JOHN STOCKTON VS CHRIS PAUL STATS SERIES

In 20 playoff games, including a five-game conference semifinals win over the nascent Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers and a six-game conference finals victory against a retooled Rockets team, Stockton averaged 16.1 points (52/38/86 splits), 9.6 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 37 minutes.

A Third Team All-NBA pick and All-Defensive Second Team selection, Stockton finished 15th in the MVP voting, 14 spots behind Malone. He averaged 14.4 points (on 55/42/85 shooting splits), 10.5 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals in 35.3 minutes for a 1997 Jazz team that also won 64 games and entered the West playoffs as the top seed. Stockton was so consistent that any of his 10 straight All-Star seasons could be considered his peak, but fittingly for a player of his longevity, the last of them was probably it. There are few players who have ever been capable of making that kind of pound-for-pound impact.

JOHN STOCKTON VS CHRIS PAUL STATS SERIES

He owned Stockton in the conference finals, and his defensive switch onto Jordan in the midst of the Finals - despite nursing a calf injury - transformed a 3-0 series deficit into a competitive six-game set against a 72-win monster. In 21 playoff games, including a second-round sweep of the two-time defending champion Houston Rockets and a seven-game Western Conference finals win over Stockton’s Jazz, Payton averaged 20.7 points (49/41/63 splits), 6.8 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 43.4 minutes. He finished sixth in MVP voting behind Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Penny Hardaway, Hakeem Olajuwon and Scottie Pippen - and two spots ahead of his high-flying teammate. He averaged 19.3 points (on 48/33/75 shooting splits), 7.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds and a league-leading 2.9 steals in 39 minutes per game for a Seattle team that won 64 games and entered the playoffs as the West’s No. No guard has been named Defensive Player of the Year since Payton won the award in 1996, the same year he and Kemp led the Sonics to the Finals opposite the Chicago Bulls. Payton’s apex as a player came two years before he made the All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive First Team for the first time in 1998. There is little doubt that at his peak Payton was considered the more impactful player, but it is hard not to take those two extra seasons of prime Stockton in a call this close. Stockton was voted a top-six guard nine times and a top-four defensive guard five times in his 13 prime seasons, finishing top-10 in MVP voting four times and placing no higher than seventh in 1989. He finished top-10 in MVP voting eight times, placing sixth on five occasions and topping out at third place in 1998. His teams made the playoffs in all but two of his prime seasons, reaching a pair of Western Conference finals and the 1996 Finals.Īmong backcourt players, Payton was voted one of the six best overall and four best defenders in nine of his 11 prime seasons. That trio combined for only one All-Star selection after playing in Seattle with Payton. His prime spanned five Shawn Kemp All-Star seasons, two from Detlef Schrempf and one by Vin Baker. Payton played significant minutes for the 2004 finalist Los Angeles Lakers and 2006 champion Miami Heat over his final four seasons, but he was clearly past his prime by then.įor 11 seasons from 1992-2003, Payton averaged 20.1 points (on 47/32/73 shooting splits), 7.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals in 38.4 minutes per game, missing only six games in that span.

He made his first All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defensive teams the following year and remained on at least one of those until 2002-03, when he was traded for the first of three times in three seasons. Payton made his leap in 1992-93, when he was a key contributor on a 55-win Seattle SuperSonics team that came within a game of the Finals.

The Jazz made the playoffs in each of those 13 seasons, reaching five Western Conference finals and back-to-back Finals in 1997-98. Utah featured only one other All-Star, two-time Defensive Player of the Year Mark Eaton, during that run. His entire prime coincided with Karl Malone, the second all-time leading scorer, and both benefited equally from each other as arguably the greatest pick-and-roll combination in league history. For those 13 seasons, Stockton averaged 14.9 points (on 52/39/83 shooting splits), 12 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 2.4 steals in 34.8 minutes per game, playing every night for 11 of them.

John stockton vs chris paul stats