5 Highest scoring performances in NBA Finals with 0 free-throw attempts
Devin Booker made history in Game 2 of the 2021 NBA Finals after the Phoenix Suns guard scored 31 points against the Milwaukee Bucks and led his team to a 118-108 victory.
On Thursday, Booker joined an elite club of players that included some of the best in league history when his point total didn’t include a single attempt at the free-throw line. Though there have been others who have never taken a free throw in the NBA Finals, the 24-year-old did so while recording the most points ever, per info provided by StatHead Basketball.
All-time greats in the NBA Finals with no attempts at the line
There have been a number of great players who matched Booker in terms of scoring a bunch of points without attempting a free throw in the NBA Finals. But this list is about the five highest scoring games with zero free-throw attempts, but there was a four-way tie in the last two positions.
Rather than expand the list to seven, we’ve highlighted the two players whose teams won that particular NBA Finals game. All four players scored 28 points, but the two who we will skip featuring are the Baltimore Bullets’ Fred Carter (28 points, 14-of-24 FG) against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 30, 1971, and the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson (28 points, 11-of-18 FG) versus the Toronto Raptors on June 7, 2019.
Carter’s team lost 118-106 and Thompson’s squad was defeated 105-92.
We also separated the last two players by their field-goal percentages just so we don’t have to keep them in a tie for fourth place on our list.
With that said, let’s check out the 5 highest scoring performances in NBA history by players who had 0 free-throw attempts:
#5 Stephen Curry
Stat line: 28 points (11-of 22 FG; 6-of-11 3PT)
2017 NBA Finals Game 1: Golden State Warriors vs Cleveland Cavaliers (June 1, 2017)
The Golden State Warriors Dynasty at its peak saw Stephen Curry impose his will on his opponents in the NBA Finals. Though Kevin Durant led the Warriors in scoring with 38 points, Curry’s 28 included six 3-pointers with no free-throw attempts. His sensational shooting from beyond the arc cut the heart out of the Cavaliers in the first game of the 2017 Finals.
Durant and Curry were the only players to score in double figures for the Warriors, but they routed the Cavs anyway, 113-91. Furthermore, Curry had the highest plus/minus in the game with a +20 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
#4 Kobe Bryant
Stat line: 28 points (14-of 27 FG)
2000 NBA Finals Game 4: LA Lakers at Indiana Pacers (June 14, 2000)
![Kobe Bryant #8 in Game 4 of the 2000 NBA Finals [Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/07/b3ba5-16258462773083-800.jpg)
One of the best Finals games of Kobe Bryant’s young career was this game against the Pacers. Shaquille O’Neal fouled out of Game 4 in regulation and it was up to a 21-year-old kid to prevent a 2-2 tie in the 2000 NBA Finals (the Lakers were up 2-1 in the series).
Bryant indicated to O’Neal, the league MVP at the time, that he had the game under control. In overtime, a young Black Mamba scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field. The biggest play of the game was his tip-in of a Brian Shaw miss that gave the Lakers a 120-117 lead with 5.0 seconds remaining.
Reggie Miller made one free-throw off an away-from-play foul to cut the lead to two, 120-118, but he missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.