NBA Playoffs: The 30 most unforgettable individual playoff runs

NBA: The 30 most unforgettable individual playoff runs: 21. Bernard King (1984)

One of the forgotten stars of the 1980s, Bernard King is not talked about nearly as much as some of his contemporaries. His career was mired with injuries and cut short just how special he could have been, such as in 1985 when he led the league in scoring at 32.9 points per game before missing the entire next season with a knee injury.

However, 1984 was the deepest playoff run King ever made. He led all postseason scorers with 34.8 points per game and added in 6.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game. This is one of the few runs that does not make it to the Conference Finals on this list but it (and King himself) was so brilliant that it needs to be celebrated.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Knicks took care of the Detroit Pistons in five games and King scored 40 or more points in four of the five games (he “only” had 36 points in Game 1). That level of scoring excellence against one of the best defensive teams in league history is just a taste of how special King was.

Moving on to the second round meant facing off against the team of the decade, the Boston Celtics. The Knicks pushed the Celtics all the way to a deciding seventh game and King was mostly exceptional. He did come up short in Game 2(13 points on 13 shots) but otherwise never scored less than 24 points. He managed two more 40-point performances, totaling six in the 12-game playoff run.