michael jordan scored the most points by a player in nba finals history.
most points scored by a player in nba finals history?
michael jordan
bullet::::- the 1993 finals were jordan's last before his first retirement. the houston rockets would take the next two titles consecutively. the ratings for those next two finals decreased, but still had above-average views, and the 1995 finals even came to within .3 ratings points of the 1992 finals and featured superstar shaquille o'neal making the finals with the orlando magic, which were swept 4-0 by the rockets. after the two seasons, jordan returned. subsequently, and almost instantly, ratings greatly increased. jordan's first game back, a march 19, 1995 game between the bulls and the indiana pacers, scored a 10.9 rating for nbc, the highest rated regular-season nba game of all time. ratings for the finals (which the bulls played in the following three years) went up sharply as well. game 1 of the 1996 nba finals between the bulls and seattle supersonics, the bulls' 107-90 win at home in the united center earned a 16.8 rating and a 31 share on nbc. in addition, game 1 was viewed in a then record 16,111,200 homes. on june 16, 1996, game 6 of the nba finals (where the bulls clinched their fourth nba championship in six years) drew an 18.8 rating and a 35 share. the six games of the 1996 nba finals averaged a 16.7 rating which ranks second all-time behind the 1993 nba finals. the six games of the 1993 nba finals between the bulls and suns averaged a 17.9 rating. the next year, ratings for the bulls–utah jazz series were slightly better, before the 1998 finals blew away the 1993 record, averaging an 18.7 rating—one which will likely not be matched by the nba finals for the foreseeable future. the deciding game 6 (and michael jordan's final game with the bulls) registered an nba record 22.3 rating with a 38 share. the game was viewed by 72 million people, breaking the record set earlier that postseason by game 7 of the 1998 eastern conference finals between the pacers and bulls (that same game set a record for highest-rated non-finals nba game with a 19.1/33). the 1998 finals managed to best the ratings for that year's world series, the first of only three nba finals ever to do so.
list of nba finals broadcasters
midway through the 1996 nba finals, seattle coach george karl decided to assign payton to play defense as a shooting guard instead of his normal point guard assignment in order to defend jordan. though the bulls won the series, seattle's (and especially payton's) defense held jordan and the bulls to their lowest offensive output in an nba finals and "frustrated the best player in the game." in his first three nba finals, jordan averaged 36.3 points per game and had scored at least 30 points in 14 of his 17 games. however, in the 1996 finals, jordan averaged 27.3 points per game and scored more than 30 points in only one of the six games. in a game 5 preview after payton had held jordan to a career nba finals low of 23, an nba pregame show described the rivalry of two strong defensive players renowned for their competitiveness. "[in game 4, jordan had his] lowest output in a finals game, much of it with payton guarding him. though afterwards, jordan refused to give payton credit, saying 'no one can stop me, i can only stop myself. i missed some easy shots.' the truth is, jordan finds the nba's defensive player of the year [payton] annoying. he views the [young payton] as impudent, and he would love to have a big game at [payton's] expense." (nba on nbc preview, game 5) the sonics won that game by 21 points and payton held jordan to 26 points – jordan's second-lowest-scoring finals game in his career up to that point. in game 6, which the bulls would win to capture the championship, payton played 47 minutes and jordan missed 14 of his 19 shots, getting a career finals low 22 points. bill walton, commentating for nbc at the time, said payton "outplayed" jordan during the second half of the series, and that seattle coach george karl would "rue" the decision to "hide [payton] from 'the king'" in the early games of the series. during this series, payton and his sonics also held jordan's bulls to the lowest-scoring quarter in their nba finals history. michael jordan would never score fewer points in an nba finals game than his 22 points in game 6, and would never be held under 30 points more than twice in a finals series, which the sonics did five times.
gary payton