Quote:
Originally Posted by kingmalaki
That is a very good point. I don't think his postseason numbers set him apart from the guys in that 10-20 range. Maybe for the guys in the 20-30 range.
Dirk's postseason numbers are 25, 10, 3 on 46%, 38% and 89%. This was arguably his best postseason. Those postseason numbers aren't really any better than the postseason numbers of Malone, Barkley, West, Dr J, Baylor, etc. And Dirk hasn't hit his decline yet like some of those guys, so his playoff numbers will drop some.
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Well, maybe you should actually look at the numbers.
WinShares per 48 in playoff history:
1. Jordan .553
2. Mikan .2541
3. LeBron James .2218
4. Magic .2078
5. Dirk .2067
6. West .2031
12. Barkley .1932
29. Dr. J .1756 ABA/NBA
55. Dr. J .1493 NBA only
77. Karl Malone .1396
97. Elgin Baylor .1338
Player Efficiency Rating in playoff history
7. Dirk 24.75
10. Barkley 24.18
13. West 23.06
22. Julius Erving 22.05 ABA/NBA
23. Elgin Baylor 21.83
40. Julius Erving 19.96 NBA only
31. Karl Malone 21.12 (ahead of OscarRobertson but behind Paul Gasol and Baron freaking Davis)
Dirk leads both statistical ratings. Obviously Barkley and West aren't too far off, but Dirk separates himself nicely from Dr. J, Elgin Baylor, and Karl Malone when it comes to the playoffs.
And statistically, this was as close to an "average" playoff run as Dirk's had in his career. His WS/48 was at .210. His career playoff w/s is .2067. So yeah, Dirk was rather average this year as far as the numbers go. He was just huge in the clutch.
I can't find the numbers to back this up just yet, but I'd be willing to bet that this was at least a top 2-3 most statistically clutch performance in the history of the NBA for any of the Finals MVP's..ever. Sometimes it's not always about your numbers on the whole but when you get the numbers. Dirk had a solid post season this year, but he was a basketball God in the final 5:00 minutes of games decided by 5 or fewer points.