Okay so yesterday I was scrolling through some old MJ highlights, the finals ones especially, you know? Got me thinking – we always talk about the big moments, the game winners, the Flu Game. But what about the overall numbers? What did Jordan actually average across all those finals appearances? I felt like just saying he was great wasn’t enough anymore. I wanted to see it, the cold hard averages, laid out. So yeah, I decided to dig into the stats myself, finals by finals.
First Stop: Figuring Out Where to Look
Man, this sounds simple but it wasn’t. I thought it would be one quick Google search. Wrong! Every site seemed to have slightly different numbers, or they’d just list a few key series. Nobody had all six finals neatly averaged out in one spot, at least not easily found. Frustrating! I realized I needed to go old school, find definitive sources I could trust.
I knew I had some old NBA almanacs and official guides gathering dust. Took a while digging through boxes in the garage. Found them! A bit musty, but the stats pages were golden. The official NBA Register and a couple of those huge season-by-season encyclopedia things.
The Grind: Adding It All Up
Okay, tools of the trade: my dusty books, a notebook, a pen, and my trusty calculator (phone calculator worked fine). No fancy spreadsheets for me this time, wanted to feel it.
Started with 1991 against the Lakers. Wrote down each game’s points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks. Did the same for 1992 (Portland), 1993 (Phoenix), 1996 (Seattle), 1997 (Utah), 1998 (Utah again).
Then the math began. Series by series:
- Added up the total points for a finals.
- Divided by number of games in that finals.
- Did the same for rebounds, assists, steals, blocks.
- Wrote that series average down in my notebook.
Rinse and repeat for all six finals appearances. So many pages, so much scribbling. My fingers got tired! It takes longer than you think adding numbers game by game.
The Big Reveal: Combined Finals Average
After finishing each series average, it was time for the grand finale number – the average across all finals series.
This was a bigger calculation:
- Took the total points he scored in all finals games combined.
- Divided by the total number of finals games he played (35).
- Repeat for rebounds, assists, steals, blocks.
That’s when the numbers really hit me:
- 33.6 Points
- 6.0 Rebounds
- 6.0 Assists
- 1.8 Steals
- 0.7 Blocks
Shocking Even Myself
Okay, I knew he averaged a lot in the finals. Everyone knows that. But seeing that 33.6 points pop out? That’s higher than his insane regular season career average! Doing that against the best teams, in the absolute highest pressure, six different times? And the assists matching the rebounds? That’s just wild versatility.
Looking back at the individual series averages… wow. 1991 was nuts scoring (31.2 ppg), 1993 somehow went even higher (41.0 ppg!). But even his “lowest” scoring finals averages (1996, 1997, 1998) were like most stars’ career highlights. The consistency was terrifying. Doesn’t matter which year you pick, he was dominating every single finals.
Getting those numbers down, one game at a time, with my calculator clicking away? It made the whole “GOAT” thing feel less like hype and more like undeniable fact. The average doesn’t lie. That dude brought it every single June. Makes those highlights I was watching feel even bigger.