Season's trend of 40-point games keeps going strong in playoffs

The 2022-23 regular season will be remembered as one of the greatest seasons of individual scoring brilliance that the league has seen in its 77-year history, rivaled only by the historic 1961-62 season.

This season saw 203 40-plus point performances by 57 different players — both marks shattering the previous records of 142 games (from 1961-62) and 47 players (from 2020-21).

If it felt like there was a player dropping 40 point every single night, it’s because it was almost true. Of the 164 days of regular season games, 111 featured at least one 40-plus point game (67.8%). Additionally, 52 of those days featured at least two 40-point scorers (31.7%).

That feeling has carried over to the postseason as nearly every edition of playoff action features a stellar performance. It took only one game into the conference finals for there to be more 40-point games in the 2023 playoffs (17) than all of 2022 (16), and these playoffs have already seen the second-most 40-point games and tied for the most 50-point games in a single postseason in NBA history.

Most 40-plus point games in single postseason

With 17 40-plus point performances in 71 games played, that is a rate of 23.9%, which eclipses the pace of 40-plus point games that we saw in the regular season (203 in 1,230 games, 16.5%).

And with the conference finals just getting going — the Nuggets lead the Lakers 2-0, while the Heat lead the Celtics 1-0 in the East — that means we have a minimum of nine games (if both conference finals series and the NBA Finals end in sweeps) and a maximum of 18 games (if each of those series goes the full seven games) to potentially add more games to this total.

Most 50-plus point games in single postseason

Entering the 2023 playoffs, there had only been a dozen postseasons in NBA history that featured at least two 50-plus point performances. Not only has the 2023 playoffs already doubled that mark to tie the 2020 bubble season for the most 50-plus point games in a single postseason, two of those 50-point games have come in Game 7s.

Stephen Curry set the record for most points in a Game 7 when he led Golden State to a series-clinching win on the road in Sacramento with a playoff career-high 50 points on April 30. That record stood for only two weeks before Jayson Tatum sent Boston to the conference finals for the fourth time in six seasons with a 51-point gem to defeat Philadelphia in the conference semifinals.

Here’s a closer look at the 40-plus and 50-plus point scorers in these playoffs who are still chugging along.

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Jimmy Butler (2 40+ playoff games)

But neither Curry nor Tatum holds the mark for the highest scoring game of this year’s playoffs. That honor belongs to Jimmy Butler, who dropped a playoff career-high 56 points on the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 4 of Miami’s first round series with the playoff’s top overall seed. Butler followed that up with a 42-point game in the series clincher to lead the No. 8 seed Heat into the second round.

The phenomenon of Playoff Jimmy has only grown in the 2023 playoffs. Since arriving in Miami in 2019-20, Butler has played 231 regular season games and has zero 40-point games. However, in 53 playoff games with the Heat, Butler has eight 40-point games – the most in franchise history, ahead of Dwyane Wade (7) and LeBron James (3).

Butler is the leading remaining scoring in the playoffs with an average of 31.5 points per game. He has made the biggest leap (plus 8.6 ppg) from regular season scoring average to playoff scoring average of any player remaining in the playoffs, followed by Denver teammates Jamal Murray (7.2) and Nikola Jokic (5.9).

Largest scoring increase from regular season to playoffs (Conference Finals teams only)

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Nikola Jokic (2 40+ point games)

Nikola Jokic joined LeBron James and Russell Westbrook as the only players to average a 30-plus point triple-double in a playoff series as Jokic finished with 34.5 ppg, 13.2 rpg, 10.3 apg in Denver’s 4-2 series win over Phoenix.

Joker is only the 3rd player NBA history to average a 30+ point triple-double in a Playoff series

LeBron James – 2017 NBA Finals
33.6 PTS, 12 REB, 10 AST

Russell Westbrook – 2017 WC First Round
37.4 PTS, 11.6 REB, 10.8 AST

Nikola Jokic – 2023 WC Semifinals
34.5 PTS, 13.2…

— NBA History (@NBAHistory) May 12, 2023

 

But Jokic’s all-around brilliance goes beyond a single series as he’s maintained that 30-plus point triple-double over the entire postseason. Through 13 games played — five games in the first round, six games in the conference semifinals and two games in the conference finals — Jokic has averaged 30.4 points (5th overall, 2nd among active players); 13.8 rebounds (2nd overall and active) and 10.2 assists (1st overall, 1st active), while shooting 54.9% from the field (11th overall, 2nd active) and 47.8% from 3-point range (8th overall, 2nd active).

During the regular season, Jokic’s points scored and points created with his assists were identical (24.5 ppg apiece) for a total of 49 points either scored or created (42.3% of Denver’s 115.8 ppg). In the playoffs, Jokic has increased both marks as his minutes have risen from 33.7 to 38.4 mpg. Additionally, he’s up to 30.4 ppg scoring by himself and 25.4 ppg created for his teammates, for a total of 55.8 ppg (47.9% of Denver’s 116.5 ppg).

In Denver’s Game 2 win, Jokic posted his fourth consecutive triple-double, finishing with 23 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists. It was his seventh of the playoffs – matching Wilt Chamberlain in 1967 for the most triple-doubles in a single postseason in NBA history. With a minimum of four games and a maximum of 12 games remaining this postseason, expect Jokic to take sole possession of that record soon.

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Jayson Tatum (1 40+ and 50+ point game)

While Tatum’s scoring average in the playoffs (28.3 ppg, 8th overall, 3rd among active players) is down slightly from his regular season mark (career-best 30.1 ppg, 6th overall), he owns one of the signature performances of the 2023 postseason with his 51-point masterclass in Game 7 of the conference semifinals.

But before he could get to Game 7, Tatum had to overcome a dreadful start in Game 6 — missing his first 11 shots, shooting 1-of-14 from the field and 0-of-6 from 3-point range with less than five minutes to play in the fourth quarter — before catching fire in the closing minutes with Boston’s season on the line.

Tatum shot 4-of-5 from 3-point range in the clutch as he single-handedly outscored Philadelphia in the fourth quarter, 16-13, to send the series back to Boston for a winner-take-all Game 7. Only Butler (28) has more clutch points this postseason than Tatum (28) with Tatum shooting 61.5% from the field and 62.5% from 3-point range.

Once Tatum got hot at the end of Game 6, he never cooled off as he was dominant from start to finish in Game 7 to keep the Celtcs’ hopes of title No. 18 alive.

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Anthony Davis (1 40+ point game)

Of course, Boston isn’t the only team in search of its 18th championship. The Lakers are just eight wins away from their own 18th title (and second in four seasons) behind the duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Davis has the Lakers’ only 40-plus point game so far this postseason — he finished with 40 points on 14-of-23 shooting in L.A.’s Game 1 loss to Denver — part of a roller coaster ride of offense for Davis as he has four games with 30 points or more and six games of fewer than 20 points.

Overall, Davis’ postesason scoring (22.3 ppg) is down 3.6 ppg from his regular-season average (25.9 ppg). While Davis’ defense has been strong — a league-best 3.2 bpg as well as 1.5 spg — the Lakers need Davis to find offensive consistency against Jokic and the Nuggets.