Boston and reach the Finals for the first time in 1989, when they were beaten by the Lakers.
After losing to Detroit in the 1988 Conference Finals to Detroit, the Celtics would go another 14 years before getting back to that point in the post-season. Then Thomas and his Bad Boys effectively ended the Showtime era in Los Angeles by sweeping the Lakers in the 1989 Finals. Thomas was named MVP of the 1990 Finals against the Portland Trail Blazers, averaging 27.6 points and 7.0 assists.
After the series, Thomas told HOOP magazine: “We never quit. We always feel we are going to win, no matter what the score is. It’s all a battle of will. You have to keep asking yourself, ‘How bad do you really want it?'” Thomas wanted it badly, as evidence by the fact he is in the top 10 all-time in both assists and steals per game in the playoffs, while also averaging 20.4 points a game.
Next: No. 15
15. Tom Heinsohn/Bob Cousy
We tie because we can. Between them, Tom Heinsohn, Bob Cousy won 14 NBA titles. They played with Bill Russell on the Celtics first six NBA championship teams. They were joined by Sam and K.C. Jones starting with Boston’s second title team in 1959. After Cousy retired in 1963, Heinsohn won two more titles in Boston as a player, and would go on to win another pair as Celtics head coach.
Given his association with the team in various forms (including as a broadcaster for five decades) since his rookie season of 1956, Heinsohn is the only member of the Celtics organization to be involved with all 17 NBA championship teams. Heinsohn and Cousy were inexorably linked back to the fact that both attended Holy Cross. Heinsohn was a scoring and defensive machine in the post-season, averaging nearly 20 points and 10 rebounds (19.8/9.2) in 104 playoff games.
Cousy, who basically invented what is considered the point guard position today, brought a fast-pace style and dribbling flash to his position that had never been seen before. His average of 8.6 assists per postseason game was indeed revolutionary for anyone before the Magic Johnson era.
Next: No. 14
14. Scottie Pippen
There’s a reason why so many cynics love to point out the fact that Michael Jordan never won an NBA title without Scottie Pippen on his team. That reason is simple: it’s true. Revisionist historians may want to argue that Jordan could have won those six NBA titles and those six NBA Finals MVP awards during the 1990s with any one of several big men.
But the reality is that it was Pippen who delivered on offense and defense for Jordan and the Bulls as they rampaged through the competition in the regular and post-season. Pippen was perfect complement for Jodan. The 6-foot-7 Pippen “orchestrated an offense like a point guard, rebounded like a power forward, scored like a shooting guard, and defended on the perimeter like few others,” according to his official NBA biography. By the way, only missed the playoffs once in his 17-year career and owns the career record for total playoff steals with 395.
By the way, he only missed the playoffs once in his 17-year career and owns the career record for total playoff steals with 395.
Next: No. 13
13. Sam Jones
Where there was Bill Russell in the spotlight winning 11 NBA titles, there was also Sam Jones. The quick, fleet-footed guard was a constant scoring option for the dynastic Celtics. He remains an NBA template for playoff consistence, longevity and excellence. Jones played with Russell on 10 of his 11 title-winners, averaging 18.9 points in over 154 playoff games.
Jones boasted a near perfect form with his jump shot and nailed multiple clutch shots for the Celtics during his and their heyday. And along with K.C. Jones, Sam Jones confused and stymied opposing defenses. In Russell’s Book “Second Wind,” he said of Jones in those final, game-deciding moments: “Red would be looking around at faces, trying to decide what play to call. It’s a moment when even the better players in the NBA will start coughing, tying their shoelaces and looking the other way. At such moments I knew what Sam would do as well as I know my own names. ‘Gimme the ball,’ he’d say. ‘I’ll make it.’ And all of us would look at him, and we’d know by looking that he meant what he said. Not only that, you knew that he’d make it.”
Next: No. 12
12. James Worthy
James Worthy lived a charmed basketball life. He was a teammate of then freshman Michael Jordan at North Carolina when the Tar Heels won the 1982 NCAA title. His teammates on the Lakers included Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Worthy was indeed a more than worthy teammate.
The original “Big Game James” often found the spotlight even with it wasn’t looking for him. He was three-time NBA champion with the Showtime Lakers of the mid-1980s and appeared in the NBA Finals seven times. He would eventually even eclipse Magic and Kareem by earning MVP honors in the 1998 Finals over Detroit. That honor came in part due to his Worthy combined quickness, “Statue of Liberty” dunks, exceptional skills above the rim and an amazing ability to score with either hand.
He averaged 23.7 points the Celtics in the 1985 Finals, as the Lakers became the first visiting team ever to win an NBA champion on Boston’s famed parquet floor. “James Worthy was one of the top 10 — top five — players in playoff history,” said Johnson, when Worthy announced his retirement.
Next: No. 11
11. Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain had the misfortune of being an all-time great caught up in the wake of the NBA’s greatest single champion in Bill Russell. No one lost the opportunity for more championships to Russell than Wilt. The two shared a fierce rivalry across four teams. Even with Russell often battling him for every square inch of space in the paint, Chamberlain averaged an astounding 24.5 rebounds over 160 playoff games.
Scoring in the regular season always came easier for Chamberlain (he put up 100 on the Knicks in 1962), who was often burdened with a limited supporting cast during his days with the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors and 76ers. Chamberlain and his 76ers got past Boston in the 1967 Eastern Conference Finals en route to the first of his two NBA titles.
In the 1972 Finals, he scored 24 points and bagged 29 rebounds and blocked eight shots – all while playing with a broken hand — in Game 5 to wipe out the Knicks. Those efforts earned him his lone NBA Finals MVP award.
Next: No. 10
10. LeBron James
Not seven, not six, not five, not four, not three, but two. That’s two NBA championships won by LeBron James with the Miami Heat after he took his talents to South Beach in 2010. While he was with the Cavaliers – the first time – James often exceeded expectations in the post-season.
He carried the Cavaliers to the Finals single-handedly in 2007 before they were swept by San Antonio. In Game 5 of the Conference Finals that year, James scored 29 of Cleveland’s last 30 points (48 overall) including the game-winning lay-up with two seconds left , to beat Detroit. ESPN ranked the performance as the fourth greatest in modern NBA playoff history five years later.
In 2012, with the Heat on the verge of extinction down 3-2 at Boston in the Conference Finals, James slaughtered the Celtics with 30 points in the first half of Game 6. The Heat and King James would go on to win Game 7 and the first of their two consecutive NBA titles/NBA Finals MVP awards. After “The Homecoming,” James delivered the Cavaliers back to the Finals in 2015. Without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, James averaged nearly a triple-double (35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 8.8 assists) as the Cavaliers fell to Steph Curry and the Warriors in six games.
Next: No. 9
9. Hakeem Olajuwon
Hakeem Olajuwon didn’t start playing basketball in his native Nigeria until he was 15. He soon made up for lost time in college at Houston and arrived on the NBA scene poised for a dominant career. His 25.9 points per game in the postseason rank among the top five in NBA history.
He made his first NBA Finals appearance against the mighty Boston Celtics in 1986. The Rockets bowed to Larry Bird and Company in six games. In 1993-94, Olajuwon had a mythical campaign, becoming the first player to be named NBA MVP, NBA Defensive Player of the Year and NBA Finals MVP in the same season.
The following season he rallied the Rockets from a sixth seed in the playoffs to their second straight NBA crown, making Houston the fifth NBA franchise ever to win back-to-back titles. During the 1995 title run Olajuwon bested two of the NBA’s most legendary centers, David Robinson and the Spurs and then Shaquille O’Neal in the Magic. “He’s got about five moves, then four countermoves,” O’Neal said after his Magic were swept. “That gives him 20 moves.”
Next: No. 8
8. Shaquille O’Neal
Shaquille O’Neal played for a half-dozen NBA teams, went to the NBA Finals with three of them and appeared in the playoffs with all six. He had at least as many nicknames. The 7-1 center won championships with the Lakers and Heat but brought smiles and at least 350 pounds of charisma wherever he went.
Among all players to appear in at least 65 playoff games, Diesel amassed the highest shooting percentage of all-time and was third in rebounding behind Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Playing alongside Kobe Bryant, Shaq was the center of the Laker universe at LA won three straight titles starting in 2000.
Never one to slow down, especially during the playoffs, O’Neal averaged more than 30 points and 15 rebounds throughout the 2000 and ’01 post-season. And, much to Kobe Bryant’s chagrin, Shaq was named NBA Finals MVP for all three of his championships in Los Angeles.
Next: No. 7
7. Larry Bird
Larry Bird won three NBA championships and appeared in the NBA Finals five times. Among the greats he faced in his 164 playoff games include a galaxy all-time playoff greats: Dr. J., James Worthy, Isiah Thomas, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Michael Jordan and, of course, Magic Johnson.
Bird and the Celtics defeated every single one of these legends at least once in the post-season. Bird did it all. He scored. He rebounded. He ran the floor. He passed the ball. And he scored some more, averaging 23.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. His steal of Thomas’ inbounds pass in Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals remains his most singular iconic moment.
His legacy has been defined by clutch play against the greatest players of his era when the stakes were highest. Boston beat Houston for the NBA championship in 1981, the Lakers in 1984 and the Rockets again in 1986. Bird and the Celtics fell to the Lakers in the 1985 and ’87 Finals. Just this past week none other than Bill Walton called Bird “the best player I ever played with” adding “he was Mozart, he was Michelangelo, he was Steve Jobs. He did things that I never saw anybody do.” Bird’s rivalry with Magic grew into an unbreakable friendship and bond that stands stronger than ever until this day. They made each other great and carried the NBA along for the ride.
Next: No. 6
6. Kobe Bryant
In case you may have missed it last week, Kobe Bryant has retired from the NBA. While the Lakers were an absolute wreck in the standings this year, Bryant’s 20 seasons with Los Angeles will be long remembered as a time of Purple and Gold Reign. Bryant won five golden rings with the Lakers. He played in more postseason games (220) than anyone not named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and averaged a Jordanesque 25.6 points a game.
Kobe and Shaquille O’Neal led the Lakers to the elusive Three-Peat (copyright Pat Riley) starting with the 2000 Finals. Once Shaq took his talents to Phoenix, South Beach and elsewhere, Bryant and the Lakers kept winning. He led his Lakers into the NBA Finals three more times. Boston prevailed in 2008, but the Lakers knocked off the Magic in five games a year later, and would earn a measure of revenge against Boston’s Big Three Part Two in a brutal and bruising seven-game series in 2010. By the way, Kobe came through in a major way for the U.S. Olympic “Redeem Team” as it held off Spain in the 2008 gold medal game.
Next: No. 5
5. Tim Duncan
When DJ Khaled and friends sing “All I Do Is Win,” they could just as well be discussing the NBA playoff San Antonio power forward/center Tim Duncan. The five-time NBA champion was named NBA Finals MVP three times. Just as impressive was the 15-year spread between his first title and his fifth. That, the fact that he’s 5-for-5 in the NBA Finals.
Duncan has never exerted the fun-loving personality of Shaquille O’Neal, carried the historic impact of Bill Russell, created the off-court-legacies of Wilt Chamberlain or spread his championship wings in multiple cities like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He just owns the postseason. “If you show excitement, then you also may show disappointment or frustration. If your opponent picks up on this frustration, you are at a disadvantage,” Duncan said in Kevin Kernan’s book Slam Duncan.
Duncan actually raised his per-game averages in the playoffs over the regular season in terms of points, rebounds and blocks throughout his career. And by the way, the Duncan and the Spurs went 67-15 this past season.
Next: No. 4
4. Magic Johnson
Five-time NBA champion Magic Johnson could beat you on the break. He could beat you by feeding Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the paint. He could beat you by dishing off a no-look, behind-the-back pass to James Worthy. He could beat you with a pull-up jumper from behind the arc. However Pat Riley or the Lakers denizens chose to define “Showtime,” it often began with Magic running with the ball up an open court.
Often he found himself accomplishing all of this while being defended by the likes of Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, Dr. J or Michael Jordan. His first appearance in the Finals closed out with an amazing performance at center in Game 6 in 1980. (Abdul-Jabbar had been sidelined with an injury.) At age 20 and playing on the 76ers home court, the 6-9 Magic scored 42 points and pulled in 15 rebounds in the Laker’s title-clinching victory. Magic captured the first of his three Finals MVP awards that year.
Overall, Magic reached the NBA Finals in nine of his first 12 seasons, winning the NBA title in 1980, ’82, ’85, ’87 and ‘88. That is an NBA playoff legend if there ever was one. “Magic is head-and-shoulders above everybody else,” his long-time rival and now life-long friend Larry Bird once observed in the Chicago Sun-Times. “I’ve never seen [anybody] as good as him.”
Next: No. 3
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s success in the post-season was rivaled only by his ability to deliver consistently from his first title in 1971 with Milwaukee through his sixth in 1988 with the Los Angeles Lakers. His teams appeared in the NBA Finals 10 times during his 20-year career and he only missed the playoffs once.
He played with an unrelenting and deceptive intensity for a record 237 NBA playoff games, averaging more than 24 points and 10 rebounds. Abdul-Jabbar won his two NBA Finals MVP award 14 years apart and his Lakers appeared in the Finals in each of his last three seasons. Kareem brought both a fierce inside presence on the low post and a deft and light touch when it came to launching and landing his lethal “Sky-hook” shot.
Abdul-Jabbar brought a slender grace and versatility to his position, which had previously been defined by size and power. In 2013, Julius Erving said of Kareem: “In terms of players all-time, Kareem is still the number one guy. He’s the guy you gotta start your franchise with.” It’s hard to argue with Dr. J’s logic on that one.
Next: No. 2
2. Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan’s 6-for-6 run in the NBA Finals is another one of those amazing and mind-bending records that will likely never be matched by anyone. That would be six NBA titles and six NBA Finals MVP awards in six tries. Good luck touching that anyone (yes, even you, Steph). Perhaps some said the same thing about the 72 regular-season wins Jordan’s 1996-97 amassed.
Bulls Jordan’s first “unbelievable” playoff moment came 30 years ago on April 20, when he scored a still-record 63 points against Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Bill Walton in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Jordan’s Bulls lost that game 135-131 in double-overtime. His record playoff success went uphill from there.
Once the Bird-Magic era faded and Bad Boy Pistons burnt themselves out, Jordan stood poised to lead the Bulls to the NBA’s pinnacle. The first of this two three-peats started with a 4-1 rout of the Lakers in 1991. He followed with six-game championship victories over Portland (Clyde Drexler) in 1992 and Phoenix (Charles Barkley) in 1993. Jordan’s record 33.4 points per game over his 179 playoff games dwarf all competitors.
Next: No. 1
1. Bill Russell
Bill Russell’s record of success when it counted most is unmatched. He never lost an NCAA Tournament game, an Olympic game, or a Game 7. Russell won 11 rings in 13 seasons with the Celtics from 1957 through 1969, including a dynastic run of eight consecutive titles from 1959-66.
The only two times his teams failed to win a championship came in losses to Bob Petit’s Hawks in the 1958 Finals in and Wilt Chamberlain’s 76ers in the 1967 Eastern Division Finals. Russell redefined the game before became its ranking living legend. His emphasis on an enveloping defense and relentless rebounding (24.9 nightly in 165 playoff games) allowed stars like Tom Heinsohn, Sam Jones, John Havlicek and Bob Cousy to ignite the offense. He is simply the greatest winner – not the greatest player – in the history of the NBA.
More hoops habit: NBA Finals History: Ranking The Last 50 Champions
In Game 7 of the 1962 Finals against the Lakers, Russell hauled in a still-record 40 rebounds to complement his 30 points to power the Celtics to an overtime victory. He closed his career as a player/coach in true Hollywood style with a 108-106 Game 7 victory over the heavily-favored Lakers at the Forum. And Jack Kent Cooke’s balloons never came down.