Tatum All Time Playoff Scoring

[KyRo23]

All time playoff points per game, Tatum ranks #36

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/pts_per_g_career_p.html

That's still pretty good, but if you read OP's post you'd think Tatum is the greatest playoff scorer ever.

Yeah if you can't read well

I said he is on a great pace for all time playoff scoring totals. I don't even like Tatum at all, but for his age, he is setting an amazing pace so far

You were doing the same thing as you would do with Lebron "omg look how many total points scored" not caring if they've played a billion games.

No, that is part of the career playoff scoring... I explained it in other posts in this thread as well

Sometimes... team good! Sometimes team play lot of games. Sometimes, you score lot of points. Sometimes though! Team so good and play less games. Sometime 4-0! Sometimes don't get as many points.

Playoff scoring, yes, you can score a ton of points because your team is really good and you play more games than others. But that's just what playoff scoring is scoring in the playoffs. Things happen every year, maybe an injury. All I was saying is he is approaching a crazy fast start. Show where I said he's the greatest playoff scorer? I can't stand Tatum as a player. Never liked him. I don't even think he's a top 5 current playoff player right this second.

[Fencer reregistered]

Total playoff stats means nothing. It benefits players who win 4-3 almost twice over players who win 4-0.

You all have an acute talent for tearing down any and everything.

In one case (KD Nets), the Celtics swept a playoff series many thought they would actually lose.

And the "easy East" is being given as a reason the Cs have had short series so far this year.

[Fencer reregistered]

no young player except Magic Johnson and Kobe has walked into a better situation than Tatum did with the Celtics. He walked onto a team with Smart, Kyrie, Brown, Rozier, Morris, Horford and Hayward (injured in first five minutes). They've pretty much had that level of talent every season since all while being in a very weak Eastern Conference (due to injuries) the whole time. I like Tatum, but we have to keep things in perspective.

Neither Hayward or Kyrie played at all in the 2018 playoffs in which they made the ECF. In 2019 Kyrie literally gave up in the second round and became a toxic influence well before that. Hayward was toast and Rozier added to the problems. 2020 forward it was Tatums team. Horford wasn’t around for a couple of years as he signed elsewhere in the aftermath of Kyrie taking his talents to Brooklyn and the Kemba sign and trade.

And took the ECF to 7 games and Tatum's famous Q4 dunk on Lebron.

[Blame Rasho]

Even in a day and age where scoring is so much easier, it reflects well on him that he has been on teams that have consistently gone deep in the playoffs.

[NZB2323]

Playing on east is unreal easy to get to playoffs, so do those stats mean anything at all?

Magic Johnson played on stacked teams in an easy western conference. Should we not count his 2,346 playoff assists that make him #1 all time?

[Blame Rasho]

Playing on east is unreal easy to get to playoffs, so do those stats mean anything at all?

Magic Johnson played on stacked teams in an easy western conference. Should we not count his 2,346 playoff assists that make him #1 all time?

You need to divide them by PI for them to count.

[reload141]

Wasn't he making the ECF in his rookie year? Obviously the more games you play the more points you're going to score. If you do ppg he's only like 23 ppg not even anywhere close to best all time.

Ahhh of course you show up in this thread after getting demolished in the other one.

Welcome! We are here for you mate.

[KyRo23]

Even in a day and age where scoring is so much easier, it reflects well on him that he has been on teams that have consistently gone deep in the playoffs.

This is honestly all I was saying with this thread. I’m not implying he’s the best playoff scorer as some others seem to think I’m saying. Just kind of a cool nugget of info

[NZB2323]

Total playoff stats means nothing. It benefits players who win 4-3 almost twice over players who win 4-0.

So this list is meaningless?

1. Lebron
2. Jordan
3. Kareem
4. Kobe
5. Shaq
6. Duncan
7. Durant
8. Karl Malone
9. Dr. J
10. Jerry West

If we compare it to the regular season all time leading list we can draw some conclusions:

1. Lebron
2. Kareem
3. Karl Malone
4. Kobe
5. Dirk
6. Jordan
7. Dirk
8. Wilt
9. Moses Malone
10. Kevin Durant

Karl Malone is ahead of Jordan in all time points, but Jordan is ahead in playoff points. Jordan did a better job of scoring in playoff games. The same is true for Wilt/Jerry West.

[NZB2323]

Wasn't he making the ECF in his rookie year? Obviously the more games you play the more points you're going to score. If you do ppg he's only like 23 ppg not even anywhere close to best all time.

Magic made the finals his rookie year. Do we not count him being the all-time playoff assist leader?

[Ito]

Total playoff stats means nothing. It benefits players who win 4-3 almost twice over players who win 4-0.

You all have an acute talent for tearing down any and everything.

It benefits the player making the playoffs every year.. like if that’s not what first comes to mind when you see total playoff numbers

[djsunyc]

Also this:

Read on Twitter

?s=12

didn't the warriors have similar luck during their first chip run?

[NZB2323]

Also this:

Read on Twitter

?s=12

didn't the warriors have similar luck during their first chip run?

Every title should have an asterisk.

[Fencer reregistered]

Total playoff stats means nothing. It benefits players who win 4-3 almost twice over players who win 4-0.

So this list is meaningless?

1. Lebron
2. Jordan
3. Kareem
4. Kobe
5. Shaq
6. Duncan
7. Durant
8. Karl Malone
9. Dr. J
10. Jerry West

If we compare it to the regular season all time leading list we can draw some conclusions:

1. Lebron
2. Kareem
3. Karl Malone
4. Kobe
5. Dirk
6. Jordan
7. Dirk
8. Wilt
9. Moses Malone
10. Kevin Durant

Karl Malone is ahead of Jordan in all time points, but Jordan is ahead in playoff points. Jordan did a better job of scoring in playoff games. The same is true for Wilt/Jerry West.

Tough guy West played in the easy West.

[FrodoFraggins]

Even in a day and age where scoring is so much easier, it reflects well on him that he has been on teams that have consistently gone deep in the playoffs.

This is honestly all I was saying with this thread. I’m not implying he’s the best playoff scorer as some others seem to think I’m saying. Just kind of a cool nugget of info

It's weird how bent out of shape people got with your post. It never said he was a better scorer than anyone, it just showed he's been able to score a lot of points in six years. Pettiness is strong on this board.

[KyRo23]

Even in a day and age where scoring is so much easier, it reflects well on him that he has been on teams that have consistently gone deep in the playoffs.

This is honestly all I was saying with this thread. I’m not implying he’s the best playoff scorer as some others seem to think I’m saying. Just kind of a cool nugget of info

It's weird how bent out of shape people got with your post. It never said he was a better scorer than anyone, it just showed he's been able to score a lot of points in six years. Pettiness is strong on this board.

This is an older thread and as soon as I started getting notifications for it again I thought “oh no here we go again”

Well said

[bisme37]

I put this in 2 different threads sue me.

Read on Twitter

[tsherkin]

I put this in 2 different threads sue me.

Read on Twitter

How many guys in the 20s have played over 70 playoff games with reasonably high usage?

Not trying to be a dick; the classic comeback to Tatum (leastwise with scoring) is that he's played tons of games, right?

Curry's played in only 2 postseasons in the 20s. Lebron missed a year and played only 11 games across 2 others, leaving him with 48 games played. Etc, etc, etc.

Opportunity totals; how much do we weigh those when a lot of his peers haven't had the same accrual chance? Which, of course, leads to a similar question about someone like Lebron's career marks, obviously.

[bisme37]

I put this in 2 different threads sue me.

Read on Twitter

How many guys in the 20s have played over 70 playoff games with reasonably high usage?

Not trying to be a dick; the classic comeback to Tatum (leastwise with scoring) is that he's played tons of games, right?

Curry's played in only 2 postseasons in the 20s. Lebron missed a year and played only 11 games across 2 others, leaving him with 48 games played. Etc, etc, etc.

Opportunity totals; how much do we weigh those when a lot of his peers haven't had the same accrual chance? Which, of course, leads to a similar question about someone like Lebron's career marks, obviously.

I see both the number of playoff games he's played AND the success he's had in those games as achievements worthy of mention and praise. Neither thing is an accident.

[tsherkin]

I see both the number of playoff games he's played AND the success he's had in those games as achievements worthy of mention and praise. Neither thing is an accident.

Indeed, success over time is a sought-after trait.

I meant solely for the purpose of the specific rank. Being first means nothing if there's no actual reasonable competition; that said, performing at a given level consistently over time has its own value.

In the 20s, for example, Tatum has averaged 26.3 ppg, 8.9 rpg and 5.5 apg on 43.7 / 35.5 / 84.1 splits, taking 19.8 FGA/g, 7.7 3PA/g and 7.4 FTA/g. He's shot 48.9% inside the arc, and averaged 1.1 spg and 1.0 bpg. Over that same stretch, he's posted 57.0% TS.

Year by year efficiency:

Code: Select all

2020: 56.3% TS, -1.1% rTS, 17 GP
2021: 57.7% TS, +0.6% rTS, 5 GP
2022: 56.2% TS, -0.5% rTS, 24 GP
2023: 58.5% TS, +1.9% rTS, 20 GP
2024: 56.6% TS, +0.2% rTS, 11 GP (to date; ongoing)


So he's rebounded well. He has scored in volume, albeit not at a particularly efficient rate outside of 2023. Obviously, these are very small samples, so they're quite sensitive to individual games. So like in 2020, he finished with 8/22 and 9/26 against Miami. You remove those two, he's at 57.5% TS. Obviously, you can't just ignore them, but like, had he played 3 more games, that efficiency might have looked different from just one or two good games, so the average means only so much. Still, he's trended toward the mediocre in terms of playoff efficiency in general.

So when we start looking at stuff like total points scored, we have to look at the quality of the scoring as well (relative to his peers, relative to league playoff average, etc). And if we want to discuss his ranking as far as totals are concerned, then GP matter a lot.