Best Championship Performance Ever?

[BigSoonerFan]

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Best championship performance is for individual players, and applies to the Superbowl, World Series, NBA or NHL Finals, any golf or tennis major, the World Cup finals, or a championship of a major club league in soccer, the Olympics, or something equally relevant in another sport.

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Tiger by 15 at the 2000 US Open. I can't imagine an accomplishment even close to that.

[CarlSpackler]

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Magic Johnson, Game 6, 1980 NBA Finals.

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This is easily the best championship performance ever in the NBA. Nothing else is close. Kareem was out, and the Lakers literally didn't know who was going to play center for them in Game 6 of the finals, until on the bus ride to the arena when Magic volunteered, saying something like "I'll play center coach."

Legend has it that when Magic stepped in the circle for the tip off, the 76ers center (Tree Rollins?) looked at Magic astonishingly and said, "You've got to be kidding me."

So Magic, a rookie point guard, played center on the road against Philly and led his team to the series clinching victory.

Magic's line: 42 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists.

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it annoys me when people say "and nothing is close", when clearly it's not true. hyperbole. sigh.

anyway, here is one:

Game 6, 1986 Finals, clinching victory. Larry Bird gets 29 points, 11 rebounds, 12 assists and three steals, and leads his team to a 30 point lead in the 4th quarter before the foot comes off the gas. About as all-around dominant as 1 basketball player can be. the stats don't do it justice.

(and for the series, Bird averaged a triple double).

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Did Larry Bird play center that game because Robert Parish was out with an injury? I don't think so.

Kareem is arguably the greatest center of all time. He missed game 6 due to injury and Magic, that's right a pg, played center in his absence, and absolutely dominated. Bird's perfomance in '86 was great, but it's NOT close to Magic's in 1980. Sorry Boston fan...

[Toro]

I agree that Magic playing Center in that game was awesome. But you keep referring to him as a "point guard" as if he was of Tiny Archibauld size. The guy was a 6' 9" "point guard" after all.

[capone0]

Doesn't Diaw play the point now when Nash is out? If he doesn't, he has some great assist numbers. I also know with KT going down Diaw has been the starting center at 6 ft 8. Magic was built to play the point forward position but was labeled a point guard. As others have pointed out, it's not like he's Damon S, or Mugsy or someone like that playing center and dominating. You act like it was the equivalent of some out fielder who has barely ever pitched, goes out and pitches a perfect game in the world series. I think what Magic did was amazing, but his stats weren't that different than they usually were (his point total was higher, but his assist numbers and rebounding numbers were always amazing for a PG).

Cadwell Jones, the center, was only 2 inches taller and a couple of pounds lighter than Magic.

[warsaw]

In honor of The Masters, Jack Nicklaus's back nine 30 in the final round of the 86' Masters.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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Kareem is arguably the greatest center of all time.

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irrelevant

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played center in his absence, and absolutely dominated.

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the idea that is "played center" is partly myth. Yes, he took the jump, and played some at center against the immortal Caldwell Jones. but he still ran much of the offense as a PG, and played a few positions that night. he played a fantastic all around game, an all-time great game, and I'm not disputing that. but the idea that he 'dominated at center' is kind of a fallacy.

here are 2 more games - both from 1962 - that are comparable in greatness to Magics.

Elgin Baylor in Game 5 scores 61 points and grabs 22 rebounds to lead Lakers in win over Celtics

then in Game 7 of the same series, Bill Russell scores 30 points and grabs 40 rebounds to give the Celtics another title. money.

then there's the Jordan game that other posters have mentioned above, which was an incredible performance while sick.

were Magic's games better than these, or Bird's? Maybe, maybe not. But the idea that they "weren't close" is silly.

[CarlSpackler]

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Kareem is arguably the greatest center of all time.

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irrelevant

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played center in his absence, and absolutely dominated.

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the idea that is "played center" is partly myth. Yes, he took the jump, and played some at center against the immortal Caldwell Jones. but he still ran much of the offense as a PG, and played a few positions that night. he played a fantastic all around game, an all-time great game, and I'm not disputing that. but the idea that he 'dominated at center' is kind of a fallacy.

here are 2 more games - both from 1962 - that are comparable in greatness to Magics.

Elgin Baylor in Game 5 scores 61 points and grabs 22 rebounds to lead Lakers in win over Celtics

then in Game 7 of the same series, Bill Russell scores 30 points and grabs 40 rebounds to give the Celtics another title. money.

then there's the Jordan game that other posters have mentioned above, which was an incredible performance while sick.

were Magic's games better than these, or Bird's? Maybe, maybe not. But the idea that they "weren't close" is silly.

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I never knew about about Russell and Baylor in 1962. You could definitely argue either of those performances were as good or better than Magic's. I've learned something new today.

With regards to Bird and Jordan, I still disagree, because they still played their regular positions and didn't put up ridiculous #'s like Russell and Baylor as you mentioned. With regards to Bird, I'll relent and allow it in the debate, but Jordan's performance when sick doesn't even belong in this conversation. It's laughable when considering we're talking about the "greatest" (not great) championship performance ever. Hell, I'm trying to get over bronchitis, and I just played a bball league game last night. Playing well while sick is not that big of a deal. A big deal is that one hockey player who broke his leg, hid from his team on the off day, and still played in the final Stanley Cup game.

And yes I know that Magic still ran the offense and essentially played pg on the offensive end. Why wouldn't he? He played center mainly on defense, which is why it was such a sick performance, since he was filling Kareem's shoes on the road.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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but Jordan's performance when sick doesn't even belong in this conversation. It's laughable when considering we're talking about the "greatest" (not great) championship performance ever. Hell, I'm trying to get over bronchitis, and I just played a bball league game last night. Playing well while sick is not that big of a deal. A big deal is that one hockey player who broke his leg, hid from his team on the off day, and still played in the final Stanley Cup game.


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I think I agree. Jordan's performance was amazing, but a line like 38/7/6 or whatever should not get that much extra credit b/c he was sick. He overcame the circumstances and played a tremendous game, but the fact is other guys have carried their teams (like all the examples I gave above) more than Jordan did that day.

I think Jordan's game belongs in a different category of greatness - perhaps overcoming the odds, or playing under duress, or something like that.

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And yes I know that Magic still ran the offense and essentially played pg on the offensive end. Why wouldn't he? He played center mainly on defense, which is why it was such a sick performance, since he was filling Kareem's shoes on the road.

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It's just that when people say that he "played center" and "still put up those numbers", I think there is a misconception that he scored 42 points and dished out 9 assists or whatever as a center. in reality, he scored and passed from a variety of positions, and played a lot of defensive center that day. I think there's a difference. Again, I'm not denigrating the game in anyway, just saying that I think there is a bit of a misconception out there.

[capone0]

Did he dominate the paint? Anyone who watched the game? Can you comment on how dominating Magic was defensively? I know he won the MVP of the series (youngest to do so), and his offensive numbers were great, but did play really play center well defensively or was he just there in the middle b/c noone else was going to play it. Damon S could try to guard Shaq and officially be called the center, have a similar line with Shaq having a 100/50/10 point game and not be that impressive.

[jedi]

These aren't "the best" but they rank up there in my mind.

Kirby Puckett, 1991 World Series, game 6. Singlehandedly beat the Braves in that game, as much as any outfielder could, with his bat and defense.

Link

Orel Hershiser, 1988 World Series, Game 2

Pitched a 3-hitter complete game, and also went 3 for 3 on his own with a single and 2 doubles. His NLCS that year was remarkable as well, saving game 4 in the 12th inning (after pitching 7 innings in game 3), then closed out game 7 af few days later.