In last night's loss against the Toronto Raptors, Steph Curry put up an impressive accomplishment. He scored 47 points in an NBA Finals game. Obviously, this is rare, according to Basketball-Reference, it has only happened thirteen times in NBA history. Here's a rundown, by year, of those instances.
| Date | Team | Opponent | Player | Points | True Shooting | Result | Series Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-06-05 | GSW | TOR | Stephen Curry | 47 | 63.2% | L | ? | |
| 2018-05-31 | CLE | GSW | LeBron James | 51 | 69.2% | L | L | |
| 2001-06-06 | PHI | LAL | Allen Iverson | 48 | 53.4% | W | L | |
| 1998-06-14 | CHI | UTA | Michael Jordan | 45 | 54.1% | W | W | |
| 1993-06-16 | CHI | PHO | Michael Jordan | 55 | 61.2% | W | W | |
| 1992-06-12 | CHI | POR | Michael Jordan | 46 | 73.3% | W | W | |
| 1970-05-06 | LAL | NYK | Wilt Chamberlain | 45 | 67.9% | W | L | |
| 1969-04-23 | LAL | BOS | Jerry West | 53 | 56.7% | W | L | |
| 1967-04-18 | SFW | PHI | Rick Barry | 55 | 48.8% | W | L | |
| 1966-04-22 | LAL | BOS | Jerry West | 45 | 63.6% | L | L | |
| 1965-04-19 | LAL | BOS | Jerry West | 45 | 52% | L | L | |
| 1962-04-14 | LAL | BOS | Elgin Baylor | 61 | 56.1% | W | L | |
| 1958-04-12 | STL | BOS | Bob Pettit | 50 | 61.6% | W | W |
In 1967, Rick Barry scored 55 points in a win against the Philadelphia 76ers, but it wasn't enough, and the Warriors fell in six games. The thing is, that isn't a unique occurrence! Remove Michael Jordan from the equation and ever team with an individual to score forty-five+ points the NBA Finals after the 50s is a loser.
Now, the Warriors are in a unique spot, and they didn't even come close to winning despite Curry's heroics. Most of their team is banged up, with both Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant missing last game. DeMarcus Cousins as also been dealing with injury and hasn't played close to his usual self in the Finals. Durant could come back healthy. Curry could join Elgin Baylor and score over sixty in a Finals game. It's just to say in a series with a lot already going against the Warriors; superstitious "Brian Burke Stats" aren't looking so great either.
-Dre
p.s. A reminder, a "Brian Burke Stat" is what I label an arbitrary criteria stat that you're often to hear from sideline commentators. E.g., "This player shoots 40% on corner threes in away games in March." It's named in honor of Brian Burke from Advanced Football Analytics, as he would rally against such stats being used as proof of anything (it's especially bad in football.)