Sad! Counting the five stars with the most NBA playoff games but hard to find a championship, two MVPs are on the list

There is no 24th in the rivers and lakes

2024-05-28 21:20Posted in Henan Sports Creators

Standing on the top podium and lifting the O'Brien Cup, for NBA players, this can be regarded as one of the biggest goals of their careers, but only one team can become the ultimate winner in a season, and there are too many "well-known" names in the vast history of the league that seem to be "insulated" from the championship, and they have not been able to touch the Gold Cup after more than ten years, and there is no shortage of top stars such as Iverson and Barkley. Let's take a look at the top five stars who have played the most playoff games in NBA history but are hard to find a championship.

Fifth place: Harden

Playoff games: 166

Career playoff averages: 22.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.6 steals

Harden has been in the playoffs every season in his 15-year career, and is one of only seven players in NBA history to do so. Harden experienced the Finals early on, helping the Thunder reach the Finals in the third year of his career, and the talented Thunder at that time received a lot of promising voices and were expected to build some achievements, but this did not materialize.

Harden left Durant and Wei Shao in 2012, the "three less" disintegrated, and went to Space City, Harden achieved the transformation from the best sixth man to the league's MVP, becoming one of the strongest scorers in the NBA, with excellent organizational talent, three consecutive scoring champions, won the assist king, was selected to the best team for 4 consecutive years, and won a lot of regular season honors, but in the playoffs, Harden was out of the first round in the first two seasons of the Rockets, and then the Warriors stopped solidly.

From the 2014-15 season to the 2018-19 season, in the past five years, Harden's Rockets have been out of the playoffs 4 times "thanks to the Warriors", and the Warriors set off a "small ball storm" to win the triple crown.

Later, he left the West, said goodbye to his old rival Warriors, and went to the Nets and the 76ers, Harden's transformation was relatively smooth, with an average of more than 20+10 per game in the regular season, and he also won the assist king in the 2022-23 season, which can be said to be the top organizer in the league, but because of various factors including injuries, Harden ended up in the playoffs as "second round, second round and second round", and almost every year he was considered promising, and he also tried to reduce his salary and lose weight, but he never touched the O'Brien Cup.

When it came to the Clippers, the former MVP Harden has come to the fifth stop of his career, with Leonard, Paul George, and Wei Shao by his side, Harden tried his best to integrate into the team, "pinched" his teammates together, and let the Clippers go from shaking to riding the wind and waves, but the injury came again, Leonard was injured in the playoffs, and Harden, who has been able to play at least the second round for five consecutive years, even suffered a playoff round trip this time.

This offseason, Harden returned to free agency, and it is not known whether he will fight for a big contract or make another decision to take a pay cut and try to challenge for a championship, leaving him with little time left to compete for a championship.

Fourth place: Sam Perkins

Playoff games: 167

Career playoff averages: 11.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists

Sam Perkins was both a member of the '84 Diamond Generation draft and Jordan's college teammate, and after Jordan was selected with the third pick in the first round, Sam Perkins was picked by the Mavericks right after that. The addition of Sam Perkins has strengthened the Mavericks' interior strength, and he has good finishing ability under the basket, mid-range shooting ability, as well as help defense, defense and rim protection ability, and it is not difficult for Sam Perkins to average at least 13+7 per game in the regular season.

But the longer he has been in the league, the more the light between Sam Perkins and his North Carolina brother Jordan will be incompatible, and Sam Perkins has become a high-quality "championship puzzle" after years in the league, playing for four teams in his career, helping three of them reach the Finals, but the furthest is here.

In the 1990-91 Finals when Jordan won the first championship of his career, Sam Perkins was on the opposite side of the Lakers, becoming a "background board", and in 1996, he helped the SuperSonics go all the way to the Finals as an important forward rotation, and swept the defending champion Rockets led by Olajuwon in the second round, but lost to the Bulls led by Jordan in the Finals, and he helped the SuperSonics limit Jordan's average shooting rate to only 41.5% per game in that round of the series, which is commendable, but failed to win the championship after all.

With solid fundamentals and a good three-point shooting ability practiced in the course of his career, Sam Perkins provided an important boost for the Pacers to advance to the Finals in the 1999-00 season, and he shot as high as 40.8% three-point shooting in the regular season, which was a rare and stable space interior in the league at that time, and the Pacers fell in front of the Lakers led by the "OK combination".

When he was young, Sam Perkins witnessed Jordan's first triple championship as an opponent, and when Jordan achieved a triple championship for the second time, in the first year of the Finals, Sam Perkins was on the opposite side, "boiling" away Jordan, and the "OK combination" won three consecutive championships for the Lakers, and Sam Perkins was here again in the first championship finals, which was also a bit sad.

Third place: Horford

Playoff games: 181

Career playoff averages: 12.3 points, 8.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists

Horford has many qualities that are reminiscent of Duncan, and Horford and Duncan have a similar style of play, but their impact on the game cannot be ignored, and he has a wealth of offensive skills, and can lead the team to attack as a pivot, and can do an excellent job of protecting the rim on the defensive end, defensive positioning, and rebounding protection. Horford has winning experience, leading the team to NCAA championships twice in college, but in the NBA, it is extremely difficult to win the championship.

Horford's presence can often raise the lower limit of a team, when he entered the league in 2007, Horford helped the Hawks end the embarrassment of missing the playoffs for 8 consecutive years, and never missed the playoffs for 8 seasons since, in the 2014-15 season, Horford averaged 15.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.3 blocks per game, as an important interior pillar of the Hawks, he played the best record in team history 60-22, broke into the Eastern Conference finals, but was swept out by the Cavaliers led by James.

Since then, James and the Cavaliers have almost become Horford's "nightmare" in the playoffs, and from 2016 to 2018, they were eliminated by the Cavaliers in the playoffs three times.

As a 2.06-meter-tall interior lineman, it is not easy to have an important tactical position in the game, Horford did it, he once played a relatively traditional style of adaptation to the "small ball era" interior style, practiced a three-point shot, Horford scored a total of 10 three-pointers in the regular season in the first 7 seasons of his career, and made 97 three-pointers with a 42.9% shooting rate in the 11th season of his career, and shot more than 40% of his three-point shooting rate in the 2022-23 season and the 2023-24 season for two consecutive years.

Horford has been in the league for 17 seasons, and the most playoff appearances of active players except James are Horford, but he is still empty-handed, and the championship ring has not yet been worn.

This season, the Celtics are considered one of the most likely teams to win the championship, they swept the Pacers to reach the Finals for the second time in three years, which is also the second trip to the Finals of Horford's career, and he said in the interview that he is very eager for the championship and expects Horford to get the championship ring of his dreams.

Second place: Stockton

Playoff games: 182

Career playoff averages: 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 10.1 assists, 1.9 steals

Jordan's seven-game scoring streak? Stockton has achieved nine consecutive assist kings, the official height of 1.85 meters Stockton is not too conspicuous among many point guards, and the Jazz selected him with the No. 16 pick in the first round in the 1984 draft have caused dissatisfaction among many of their own fans. The end was when Stockton conquered the fans who had questioned him.

Stockton helped the Jazz end the embarrassment that the team had not entered a playoff game in 9 years, and in the long 19-year career, he helped the Jazz get the playoff "ticket" every season.

But Stockton does not often break into the interior, but a large number of positions above the free throw line, instigating offense, as the Jazz's "court brain" he has such a characteristic, but also makes the team appear destructive in some games, lack of offensive ability, in the star-studded 90s, the Jazz experienced the bitterness of not being able to cross the division finals and enter the finals, and finally reached the finals, but against the Bulls led by Jordan, who was chasing the second triple championship in his career, he returned with regrets.

First place: Carl Malone

Playoff games: 193

Career playoff averages: 24.7 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.3 steals

In his long 19-year career, Karl Malone has helped the team reach the playoffs every year, as consistent as his nickname "The Postman" describes, but when it comes to winning championships, it's "The Postman doesn't work today."

When he first entered the league, he was complained about being fat, Carl Malone practiced a "horizontal meat", and exerted his impact and "destructive power" in the game, but he is not the kind of person who will only use strength to win, and in the course of his career, he has practiced a reliable mid-range shot, refining his face frame technology, back body skills, and response ability, so in the era of frequent outstanding interior lines, Carl Malone has averaged the top five in the league in scoring points per game in 13 seasons and the top ten in rebounds per game in 8 seasons.

In the 9 years from the 1987-88 season to the 1995-96 season, Karl Malone was able to occupy a position in the top ten of the MVP final voting list, and in the 1996-97 season, he won the competition with Jordan and won the MVP, but he reached the finals but watched Jordan win the O'Brien Cup for the Bulls, and in the 1997-98 season, he experienced it again, falling one step away from the championship, and the winners were Jordan and the Bulls. This time even the MVP is not in the hands of Karl Malone.

In the 1998-99 season, he was elected MVP as the oldest, and Karl Malone and the Jazz no longer had the Chicago No. 23 on the road to winning the championship, but this time they were out in the second round, and in the last year of their careers, they went to the Lakers to find an "OK combination" partner. At the end of his 19-year career, Karl Malone has not fulfilled his championship dream, and the topic of what Karl Malone would have achieved without Jordan has always been hotly discussed over the years.

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