NBA: Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and the Top 20 Players with the Most Points in Playoff History

Kobe Bryant Is On His Way to Scoring the Most Points in Playoff History

The 2012 NBA playoffs are on…and they are hot, as usual.  As of today’s post, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are leading the 2012 postseason with 32 and 31 point games, respectively.

Neither, though, made yesterday’s list – the top 20 players with the most points in a playoff game. Bryant’s top postseason post is 50 points, while King James’ is 49.

But, Kobe, with his much lengthier playoff experience is third all time in total postseason points. He’s poised to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and then Michael Jordan to become the most prolific postseason point scorer ever.

James should crack the top 20 soon. He stands at 27th, with 2,629 points, just passing Tony Parker on the all-time list tonight in Game 2 against the New York Knicks.

James and Parker are the only actives within earshot of this list, the top 20 players who have scored the most in the postseason. Bryant, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki are active members.

Just for fun, I added each ballers’ regular season career totals, grand total points (reg. season + playoffs) and percentage of the grand total that came in the postseason.

Follow me on Twitter @VinGetz.

	PLAYER	PLAYOFFS	REG SEASON	TOTAL	PLAYOFFS/TOTAL
1.	Michael Jordan	5,987	32,292	38,279	15.64%
2.	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	5,762	38,387	44,149	13.05%
3.	Kobe Bryant	5,311	29,484	34,795	15.26%
4.	Shaquille O’Neal	5,250	28,596	33,846	15.51%
5.	Karl Malone	4,761	36,298	41,059	11.60%
6.	Jerry West	4,457	25,192	29,649	15.03%
7.	Tim Duncan	4,007	22,558	26,565	15.08%
8.	Larry Bird	3,897	21,791	25,688	15.17%
9.	John Havlicek	3,776	26,395	30,171	12.52%
10.	Hakeem Olajuwon	3,755	26,946	30,701	12.23%
11.	Magic Johnson	3,701	17,707	21,408	17.29%
12.	Scottie Pippen	3,642	18,940	22,582	16.13%
13.	Elgin Baylor	3,623	23,149	26,772	13.53%
14.	Wilt Chamberlain	3,607	31,419	35,026	10.30%
15.	Dirk Nowitzki	3,239	24,134	27,373	11.83%
16.	Kevin McHale	3,182	17,335	20,517	15.51%
17.	Dennis Johnson	3,116	15,535	18,651	16.71%
18.	Julius Erving	3,088	18,364	21,452	14.39%
19.	James Worthy	3,022	16,320	19,342	15.62%
20.	Reggie Miller	2,972	25,279	28,251	10.52%

Photo: sneakernews.com

NBA Basketball: Michael Jordan and Top 20 Players with the Most Points in a Playoff Game

Michael Jordan Scores Most Points in a Playoff Game: 63

Michael Jordan, and Michael Jordan…and Michael Jordan three more times. Kobe Bryant? He scored 50 points in a playoff game once, back in 2006.

Bryant failed to make this list of the top 20 players with the most points in a playoff game ever. Jordan, however, not only has the best offensive postseason appearance (63 points) but also five of the 10 best. And one more for good measure at 11th.

Would you believe the Bulls lost despite that 63-point effort!

Ray Allen is the only active player present, and the only other one on the losing side of the decision.

Enjoy the 2012 NBA Playoffs!

Follow me on Twitter @VinGetz.

	PLAYER	PTS	FOR	AGAINST	WHEN	GM
1.	Michael Jordan	63	Chicago Bulls	Boston Celtics	1986 Eastern Conference First Round	2
2.	Elgin Baylor	61	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics	1962 NBA Finals	5
3.	Wilt Chamberlain	56	Philadelphia Warriors	Syracuse Nationals	1962 Eastern Division Semifinals	5
3.	Michael Jordan	56	Chicago Bulls	Miami Heat	1992 Eastern Conference First Round	3
3.	Charles Barkley	56	Phoenix Suns	Golden State Warriors	1994 Western Conference First Round	3
6.	Rick Barry	55	San Francisco Warriors	Philadelphia 76ers	1967 NBA Finals	3
6.	Michael Jordan	55	Chicago Bulls	Cleveland Cavaliers	1988 Eastern Conference First Round	2
6.	Michael Jordan	55	Chicago Bulls	Phoenix Suns	1993 NBA Finals	4
6.	Michael Jordan	55	Chicago Bulls	Washington Bullets	1997 Eastern Conference First Round	2
6.	Allen Iverson	55	Philadelphia 76ers	New Orleans Hornets	2003 Eastern Conference First Round	1
11.	John Havlicek	54	Boston Celtics	Atlanta Hawks	1973 Eastern Conference Semifinals	1
11.	Michael Jordan	54	Chicago Bulls	New York Knicks	1993 Eastern Conference Finals	4
11.	Allen Iverson	54	Philadelphia 76ers	Toronto Raptors	2001 Eastern Conference Semifinals	2
14.	Wilt Chamberlain	53	Philadelphia Warriors	Syracuse Nationals	1960 Eastern Division Semifinals	3
14.	Jerry West	53	Los Angeles Lakers	Boston Celtics	1969 NBA Finals	1
16.	Jerry West	52	Los Angeles Lakers	Baltimore Bullets	1965 Western Division Finals	2
16.	Allen Iverson	52	Philadelphia 76ers	Toronto Raptors	2001 Eastern Conference Semifinals	5
18.	Sam Jones	51	Boston Celtics	New York Knicks	1967 Eastern Division Semifinals	4
18.	Eric “Sleepy” Floyd	51	Golden State Warriors	Los Angeles Lakers	1987 Western Conference Semifinals	4
18.	Ray Allen	51	Boston Celtics	Chicago Bulls	2009 Eastern Conference First Round	6

Photo: nba.com (getty)

Major League Baseball: Teams and Players with the Most Cycles

Two of These Players (Bob Meusel, Lou Gehrig) Hit For the Cycle Multiple Times. Not the Guy on the Right.

Scott Hairston became the 10th player in New York Mets history to hit for the cycle last night. It was the 298th time a cycle – a single, double, triple and home run in one game – has been hit.

But not by 298 different players. Some had more than one.

Three players hit for the cycle three times, that’s the most.

Then, you have a bunch of guys who did it twice. That’s still mighty nice.

In total, 27 players have hit for the cycle more than once, including greats like Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio, to name two. Here are all 27 in today’s list.

And if you want to see which franchise has the most cycles, the number of cycles for every franchise, a full list of every cycle ever hit (including dates and box scores), and other offbeat cycle stats (like cycles with inside-the-park home runs, grand slams or in natural order, etc.) check out my sources, mlb.com, baseball-almanac.com (NL, AL, Offbeat), and yes I did this time, wikipedia, who did a bang-up job.

Bob Meusel	3	New York Yankees (1921, 1922, 1928)
Babe Herman	3	Brooklyn Robins (1931, 1931), Chicago Cubs (1933)
John Reilly	3	Cincinnati Reds (1883, 1883, 1890)
Arky Vaugham	2	Pittsburgh Pirates (1933, 1939)
Bob Watson	2	Houston Astros (1977), Boston Red Sox (1979)
Bobby Doerr	2	Boston Red Sox (1944, 1947)
Brad Wilkerson	2	Montreal Expos (2003), Washington Nationals (2005)
Cesar Cedeno	2	Houston Astros (1972, 1976)
Chris Speier	2	Montreal Expos (1978), San Francisco Giants (1988)
Chuck Klein	2	Philadelphia Phillies (1931, 1933)
Dave Orr	2	New York Metropolitans (1885, 1887)
Frank White	2	Kansas City Royals (1979, 1982)
Fred Clarke	2	Pittsburg Pirates (1901, 1903)
George Brett	2	Kansas City Royals (1979, 1990)
George Sisler	2	St. Louis Browns (1920, 1921)
Jim Fregosi	2	L.A. Angels (1964), California Angles (1968)
Jimmy Ryan	2	Chicago White Stockings (1888), Chicago Colts (1891)
Joe Cronin	2	Washington Senators (1929), Boston Red Sox (1940)
Joe DiMaggio	2	New York Yankees (1937, 1948)
John Olerud	2	New York Mets (1997), Seattle Mariners (2001)
Ken Boyer	2	St. Louis Cardinals (1961, 1964)
Lou Gehrig	2	New York Yankees (1934, 1937)
Mickey Cochrane	2	Philadelphia A’s (1932, 1933)
Mike Tiernan	2	New York Giants (1888, 1890)
Pete Browning	2	Louisville Colonels (1886, 1889)
Tip O’Neill	2	St. Louis Brown Stockings (1887, 1887)
Wally Westlake	2	Pittsburgh Pirates (1948, 1949)

Photo: lawrencecountyhistory.blogspot.com