Preface
The playoffs are about to start, and fans are about to see the most exciting basketball games in the world, compared to the regular season, the competition and confrontation in the playoffs are completely stronger than several grades, so many stars choose to paddle in the regular season for the playoffs, and wait until this time to exert their strength. However, it is precisely because the playoff competition is too strong that it is rare to see stars cut 40+, 50+, or triple-doubles and other very gorgeous data here, so let's take a look at the record of the highest 6 data in the active playoffs to see which one may be broken this year.
1. 57 points per game (Mitchell)
2019-2020 season
As one of the league's most underrated active players, many people underestimated Mitchell's quality, and even after last year's loss to the Knicks, some said he was a regular season star. Apparently Mitchell is not just not a regular season star, he is even one of the few active guards to prove himself in the playoffs, as early as when he was a rookie with the Jazz, he led the team to the Thunder Big Three, and also won the final victory.
And Mitchell's real fame will be in the 2020 playoffs, if you look at the results, the Jazz first round that year, but that series can be called the most exciting first round in recent years. With the help of Mitchell, the Jazz and the Nuggets played seven games, and he averaged 36.3 points, 5 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1 steal per game, shooting 52.9% from the field and 51.6% from three-point range.
In that round of the series, Mitchell had 3 40+ games, G1 and G4 cut 50+, of which only looking at individual performance, G1 Mitchell's performance was undoubtedly better, he played 43.2 minutes in that game, slashed 57 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, shooting 57.6% from the field, 40% from three-point range, and Mitchell scored 28 points in the fourth quarter and overtime alone.
Since then, Mitchell's 57 points have become the highest single-game scoring score among active players in the playoffs, which is only behind Jordan's 63 points and Baylor's 61 points in history, but this year's playoffs Mitchell also made the playoffs again, and he and Jokic, Embiid and other superstars have a chance to break this record again.
2. 27 rebounds per game (Biyombo)
2015-2016 season
Biyombo was drafted with the 11th pick in the first round in 2011, but he didn't have the slightest highlight reel in the first four seasons of his career with the Hornets, and his playing time became less and less. In the 2015 offseason, in order to continue to stay in the league, Biyombo signed a 2-year, 6 million contract with the Raptors, but he didn't expect this decision to make him completely out and get a 10 million contract later.
In the 2016 playoffs, with the help of Biyombo, the Raptors made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, and he also had excellent performances of 10 points, 16 rebounds, 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 17 points and 16 rebounds in the first two rounds of the series. In the G3 game against the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, Biyombo got 7 points, 26 rebounds and 4 blocks, 26 rebounds in a single game is not only a new high in the history of the Raptors, but also the highest single-game record in the playoffs for active players.
3. 18 assists in a single game (Harden)
2020-2021 season
As one of the strongest two-way guards in NBA history, Harden is very good at scoring and passing, so he has won both 3 scoring titles and 2 assist titles. In the three years at the peak of the Rockets, because there was Paul or Wei Shao in the team, Harden directly focused on scoring, and later after he transferred to the Nets, he scored with Durant and Irving, so he still became the brain of the team while sacrificing a lot of ball possession.
In the 2020-2021 regular season, Harden averaged 24.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 10.9 assists per game in the Nets. In the playoffs, Harden was still playmaking, averaging 12.2 assists per game against the Celtics in the first round, including the fifth game of the series that undoubtedly showed Harden's passing skills the most, when he played 40.5 minutes, scored 23 points and 18 assists, and used his passing to completely dismantle the opponent's defense.
However, Harden's record may also be the easiest to break on this list, because there are too many players in the league who are very good at passing, and the two such as Jokic and Doncic undoubtedly have the biggest chances, the former had 17 assists in a single game against the Suns in the playoffs last season.
4. 7 steals in a single game (Harden, Westbrook)
2015-2016 season
In 2016, Harden led the Rockets to a 73-win Warriors in the first round, and it can only be said that they are not strong enough, and they only ranked eighth in the West in the regular season. Due to the large gap in strength between the two sides, the Rockets lost to the Warriors without any suspense in the end, and a total of 5 games were played in the series, and 3 of them had a score difference of more than 20 points. As the star of the Rockets, Harden averaged 26.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 2.4 steals per game, and one of his few highlights in this round of the series was that G4 delivered 7 steals in a single game.
Wei Shao's stats were also played in the 2016 playoffs, but unlike Harden, the Thunder made it all the way to the Western Conference finals before meeting the Warriors. Wei Shao cut 27 points, 6 rebounds, 12 assists and 7 steals in the first game of the Western Finals, and with his help, the Thunder also got off to a good start, and then they even led the opponent with a score of 3-1 for a while, but unfortunately the Warriors finally completed the Jedi counterattack, and they won four games in a row and eliminated the Thunder directly.
5. 9 blocks in a single game (Ibaka, Lowe)
2010-2011 season
2020-2021 season
As a player who has gained a foothold in the league by relying on defense, Ibaka's blocking ability at his peak is also very outstanding, and he has also won 2 block titles. In the 2011 playoff series against the Nuggets, the last game of Serge Ibaka was miserable on the offensive end, scoring only one point on 0-of-4 shooting, but fortunately he delivered 9 blocks on the defensive line, and finally the Thunder narrowly defeated the opponent on their home court to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.
Lowe is also an extremely physical player, he can run and jump on the court, he averaged 1.3 blocks per game in his rookie season while averaging only 8.8 minutes per game, and he has slowly become the defensive gate of the Celtics. In the 2021 playoffs, Lowe played his own battle for fame in the series against the Nets, and in G1 he cut 11 points, 9 rebounds and 9 blocks, fully showing his rim protection ability.
6. 11 three-pointers in a single game (Thompson)
2015-2016 season
Thompson's record-setting game is likely to be one of the greatest games in the history of the team in the minds of Warriors fans, when the 73-win Warriors were forced to fall behind 1-3 by the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, and the Warriors in the Battle of Tianwang Mountain were still 2-3 behind after pulling back a city, and the sixth game was still on the Thunder's home court, so many people thought that the Warriors were going to be finished, but it was in this situation that Thompson stepped up.
At the beginning of the sixth game of the series, the Thunder still took the initiative, and even after the third quarter, they still led by 8 points, but when it came to the decisive moment of the final quarter, Thompson was like "the Buddha came", scoring 19 points on 5-of-6 three-point shooting in a single quarter, while the Thunder scored 18 points in this quarter. In the end, Thompson scored 41 points in the game, including 11 of 18 three-point shots, and he directly made the name of G6 Tang with this game.
In addition to Thompson himself in his prime, Curry, Lillard and others have a chance to break this record in the active roster, but they have also declined. In addition, the league now attaches much more importance to defending three-point shots than before, but any shooter will be wildly targeted in the playoffs, so this record is really difficult to break.