Dirk Nowitzki‘s 40 points in the Mavericks’ overtime win against Oklahoma City on Monday was the ninth time a player has scored at least that many points during the 2011 NBA playoffs. In the last 20 years, there have been at least 10 40-point performances in the postseason seven times (only once has there been zero, in 1999):
10x (1992, 2000) » En route to his second NBA title in 1992, Michael Jordan hit the mark four times. Brad Daugherty and Drazen Petrovic were among six players that had one 40-point game. In 2000, Shaquille O’Neal topped the threshold five times and Reggie Miller did it twice.
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11x (1995, 2003) » Hakeem Olajuwon was the dominant force in 1995, scoring 40 points or more on five occasions. Jordan and Kevin Johnson each had a pair. In 2003, eight different players scored at least 40, led by Allen Iverson, Nowitzki and Tracy McGrady, who did so twice apiece.
13x (2006) » This might be familiar: Dwyane Wade and LeBron James had two 40-point games while nine other players had one, a group that includes Gilbert Arenas when he was a Wizard and, randomly, then-Pacer Anthony Johnson.
16x (2009) » James and Kobe Bryant accounted for half of the 40-point games two years ago; each had four. Eight players account for the other eight, among them Ben Gordon and Brandon Roy.
17x (2001) » You can’t talk about the 2001 playoffs without mentioning Iverson, who reached the 40-point mark six times, scoring 54 and 52 points, respectively, in two games against Toronto. But Shaq made the list three times and Kobe twice on the way to claiming the championship.
