For NBA players, there’s stepping up in the playoffs, an impressive enough feat, and then there’s stepping up in the NBA Finals, a whole different level of greatness.
Throughout NBA history, there have been various examples of players who made huge scoring leaps in the NBA Finals, from Jerry West in 1969 to LeBron James in 2015 and Kevin Durant in 2017, and much more.
Today, we’ll highlight the NBA stars who elevated their scoring the most from their regular-season averages to the Finals stage, a list featuring some of the biggest names in the history of the sport as well as a few surprises.
Check out the list we put together below.
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The first winner of Finals MVP, Jerry West went down for the sixth time in the championship series. The Lakers were up 3-2 against the Celtics but ended up losing in seven despite a 42-point triple-double from West.
Regular season scoring: 25.90 ppg on 47.1 FG%
Finals scoring: 37.86 ppg on 49.0 FG%
Difference: +11.96 ppg
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The five-time MVP, Bill Russell carried the Celtics with 25 points and 32 rebounds in Game 7 against the Lakers. This was the eighth straight title for Russell and the Celtics.
Regular season scoring: 12.88 ppg on 41.5 FG%
Finals scoring: 23.57 ppg on 53.8 FG%
Difference: +10.69 ppg
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Cliff Hagan was a rookie with St. Louis at the time, and lost in Game 7 to Boston despite putting up 24 points and 16 rebounds. The game went to double-overtime and is still the only Game 7 in NBA history to go to two overtimes.
Regular season scoring: 5.49 ppg on 36.1 FG%
Finals scoring: 16.14 ppg on 42.7 FG%
Difference: +10.65 ppg
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LeBron James accounted for over 38 percent of the Cavaliers’ points in the Finals, but still ended up losing in six games to the Warriors.
Regular season scoring: 25.26 ppg on 48.8 FG%
Finals scoring: 35.83 ppg on 39.8 FG%
Difference: +10.57 ppg
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Kevin Durant became the primary scoring option during the Finals and won his first title with the Warriors. Durant won his first Finals MVP unanimously, receiving all 11 votes.
Regular season scoring: 25.08 ppg on 53.7 FG%
Finals scoring: 35.20 ppg on 55.6 FG%
Difference: +10.12 ppg
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Joe Dumars and the Pistons swept the Lakers in the Finals. In Game 3, Dumars scored 17 straight points in the third quarter and blocked the potential game-tying three at the end of the game. Dumars would go on to win Finals MVP.
Regular season scoring: 17.19 ppg on 50.5 FG%
Finals scoring: 27.25 ppg on 57.6 FG%
Difference: +10.06 ppg
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Despite not winning Finals MVP, Gus Williams led the Sonics in scoring. Williams scored 30-plus in three of the five games, as the Sonics beat the Bullets in five games.
Regular season scoring: 19.17 ppg on 49.5 FG%
Finals scoring: 29.00 ppg on 50.0 FG%
Difference: +9.83 ppg
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Latrell Sprewell helped the eight-seed Knicks reach the Finals. Despite scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter of Game 5, Sprewell and the Knicks lost in five contests to the Spurs.
Regular season scoring: 16.38 ppg on 41.5 FG%
Finals scoring: 26.00 ppg on 41.0 FG%
Difference: +9.62 ppg
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Andrew Toney was the leading scorer in the Finals for the Sixers, but still came up short to the Lakers.
Regular season scoring: 16.55 ppg on 52.2 FG%
Finals scoring: 26.00 ppg on 52.9 FG%
Difference: +9.45 ppg
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Isiah Thomas guided the Pistons to beat the Blazers in five games. Thomas lead the team with 138 total points in five games and won Finals MVP. Afterward, he delivered his famous quote: “You can say what you want about me, but you can’t say that I’m not a winner.”
Regular season scoring: 18.42 ppg on 43.8 FG%
Finals scoring: 27.60 ppg on 54.2 FG%
Difference: +9.18 ppg
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A master of turning it on when it counted, Shaquille O’Neal guided the Lakers to win their third straight title. O’Neal led the Lakers in scoring in three of their four games of the series. After sweeping the Nets, O’Neal captured his third straight Finals MVP.
Regular season scoring: 27.19 ppg on 57.9 FG%
Finals scoring: 36.25 ppg on 59.5 FG%
Difference: +9.06 ppg
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In his first season with the 76ers, Julius Erving led the team to the Finals against the Trail Blazers. After winning the first two games, the 76ers would end up losing the next four. With 40 points in Game 6, Erving tried to will his team to a Game 7, but Portland held on to capture their only championship.
Regular season scoring: 21.59 ppg on 49.9 FG%
Finals scoring: 30.33 ppg on 54.3 FG%
Difference: +8.75 ppg
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led his team in scoring throughout the Finals, but many will remember this series as the arrival of Magic Johnson. After Abdul-Jabbar suffered a bad sprained ankle in Game 5, he never made the trip to Philadelphia for Game 6, but the rookie Johnson willed the Lakers to a title. This was Abdul-Jabbar’s first of five titles with the Lakers.
Regular season scoring: 24.80 ppg on 60.4 FG%
Finals scoring: 33.40 ppg on 54.9 FG%
Difference: +8.60 ppg
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After falling behind 1-2 in the series against the Cavaliers, coach Steve Kerr inserted Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup for Game 4, and the team never looked back. The Warriors would end up winning the next three games and Iguodala surprisingly received seven of the 11 votes for Finals MVP, winning it.
Regular season scoring: 7.84 ppg on 46.6 FG%
Finals scoring: 16.33 ppg on 52.1 FG%
Difference: +8.49 ppg
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Michael Jordan was on a tear this series going for his first threepeat with the Bulls. Facing off against the Suns, Jordan went supernova averaging over 40 points in the series, including 55 points in Game 4. In that particular game, Jordan willed his team to go up 3-1 in the series as the next high scorer for the Bulls was Horace Grant with 17 points. Jordan would go on to win Finals MVP, the first player in NBA history to get three straight.
Regular season scoring: 32.58 ppg on 49.5 FG%
Finals scoring: 41.00 ppg on 50.8 FG%
Difference: +8.42 ppg
