Listing the 3 NBA players with most field goals made in a single playoff game
The NBA Playoffs are the biggest stage in the league, and any player who can elevate his game during that part of an NBA season will certainly earn lots of praise, especially if his effort helps his team become the champions of the league or at least compete for it.
Throughout league history, superstars who have performed at their best in the postseason have been applauded and repeatedly celebrated for being clutch in the high-pressure moments.
Players like Bill Russell (who won a record 11 titles as a player), Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and many more are often at the center of playoff discussions. Moreover, others who weren't able to win titles, like Elgin Baylor and Reggie Miller, are consistently praised for their resilience and ability to perform at their best regardless of the end result.
Top 3 players with the most field goals made in an NBA Playoffs game
In this article, however, we will take a look at performances in a single playoff game and give you the three players who have converted the most field goals in one postseason outing.
Without further ado, let us take a look.
Note: If two or more players are tied for the record, the one who did it first will be ranked higher.
#3 Michael Jordan | 24 field goals
Michael Jordan famously won six NBA championships during his stellar career with the Chicago Bulls in six NBA Finals appearances.
Moreover, he won a record six NBA Finals MVPs, and consistently put up mind-boggling performances in the postseason.
Jordan is the all-time leader in points scored in a single NBA Playoffs game, with the 63-point effort he put up against the Boston Celtics on April 20th, 1986 in a road loss.
That day, he made 22 of his 41 field-goal attempts. However, that was not his best playoff game in terms of field goals made, as he converted 24 on May 1st, 1988 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 45 attempts to record 55 points.
With that outing, he tied the all-time record for the most field goals made in a single postseason game.
#2 John Havlicek | 24 field goals
John Havliceck was an unbelievable winner in his NBA career and he had a huge role in eight championships for the Boston Celtics. Out of those eight titles, Havlicek had Bill Russell as a teammate in six of those (and as a player/coach in two).
After Russell retired, Havlicek and the Celtics returned to their winning ways five years later, in 1974, and then won another championship in a tremendous NBA Finals series against the Phoenix Suns in 1976.
Before winning the title in 1974 and also earning Finals MVP honors, Havlicek tied the all-time record for field goals in a single postseason game on April 1st, 1973 with a 54-point effort against the Atlanta Hawks (he made 24 of his 36 field-goal attempts).
#1 Wilt Chamberlain | 24 field goals
Yes, another scoring/offense-driven list that has Wilt Chamberlain at the top. Wilt Chamberlain did not have the greatest postseason career ever, as he often struggled to reach the ultimate goal. Still, he won a couple of championships with the Philadelphia 76ers (1967) and LA Lakers (1972) and earned a Finals MVP award.
Chamberlain averaged 22.5 points per game in his playoff career, not much when compared to the 30.1 he put up in the regular season (second-best ever). However, he did have some explosions in the NBA Playoffs, especially one on March 14th, 1960, when he scored 53 points in Game 3 of the 1960 Division Semis against the Syracuse Nationals (he played for the Philadelphia Warriors at the time).
The 53-point outing was Chamberlain's best of his postseason career, and also a playoff record for scoring in a single game (later broken by himself in 1962 and surpassed several times afterwards).
To reach those 53 points, Wilt established a postseason record for most field goals made in a single game, with 24 (in 42 attempts), which has been matched twice since then.