NBA Playoffs 2013: Ranking The 5 Best Individual Performances So Far

June 6.

On this date, the moment that each NBA team hoped to find themselves in at the beginning of the season, will have arrived for the San Antonio Spurs and either the Miami Heat or the Indiana Pacers.

That moment is the NBA Finals–the culmination of the NBA playoffs where teams give everything that they’ve got in hopes of keeping their season alive.

In a playoffs that has featured high-flying dunks, unbelievable shooting displays, and a player, with “a lot of heart and no height,” there are a few performances that stand above the rest.

Let’s take a look at the top five individual performances of the 2013 NBA Playoffs:

5. Tony Parker

When: Game 4 vs. the Memphis Grizzlies, Western Conference Semifinals

Stat line: 37 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds

After a modest first half in which he scored 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, Parker came out firing in the third quarter, making six of his seven shots and finishing with 14 points in the quarter. While Games 2 and 3 of the series were decided in overtime, Parker took it upon himself to make sure that 48 minutes were all that would be needed in Game 4 by scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter to finish the sweep.

Parker has scored at least 30 points in 15 of his 166 career playoff games and this 37 point performance would be good for his fourth highest scoring game in the playoffs.

This game, for Tony Parker, wasn’t defined by huge dunks or a flurry of 3-pointers. The engine behind Parker’s playoff performance was his offensive efficiency.

Tony Parker’s 37 points with a .714 field-goal percentage marks the first time since 2009 that a guard has scored at least 35 points while shooting better than 70 percent in the playoffs. The last guard to do it? Tony Parker.

Just look at how Parker was able to move and cut to create open shots against a Grizzlies team that is known for its defense.

Parker’s shot chart provides even more visual evidence of his sheer efficiency in this game.

4. Kevin Durant

When: Game 3 vs. the Houston Rockets, Western Conference First Round

Stat line: 41 points, 4 assists, 14 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block

After Russell Westbrook suffered a season-ending injury in Game 2, Oklahoma City looked to Durant in hopes that he might, somehow, fill the void created by the loss of their starting point guard.

From tip off, Durant was an offensive juggernaut, scoring 17 points in the first quarter alone.

With almost no help from some of OKC’s key role players like Kevin Martin, who shot 3-for-11 from the field, Durant scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to lead his team to a 103-102 win while tying his career high for points in a playoff game.

Although it was not Durant’s most efficient game, as he only made 13 of his 30 shots, considering it was his first game to ever play without Westbrook, Durant did everything he could to carry his team to a win.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Durant became one of only five players in the past 25 years to have at least 41 points and 14 rebounds in a playoff win on the road.

The other players on that list are LeBron James (twice), Kobe Bryant, Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley, so it’s safe to say that this performance puts him in pretty good company.

3. Stephen Curry

When: Game 1 vs. the San Antonio Spurs, Western Conference Semifinals

Stat line: 44 points, 11 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals

Coming into the postseason, people knew Stephen Curry could shoot, as he had shown by setting the single-season record for 3-pointers made with 272.

However, very few saw coming what Curry did in this game.

At the end of the first half, Curry’s performance was, at best, average. He had scored 10 points, but had only shot 4-for-10 from the field. And then the third quarter happened.

Curry opened up the third quarter by hitting two 3-pointers and a step back for eight points, nearly equaling his first-half performance in 2:30. With 3:33 left in the quarter, Curry decided to take over and scored 14 consecutive points for the Warriors to cap off his 22-point quarter.

After less than stellar shooting in the first half, in the third quarter Curry made 9-for-12 shots from the  field, which included 4-of-6 from behind the arc.

Curry went on to score 12 more points through the fourth quarter and both overtimes, but was unable to lift his team to victory despite his third-quarter outburst giving them a lead as large as 18 points.

2. LeBron James

When: Game 1 vs. the Indiana Pacers, Eastern Conference Semifinals

Stat line: 30 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 3 blocks

After scoring nine points in the first quarter, being shut out in the second quarter and with his team down 42-37 after halftime, LeBron decided that it was time to start playing. So, from the third quarter till the end of the game, James scored 21 points, dished out six assists, and grabbed eight rebounds.

The mere fact that LeBron tallied his ninth triple-double in the playoffs makes this an incredible playoff performance, not to mention that it came against the NBA’s top defensive team from the regular season. Even more impressive is that, according to TrueHoop, LeBron is the first player to put up at least 26 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds and three blocks in a playoff game since Ralph Sampson did so in 1986.

However, what makes LeBron’s performance in this game truly spectacular is not only what he did in the first 52 minutes and 57.8 seconds of the game, but what he did in the final 2.2 seconds.

With 2.2 seconds left on the clock, and the Heat down 102-101, Battier inbounded the ball to LeBron at the top of the key and before Paul George even had a chance to change directions, LeBron was at the rim, laying the ball in with his left hand to end the game.

Reactions to LeBron’s incredible buzzer-beater ranged from incomprehensible disbelief and/or excitement:

to the creation of new words:

Two years ago, “The Chosen One” looked a lot more like “The Choking One.” One ring and two years later, LeBron’s latest last-second feat in Game 1 was yet another instance of LeBron putting those nicknames to rest. With that layup, LeBron became the only player in NBA history to record a triple-double and a game-winning buzzer-beater in the same game.

1. Nate Robinson

When: Game 4 vs. the Brooklyn Nets, Eastern Conference First Round

Stat line: 34 points, 4 assists, 1 rebound and 2 steals

One day, many years from now, Bulls fans will sit down and tell their grandchildren about the time they witnessed a historic fourth quarter when Nate Robinson carried his team to a victory.

If that sentence sounded strange to you, it should.

At the beginning of the playoffs, the only reason Nate Robinson was on anybody’s radar, including his coach’s, was because Derrick Rose was still in a suit and on the sidelines.

Heading into the fourth quarter of this game, Nate Robinson was nowhere to be found having only scored five points through the first three quarters. Then something unbelievable happened. Nate Robinson put on one of the greatest fourth-quarter playoff performances, not just in this year’s playoffs, but of all time.

In the fourth quarter alone, Robinson scored 23 points while shooting 9-for-11 from the field. With 2:54 left in the game, Robinson hit a 3 to spark a run in which he would score 12 consecutive points for the Bulls, allowing them to tie the game up and head into overtime.

The only other Bulls player to ever put on a fourth quarter show like this was Michael Jordan when he scored 24 points against the 76ers.

Despite being unstoppable in the fourth quarter, Robinson was held scoreless in overtime … until, with two seconds left, Robinson banked in an off-balance jump shot (sort of) to send the Bulls into double-overtime where they were able to finally pull off the win.

When asked about his performance, Robinson said, “I always think I’m on fire, kind of the like old-school game NBA Jam.”

While this has spelled disaster many times in Robinson’s career, on this night, it produced an unforgettable offensive display.