How does Giannis Antetokounmpo's performance in Game 6 of the NBA Finals as the Bucks closed out the Phoenix Suns for Milwaukee's first championship since 1971 compare to the greatest single-game efforts in Finals history?
On a night when no other Bucks player scored more than 17 points, Antetokounmpo powered his team to victory after trailing by five at halftime. His 50 points tied Bob Pettit in the 1958 Finals for the most ever in a title-clinching game, per ESPN Stats & Information research, and Antetokounmpo's 17 free throws were a new playoff career high.
Add in five blocks -- also his most ever in a playoff game -- and Antetokounmpo was dominant at both ends.
Let's go back in Finals history to give a sense of how Antetokounmpo's play on Tuesday stacks up.
Quantifying Giannis' epic Game 6
According to game score, a measure designed by John Hollinger to summarize box score stats, Antetokounmpo's 42.0 score on Tuesday was the best of his playoff career by a wide margin. His previous high was 37.4 in Game 3 of this series, Milwaukee's first of four consecutive wins after losing the first two contests in Phoenix.
Such performances are rare in the crucible of the Finals.
Per Stathead.com, Antetokounmpo tied Jimmy Butler in Game 3 of last year's Finals for the second-best game score on record. (Game score can only be calculated going back to 1978, when the NBA began tracking individual turnovers.)
It's only been surpassed by LeBron James' 42.5 game score in Game 6 of the 2016 Finals as part of the Cleveland Cavaliers' comeback from a 3-1 deficit to win the series 4-3 against the Golden State Warriors.
The impressive game score reflects Antetokounmpo's combination of prolific and efficient scoring as well as contributions in other areas. His 50 points came on just 34 scoring chances (25 shot attempts and nine trips to the free throw line), which translates into a .735 true shooting percentage. According to Stahead.com, that ranks sixth among the 66 games in which a player has scored at least 40 points in the Finals -- better than any of Michael Jordan's six such performances.
Bonus points for a closeout game
The importance of Antetokounmpo's Game 6 goes beyond the box score numbers. It's also a matter of what was at stake, as the Bucks tried to win the championship at home and avoid playing a deciding Game 7 on Sunday in Phoenix. Limiting our Finals sample to elimination games further reduces the pool of top performances.
This introduces a handful of comparisons for Antetokounmpo's performance. James' Game 6 in 2016, the highest game score in recorded Finals history, came in a must-win game for his team. Meanwhile, Magic Johnson's Game 6 performance in 1980 -- when he famously jumped center in place of the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before leading the short-handed Lakers to a clinching win in Philadelphia over the 76ers with 42 points and 15 rebounds -- also belongs on any short list of best Finals games.
Every score counted
The next level worth considering is how badly the Bucks needed every score, as they rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to hold off the Suns. Phoenix was down just four entering the final minute and wasn't really out of the game until Devin Booker missed a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left in a two-possession game, which Antetokounmpo rebounded.
While Khris Middleton made a crucial shot to push Milwaukee's lead from four to six late and Jrue Holiday found some touch after shooting 1-for-11 in the first half, the second half belonged to Antetokounmpo. He scored 33 of the Bucks' 63 points in the half, making 10 of his 15 shot attempts and 12 of 13 tries at the foul line. Per ESPN Stats & Info research, only Jordan in Game 1 of the 1992 Finals (35) has scored more points in a Finals half.
In that sense, Antetokounmpo's performance evoked memories of another closeout performance that didn't crack the list of top game scores: Jordan's Game 6 in 1998 versus the Utah Jazz, his final game in a Chicago Bulls uniform. Because he shot 15-of-35 from the field in that game, Jordan's game score of 28.6 doesn't crack the top 100 on record in the Finals. Still, that inefficiency must be considered in the context of a defensive-oriented game during which only one other Chicago player (Toni Kukoc) scored in double figures, with Scottie Pippen hampered by a back injury.
The 52% of the Bulls' points scored by Jordan in Game 6 was the most ever in a Finals game, according to ESPN Stats & Info research. With 48% of Milwaukee's points on Tuesday, Antetokounmpo ranks fourth on that list, behind a second Jordan performance (Game 4 in 1993) and Elgin Baylor in Game 5 of 1961, when Baylor also scored 33 points in a half.
Two games stand above Giannis' Game 6
Ultimately, I think the choice of best Finals performance in the modern era comes down to three closeout Game 6 efforts: Johnson's in 1980, Jordan's in 1998 and Antetokounmpo's on Tuesday. Separating those three is difficult because of the different context at play. While Antetokounmpo's might have been the most statistically dominant, it also came in a more offensive-oriented era than the other two.
For sheer narrative, it's hard to beat Johnson jumping center and Jordan hitting the game-winning jumper (after making a crucial steal at the other end of the court on the previous possession). Jordan made the most notable clutch plays, as the Lakers won rather easily in Philadelphia (123-107), and Antetokounmpo did not have a signature moment in the final minutes of the Bucks' win.
As a result, I'd probably rank Jordan's Game 6 the best single Finals game ever despite his inefficiency and put Johnson's effort No. 2 on the list. But if those performances are the comparison, there's no question we'll be talking about Antetokounmpo's own Game 6 for decades to come.