Quick quiz

Basketball Digest, May, 2003

1. True or false: Reggie Miller is the active postseason free throw percentage leader.

2. Which player never scored 50 or more points in a playoff game: Sam Jones, Rick Barry, George Mikan, or John Havlicek?

3. Which player not named Magic Johnson or John Stockton has recorded the most assists in a playoff game?

4. In playoff competition, have there been more games where a player has recorded 10 or more steals, or 10 or more blocks?

5. Only one player has had an all-time top 10 single-game performance in steals and an all-time top 10 single-game performance in blocks. Name him.

6. Can you name the four active players among the all-time top 20 playoff scorers?

7. Name the NBA's all-time postseason field goal percentage leader: Darryl Dawkins, Shaquille O'Neal, James Donaldson, Artis Gilmore, or Otis Thorpe?

8. True or false: A team swept in the NBA Finals has never come back the next season to win an NBA title.

9. True or false: Michael Jordan is the active scoring average leader in the NBA Finals.

10. Which player hasn't recorded seven or more steals twice in an NBA playoff game: Baron Davis, Rick Barry, Allen Iverson, or Tim Hardaway?

Quick Quiz Answers

1. False. Peja Stojakovic (.920) is the active postseason leader in free throw percentage. Reggie Miller is second at .887. 2. George Mikan never scored 50 or more points in a playoff game. 3. Doc Rivers' 22 assists--the fifth-highest post-season total ever--for the Atlanta Hawks vs. the Boston Celtics on May 16, 1988 is the highest assists total in a postseason game outside of Magic Johnson and John Stockton. 4. There have been two 10-block playoff performances (Mark Eaton in 1985 and Hakeem Olajuwon in 1990) but only one 10-steal playoff game (Allen Iverson in 1999). 5. Patrick Ewing of the New York Knicks had seven steals in a 1990 playoff game vs. the Celtics and eight blocks in a 1994 Finals game vs. the Houston Rockets, which rank as top 10 performances in both categories. 6. Michael Jordan ranks first all-time in playoff scoring with 5,987 points; Karl Malone is fourth with 4,421 points; Scottie Pippen ranks 10th with 3,619 points; and Shaquille O'Neal is 12th with 3,497 points. 7. James Donaldson's .627 field goal percentage is the best in NBA postseason history. 8. True. In fact, only once in six times prior to 2002-03 has a team that was swept in the NBA Finals even made it back to the Finals the following year (Pat Riley's Los Angeles Lakers were swept in the 1983 Finals and lost in seven games in the 1984 Finals). 9. False. Jordan is No. 2 among active players with a 33.6 ppg average in the NBA Finals. O'Neal ranks first at 34.2 ppg. 10. Rick Barry recorded seven or more steals in a playoff game three times; Baron Davis, Iverson, and Tim Hardaway have accomplished that feat twice apiece. Photo: Iverson's 30.3 ppg is the NBA's No. 2 all-time postseason scoring average.