Jun 1, 2023, 08:41 AM ET
As this year’s Finals take place with the Miami Heat facing the Denver Nuggets, we’re looking back at legendary performances from superstars such as LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Michael Jordan, with the help of Basketball-Reference.com’s game score archive.
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Game score, pioneered by John Hollinger, is a measure of a player’s single-game value factoring in all elements of the box score from scoring efficiency to playmaking to rebounding and defensive impact. Although imperfect, it quickly captures a player’s baseline performance and allows us to compare conference finals games going back to 1978 — the first year the NBA tracked individual turnovers.
Over that span of 45 years of NBA Finals, we’ve highlighted the top 25 individual performances, 16 of which came in victories for their team. How did each player succeed and what did their heroics mean for the series and the NBA playoffs as