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Speaker 2: Welcome in. There's another special edition of What's Right with
Speaker 2: Nick Wright as we count down the fifty greatest players
Speaker 2: of the last fifty years in the NBA. Now, last
Speaker 2: week's was controversial. We knew it would be because last
Speaker 2: week's was where I had my one almost I don't
Speaker 2: know cheat code inclusion Luka antij That is, so this
Speaker 2: list will age well. I understand Luca is not accomplished
Speaker 2: enough to be twentieth. He hasn't technically accomplished enough to
Speaker 2: be on the top fifty. But sometimes when you know,
Speaker 2: you know, and I'm telling you right now, if people
Speaker 2: were making a list of the greatest composers in world history,
Speaker 2: and someone was like, Hey, there's this kid named Beethoven.
Speaker 2: I think he should be on it. They're like, Eh,
Speaker 2: he's only on one symphony something. If you put him
Speaker 2: on the list, you'd feel good about it. So that's
Speaker 2: the Luca part of it. However, now we're to the
Speaker 2: top eighteen, and every single person on this top eighteen
Speaker 2: not only clearly deserves to be there, but what you
Speaker 2: are going to see is when you hear who we
Speaker 2: get to and they're all NBA teams and their MVP finishes,
Speaker 2: and they're all time rankings as far as scoring or rebounding,
Speaker 2: whatever it is, you're going to realize, as great as
Speaker 2: a player such as Chris Paul was, as great as
Speaker 2: David Robinson was, guys who were just outside of this
Speaker 2: top eighteen, this eighteen are head and shoulders statistically better
Speaker 2: than everyone else on this list, with the possible exception
Speaker 2: of James Harden. James Harden's the only one who has
Speaker 2: a statistical resume all NBA's MVP finishes similar to these guys,
Speaker 2: but Harden obviously has such a non existent great playoff
Speaker 2: resume that he can't be included here. If he had
Speaker 2: just one singularly great playoff run, he would have been,
Speaker 2: But so eighteen seventeen sixteen will be today's episode. Oddly enough,
Speaker 2: they are all power forwards, so you probably know who
Speaker 2: the three guys are already, but what order will they
Speaker 2: be in? Number eighteen and it pained me to put
Speaker 2: him here. I'd love for him to be higher. He's
Speaker 2: one of my favorite people in sports. He was one
Speaker 2: of my favorite players to watch. But eighteenth is as
Speaker 2: high as I could put him. Number eighty Charles Barkley.
Speaker 2: So Barkley had five times, was for Team All NBA,
Speaker 2: five times, Second Team All NBA, one time Third Team
Speaker 2: All NBA. When it comes to MVPs, he was a
Speaker 2: one time MVP and eight times he finished in the
Speaker 2: top six. Eight times he was a top top six
Speaker 2: MVP finisher, and he won a rebounding title if you
Speaker 2: care about that. Never did win a scoring title. Obviously,
Speaker 2: he was the best player on one finalist. And what
Speaker 2: you will see about Charles when we talk about some
Speaker 2: of the best players in sports history to never win
Speaker 2: a ring is Charles' excuse if you will, for never
Speaker 2: winning a ring. It's not much of an excuse. We'll
Speaker 2: get to that momentarily, but before we get to, you know,
Speaker 2: when he came closest to winning rings. Let's just go
Speaker 2: through the postseason resume as a rookie. A rookie in
Speaker 2: the playoffs, had a twenty three and eleven in an
Speaker 2: Eastern Conference Finals game versus the eighty five Celtics. Again,
Speaker 2: as a rookie, entire playoff run, he averaged fifteen and
Speaker 2: eleven for his sixers team that went all the way
Speaker 2: to the Conference finals. Again, that's as a rookie nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty six, his second year, in the second round of
Speaker 2: the Eastern Conference playoffs, he had a thirty one twenty
Speaker 2: six and six. Again, thirty one points, twenty rebounds, six assists,
Speaker 2: six steals in Game one of the second round of
Speaker 2: the playoffs in his second year, in Game four of
Speaker 2: that series, he had a thirty seven, fourteen and nine.
Speaker 2: He would lose in seven by one point to Milwaukee. Remember,
Speaker 2: earlier in the list we talked about Sidney Moncrief and
Speaker 2: those underrated Bucks teams of the eighties. He averaged twenty eight,
Speaker 2: fifteen and four for that series. As a second year
Speaker 2: player nineteen eighty seven, played Milwaukee again, this time in
Speaker 2: round one. Lost in round one, but averaged twenty five
Speaker 2: and thirteen. Nineteen eighty nine played Ewing in the Knicks,
Speaker 2: averaged twenty seven to twelve and five, but again lost
Speaker 2: in round one. And now this is Barkley's window ninety
Speaker 2: to ninety five, the end of his time with Philly
Speaker 2: and his the beginning of his time with Phoenix. And
Speaker 2: without spoiling anything here, here's what you need to know.
Speaker 2: In those ninety to ninety five, that's six seasons. Five
Speaker 2: of those years he made the playoffs. All five years,
Speaker 2: Charles Barkley lost to one of two people in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan or Akim Olaje one. So why doesn't Barkley
Speaker 2: have a ring? Well, he kept running into Michael Jordan
Speaker 2: or Akim Olaje one, So let's go through it. Nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety Game one of the playoffs throws up a thirty
Speaker 2: eight and twenty one to start the playoffs averaged twenty six,
Speaker 2: fourteen and four in round one to get out of
Speaker 2: round one for the first time since year two nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty six that we talked about. Round two against Jordan's
Speaker 2: Bulls put up a thirty and twenty in game one,
Speaker 2: put up a thirty four to twenty and eight in
Speaker 2: Game three, but they lost the series. Of course. Then
Speaker 2: the next year he played Michael Jordan, lost to Michael
Speaker 2: Jordan again, and then shortly thereafter went to Phoenix Phoenix.
Speaker 2: The spoiler alert, this is gonna end with him losing
Speaker 2: to Michael Jordan. But how did he get there?
Speaker 3: All? Right?
Speaker 2: The Western Conference Finals for Charles Barkley nineteen ninety three
Speaker 2: wins League MVP. It's his best chance to win a title.
Speaker 2: He's never been to a finals. In fact, he's never
Speaker 2: been to a game six of a conference finals. So
Speaker 2: what does Barkley do against Seattle, Peyton and Kemp in
Speaker 2: the Western Conference Finals? With the series tied two games
Speaker 2: a piece? In Game five, throws up a forty three
Speaker 2: point fifteen rebound, ten assist game again critical game five
Speaker 2: of the series to get up in the series A
Speaker 2: game away from the NBA Finals, puts up a forty
Speaker 2: three fifteen to ten, and then in Game seven has
Speaker 2: flatley one of the greatest playoff games anyone has ever played.
Speaker 2: By game score, I think Basketball Reference might have its
Speaker 2: game score as top two playoff game ever. If you
Speaker 2: go back and watch it, it's remarkable. When I was
Speaker 2: doing the research for this list and I went back
Speaker 2: and watched what I could find of this game on YouTube,
Speaker 2: I had Barkley's number from a night of drinking at
Speaker 2: the NBA Finals years prior. I'd never texted him. I
Speaker 2: text him just to tell him how amazed I was
Speaker 2: with the performance. I was. Again, I was a little
Speaker 2: I was eight years old when he did this Game
Speaker 2: seven to get to his first and what would be
Speaker 2: his only NBA Finals again Seattle. Forty four points, twenty
Speaker 2: four rebounds to get to the finals. So what does
Speaker 2: he do in the finals? In Game two, puts up
Speaker 2: a forty two and thirteen in a game they would
Speaker 2: lose by three. In Game four, puts up a thirty
Speaker 2: two to twelve to ten in a game they would
Speaker 2: lose by six. Averaged for the playoff run to the finals,
Speaker 2: twenty seven points, fourteen rebounds, four assists. For the finals
Speaker 2: basically the same twenty seven points, thirteen rebounds, six assists.
Speaker 2: Now he also is the one that kind of lost
Speaker 2: packson on the shot that won the title. That's gonna always,
Speaker 2: you know, bounce round in his head. But that's what
Speaker 2: he did. So that's ninety three's first year in Phoenix
Speaker 2: Wins League. MVP gets to the finals is unbelievable. The
Speaker 2: run to the finals is very good. In the finals,
Speaker 2: loses to Jordan and what I think was Jordan's f
Speaker 2: finest finals performance ever that series against the Suns. The
Speaker 2: next year, starts the playoffs off with a thirty six
Speaker 2: point nineteen rebound, seven assists for steel game averaged for
Speaker 2: the first round of that's of that playoffs averaged thirty
Speaker 2: seven to thirteen and six, including a fifty six point
Speaker 2: fourteen rebound four assist game. But then in round two
Speaker 2: he plays at Keema LaJuan and they lose in seven.
Speaker 2: The next year, another remarkable round one, putting up a
Speaker 2: thirty four to fourteen and three average, but then in
Speaker 2: round two they lost to a kim Olajuan in seven,
Speaker 2: again despite the fact, by the way in that series
Speaker 2: he had a forty seven and twelve and then if
Speaker 2: we're being honest, it was kind of over for him.
Speaker 2: Then shortly thereafter he went and joined a Keem's team.
Speaker 2: His body started breaking down. He had one more great
Speaker 2: playoff game the rest of his career in nineteen ninety
Speaker 2: nine against Shaq and Gobi had a thirty point, twenty
Speaker 2: three rebound, five assist game in the only game Houston
Speaker 2: won in that series, and that was kind of it
Speaker 2: for Chuck. So he kept running into Jordan's dream the
Speaker 2: two greatest players of the nineties by a wide margin,
Speaker 2: those two guys, and he couldn't get thrown. So that's
Speaker 2: why Charles Barkley is where he is, eighteenth on the list.
Speaker 2: We have a caller that wants to chime in on
Speaker 2: the Chuckster, go right ahead, Heye.
Speaker 3: Sehn Gonzalez hosted the Sports Illustrated Weekly podcast here and
Speaker 3: lifelong Sixers fan as a native Philadelphian. Of course, I
Speaker 3: think Charles Barkley should be higher the number eighteen on
Speaker 3: the list. I'm not supposed to reveal who's at seventeen,
Speaker 3: but I will say I'm preemptively upset by it. Of course,
Speaker 3: Charles Barkley should be higher than him, not just because
Speaker 3: he was a better basketball player, but because of the
Speaker 3: cultural figure that he is and was then and still remains,
Speaker 3: so his outsized influence all over the place should have
Speaker 3: him higher. Anyway, the whole thing is terrible. It's absolutely
Speaker 3: more terrible than my Charles Barkley acts. I'm so sorry
Speaker 3: that was awful, but so is your list?
Speaker 2: All right? Well, that last part my list is not awful, John,
Speaker 2: I apologize. We disagree about seventeen versus eighteen. That was
Speaker 2: the worst Charles Barkley impersonation I've ever heard. So why
Speaker 2: do I have Barkley eighteen and the person John is
Speaker 2: talking about at seventeen? Well, we'll discuss that next. Because
Speaker 2: the guy at seventeen has the regular season resume that
Speaker 2: everyone knows it's good. I don't think people know quite
Speaker 2: how good it is. What do you do with a
Speaker 2: guy who was good but not great in the postseason,
Speaker 2: but in the regular season has an argument he was
Speaker 2: one of the three greatest players ever. That's number seventeen.
Speaker 2: We'll do him next.
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Speaker 2: All right, welcome back in What's Right with Nick Wright
Speaker 2: fifty greatest players the last fifty years in the NBA's
Speaker 2: we continue our countdown and we get to truly the
Speaker 2: most legendary players in the history of the league. Number
Speaker 2: eighteen was Charles Barkley. Number seventeen is a player whose
Speaker 2: postseason resume, one could argue, is not quite as good
Speaker 2: as Barkley's, but his regular season resume is truly not
Speaker 2: only unimpeachable, but it's hard to make an argument that
Speaker 2: anyone other than Lebron and Kareem clearly have a better
Speaker 2: totality of regular season work than this player. You probably
Speaker 2: know who he is. Number seventeen Carl Malone, So the Mailman.
Speaker 2: Eleven time first team All NBA that is tied for
Speaker 2: the second most ever, two time second team, one time
Speaker 2: third team, which gives him the fit tied for the
Speaker 2: fifth most All NBA teams ever. He's a two time
Speaker 2: MVP with nine years Top five MVP finisher nine years.
Speaker 2: He was a top five MVP finisher. When we started
Speaker 2: making this list, he was the second all time leading scorer.
Speaker 2: Lebron has since passed him. He is now the third
Speaker 2: all time leading scorer. He's the seventh all time leading rebounder.
Speaker 2: He has the second most minutes of all time. He
Speaker 2: has a career average of twenty five and ten. He's
Speaker 2: the only player of the last fifty years to have
Speaker 2: a career average of twenty five and ten other than
Speaker 2: Joel Embiid, and Embiid has the benefit of not having
Speaker 2: that end of his career part of it drag him
Speaker 2: down like most guys do. He has seventeen seasons of
Speaker 2: averaging at least twenty points per game. That's tied for
Speaker 2: the second most of all time. So again, he's the
Speaker 2: number three all time leading scorer, number seven all time
Speaker 2: leading rebounder, number two all time in minutes, top five
Speaker 2: in all NBA teams. His second most first team all
Speaker 2: NBA is ever the only twenty five and ten guy
Speaker 2: of the last fifty years. Second is seventeen years averaging
Speaker 2: at least twenty points per game. So why is he
Speaker 2: only seventeenth, Well, it's not because the postseason resume is
Speaker 2: non existent. But the postseason resume is not nearly what
Speaker 2: the regular season resume is. So let's go through the
Speaker 2: good with a little bit of the bad mixed. In
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty eight, averaged thirty two to twelve for his
Speaker 2: first career series win, and then average twenty nine to
Speaker 2: twelve in a seven game loss to the Lakers who'd
Speaker 2: gone to win the title, including in Game seven thirty
Speaker 2: one p. Fifteen and so again, Young Garl malone game
Speaker 2: seven against a Lakers team that would go on to
Speaker 2: win the title thirty one, fifteen and four in a
Speaker 2: couple of years without much in the playoffs. In nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety one, had a thirty eight, thirteen and four to
Speaker 2: beat Phoenix in Round one, and then had a forty
Speaker 2: and sixteen in a game two loss in Round two
Speaker 2: to Drexler and the Blazers. They would lose that series
Speaker 2: in five. Nineteen ninety two, he gets to his first
Speaker 2: career Western Conference Finals. How does he get there by
Speaker 2: eliminating Kemp and Peyton in Seattle with a thirty seven
Speaker 2: and thirteen, and then in ninety two against Portland in
Speaker 2: the Western Conference Finals had a thirty eight and fourteen
Speaker 2: in a critical game five series tied two games apiece,
Speaker 2: but they lost in overtime. They would go on to
Speaker 2: lose the series, and he wasn't great in the final game.
Speaker 2: Nineteen ninety four, Western Conference semis Game seven against a
Speaker 2: Kembey thirty one points, fourteen rebound, six assists to get
Speaker 2: back to the Western Conference Finals, but lost to a
Speaker 2: team in those Western Conference Finals, and then lost to
Speaker 2: a team again in round one next year. This is
Speaker 2: why a team's gonna be so high on this list.
Speaker 2: If you notice from the Barkley segments, like what happened
Speaker 2: to Barkley? Why do he make more the finals? Oh?
Speaker 2: He lost to a keep? What happened to Malone?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 2: He lost to akeep nineteen ninety six? Though, for Carl
Speaker 2: Malone facing elimination in the Western Conference Finals against Seattle
Speaker 2: in game six, thirty two points, ten rebounds, seven assists,
Speaker 2: four steals, but then in game seven wasn't great and
Speaker 2: he still hadn't been to a finals. Now we're a
Speaker 2: decade into his career, nineteen ninety seven, this is gonna
Speaker 2: be Malone's moment. He won League MVP that year. Who's
Speaker 2: controversial a lot of people thought Jordan should have won it.
Speaker 2: Jordan should have won it, but Malone won League MVP.
Speaker 2: It's his first League MVP. He's playing Shack in round two,
Speaker 2: has a forty two and nine, followed by a thirty
Speaker 2: two and twenty in games four and five, and they
Speaker 2: beat Shaq in five. Utah died. It had a thirty
Speaker 2: seven and ten in game three against the Bulls down
Speaker 2: oh two and for the series average twenty four, ten
Speaker 2: and four. Not bad, but he was always efficient in
Speaker 2: his career. Is only forty four percent in those finals.
Speaker 2: The Bulls win in six to another majestic Jordan, you know,
Speaker 2: performance in Jordan moment, the flu game and all that,
Speaker 2: and he loses in six to Michael. But twenty four
Speaker 2: to ten and four not that bad. Nine ninety eight
Speaker 2: gets a Keem in round one, has a thirty one
Speaker 2: and fifteen against Akeem. A Keem at this point now
Speaker 2: a Keem was older but was on the downside. Malone
Speaker 2: again had just won League MVP, almost wanted again thirty
Speaker 2: one and fifteen to beat a Keemen round one. In
Speaker 2: round in round three against Shaq and Kobe, he had
Speaker 2: a thirty average. Pardon me, thirty eleven and five to
Speaker 2: sweep Shack and Kobe out sweep Mountain Western Commends finals.
Speaker 2: Then in the finals they fall down three to one.
Speaker 2: What does he do in game five thirty nine points,
Speaker 2: nine rebounds, five assists, and then in game six the
Speaker 2: box score looks good thirty one points, eleven rebounds, seven assists,
Speaker 2: But we all know the story there, Bulls down three,
Speaker 2: MJ hits two free throws, Bulls down one. Karl Malone
Speaker 2: is the ball in the right box. MJ comes around
Speaker 2: the baseline, strips it from him, goes down, hits the
Speaker 2: jump shot stocked and misses Desperation three, and the Bulls
Speaker 2: win the series. Bulls win the title. So we average
Speaker 2: for that series more than respectable twenty five point eleven rebound,
Speaker 2: four assists, this time on fifty percent shooting, but not
Speaker 2: quite enough. Then in ninety nine, he's is the league
Speaker 2: MVP in Round two Game six, facing round two. In
Speaker 2: game six, he has eight points and his team goes home.
Speaker 2: In two thousand, starts the playoffs off. Carl Malone not
Speaker 2: dead yet, fifty to twelve to start the playoffs off
Speaker 2: against Seattle, but they don't go very far. He then
Speaker 2: eventually signs with the Lakers in four. In four, to
Speaker 2: his credit, he did have a thirty point playoff game,
Speaker 2: but he got hurt late in the playoffs. It's one
Speaker 2: of the reasons the Lakers got blown off the court
Speaker 2: against Detroit. Then his career was over. So he doesn't
Speaker 2: have a lot of singularly great postseason moments. However, fifty
Speaker 2: four times he scored thirty in a playoff game, that's
Speaker 2: the ninth most all time. One one hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: four times he scored twenty in a playoff game, that's
Speaker 2: the fifth most all time. He is seventh all time
Speaker 2: in playoff minutes, playoff points, and playoff rebounds. So something
Speaker 2: there is some compiling there. I understand that, and he
Speaker 2: was not No one's gonna argue he was a great
Speaker 2: playoff four. He got a little worse come the postseason,
Speaker 2: but in the regular season the resume is unimpeachable. That's
Speaker 2: how he becomes the seventeenth greatest player of the last
Speaker 2: fifty years. Karl Malone here is a caller who has
Speaker 2: a Karl Malone question or comment.
Speaker 6: John Stockton. When it came to the Utah Jazz and
Speaker 6: the Stockton Malone combo was the more important of the two.
Speaker 6: I'm just saying that means that you've got John Stockton
Speaker 6: as a top fifteen player.
Speaker 2: No, Rick, you know I don't have John Stockton in
Speaker 2: the top sixteen. We had John Stockton in the top
Speaker 2: twenty five. We had John Stockton twenty fourth, which is
Speaker 2: not at all anything to sneeze at. But Rick's the
Speaker 2: first person I've ever heard make the argument Stockton was
Speaker 2: better than Malone. I've literally never heard someone make that
Speaker 2: argument again. Carl Malone eleven times was First Team All NBA.
Speaker 2: John Stockton two times was First Team All NBA. Karl
Speaker 2: Malone had nine top five MVP finishes. John Stockton had
Speaker 2: zero top five MVP finishes. So listen, I understand Stockton
Speaker 2: all time leader and assists, all time leader and steals.
Speaker 2: It's why he's in the top twenty five. But no, no, no,
Speaker 2: Stockton's not better than alone. Nobody actually thought Stocktor's better
Speaker 2: than alone. I can't believe Rick actually thought that. I
Speaker 2: love Rick Buker, He's one of my favorite things say
Speaker 2: about colleagues of mine. Who I disagree lot Rick Bucker,
Speaker 2: great guy, bad takes. This might be the worst non
Speaker 2: Lebron rip buger take I've heard other than that. I
Speaker 2: appreciate him contributing to the show. Number sixteen one more
Speaker 2: power forward, this one with a ring. He's next, all right,
Speaker 2: welcome back in What's Right with Nick? Right, as we
Speaker 2: continue our special edition the fifty Greatest Players of the
Speaker 2: last fifty years. Next week we will be into the
Speaker 2: top fifteen. I can't believe we've already come that far.
Speaker 2: Number eighteen we just listed today was Charles Barkley. Number
Speaker 2: seventeen we listed today was Karl Malone. Number sixteen plays
Speaker 2: the same position. However, he has one thing those two
Speaker 2: men don't have, and he got it under the most
Speaker 2: difficult of circumstances. And this shows you how much a
Speaker 2: ring can do for you, because, to be candid, he
Speaker 2: certainly doesn't have the regular season resume of Karl Malone,
Speaker 2: and he doesn't. He's probably a little shy of the
Speaker 2: regular season resume of Charles Barkley. But the one postseason
Speaker 2: run was brilliant enough. Plus it's got a pretty damn
Speaker 2: good regular season resume. Number sixteen the third greatest foreign
Speaker 2: born player as of today in NBA history. Number sixteen,
Speaker 2: Dirk Davitz Dirk. Four time first team All NBA, five
Speaker 2: time second Team All NBA, three time third Team All NBA.
Speaker 2: He won an MVP and three times he finished in
Speaker 2: the top three of MVP voting. He was a fifty
Speaker 2: to forty ninety guy. And this is something I don't
Speaker 2: think many people know. He he is the sixth all
Speaker 2: time leading scorer in NBA history. Again, the number six
Speaker 2: all time leading scorer in NBA history is won Dirk Novitzky,
Speaker 2: and it gets forgotten to some, but it matters when
Speaker 2: I say he doesn't have the regular season resume of Malone.
Speaker 2: That's fair. Malone's third of Berkley. Maybe I shouldn't have
Speaker 2: said it to Berkley. Barkley's got more regular top five
Speaker 2: MVP finishes. However, Dirk had one playoff disaster that I
Speaker 2: think MVP voters then held against him. Will get to that,
Speaker 2: but he, of course more than made up for it.
Speaker 2: So let's talk postseason. He obviously, you know, was a
Speaker 2: finals MVP and a champion, but he also was the
Speaker 2: best player on another finalist. Let's not forget about the
Speaker 2: six finals, where du after being up two to oh
Speaker 2: d Wade with a little bit of help from the
Speaker 2: refs took that title from him, but Dirk carried two
Speaker 2: Mavericks teams that did not have anything close to another
Speaker 2: superstar to the finals, won the title one time. We'll
Speaker 2: get to that eventually. He came into the league nineteen
Speaker 2: years old, so it took him a couple of years
Speaker 2: to make the playoffs. So when he did, twenty two
Speaker 2: years old, first series of his playoff career, he had
Speaker 2: back to back thirty three point games against the guy
Speaker 2: we just talked about, Karl Malone. He also facing elimination
Speaker 2: in one against Tim Duncan and David Robinson. Dirk Novitzky,
Speaker 2: twenty two years old, had forty two points, eighteen rebounds,
Speaker 2: two assists, and six blocks. Pretty good for a twenty
Speaker 2: two year old. The next year faces Kevin Garnett, and
Speaker 2: I think a lot of my colleagues would have Garnet
Speaker 2: ahead of Dirk on the all time rankings. I don't.
Speaker 2: It's close, but I don't. The next year played Kevin
Speaker 2: Garnett averaged thirty three and sixteen to sweep KG, including
Speaker 2: thirty nine and seventeen to close him out. The next year,
Speaker 2: oh three. Now again, Dirks hadn't turned twenty five yet
Speaker 2: forty six and ten to start the playoffs forty two
Speaker 2: and ten to go up three to zero to round one.
Speaker 2: Now he did lose the next three. He was almost
Speaker 2: a total disaster. But then in game seven thirty one
Speaker 2: and eleven and then Game seven the very next round
Speaker 2: against Chris Webber and the Kings, thirty and nineteen in
Speaker 2: game seven to make his first ever Western Conference Finals.
Speaker 2: This is an important moment for Dirk. Dirk's still young.
Speaker 2: It's his third playoff run ever. He carries a MAVs
Speaker 2: team to the Western Conference Finals and in the Western
Speaker 2: Rifence Finals in game one, has thirty eight and fifteen
Speaker 2: in Game one, but then he got hurt in Game
Speaker 2: three and that was a rap for them. Now they're done, goodbye,
Speaker 2: good night, You're out of there. Spurs end up obviously
Speaker 2: winning the series. They also end up winning the title
Speaker 2: that year. Could the MAVs if Dirk doesn't get hurt?
Speaker 2: Do they win that title? Do those MAVs beat the
Speaker 2: nets of three? Of course they do, But he didn't
Speaker 2: get the opportunity. He got hurt six Round one playing
Speaker 2: Memphis averages thirty one and eight and sweeps them Game seven.
Speaker 2: Western Conference semis and iconic Dirk Novitzky moment. He's thirty
Speaker 2: seven and fifteen in an overtime win against Duncan. But
Speaker 2: more importantly, that's the and one, the Jenobli foul to
Speaker 2: force overtime. Down three twenty one seconds left in the regulation.
Speaker 2: Dirk Drives, gets fouled, makes the layup, it makes the
Speaker 2: free throw, obviously goes to overtime, gets to the conference finals.
Speaker 2: In the conference finals and No. Six series tied two
Speaker 2: games apiece fifty and twelve. Again, let me say that again.
Speaker 2: He had fifty and twelve to go up three to
Speaker 2: two on the Suns in the Western Conference Finals. Twenty
Speaker 2: three and eleven average in the finals, So in the
Speaker 2: finals numbers go down a bit, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: But you're up against Shaq and d Wade. He averaged
Speaker 2: twenty three and eleven. And let's not forget about those
Speaker 2: finals games three, five, and six. They lost by a
Speaker 2: combined combined six points. And in Game three Dirk had
Speaker 2: thirty points, seven rebounds. Game six he had twenty nine
Speaker 2: points fifteen rebounds. But they lose at that point, It's
Speaker 2: like okay, So Dirk in O three probably wins the title.
Speaker 2: But he got hurt in six, had some iconic moments,
Speaker 2: the fifty to twelve against Nash and Amari and the Suns,
Speaker 2: the and one in the game Game seven against the Spurs.
Speaker 2: You lose in the finals, so be it. Then seven
Speaker 2: they're the one seed, and what he wins League MVP
Speaker 2: and what happens? They lose in round one to the
Speaker 2: We Believe Warriors. He had a bad series, average less
Speaker 2: than twenty points per game, and that's when it was
Speaker 2: oh soft euro Dirk can't get it done. The next
Speaker 2: year plays Chris Paul with his best hornet team averages
Speaker 2: twenty seven to twelve and four, but loses in round one.
Speaker 2: The next year plays Round gets to round two for
Speaker 2: the first time in a few years. Plays Denver, that's
Speaker 2: the best Carmelo Denver year averages thirty four to twelve
Speaker 2: and four in the series, has forty four and thirteen
Speaker 2: in their only win of the series. They lose in five,
Speaker 2: and it's like, oh boy, like Dirk's not getting back
Speaker 2: to the finals. Twenty ten, plays the Spurs in round
Speaker 2: one three times in that series he scored at least
Speaker 2: thirty three, but they lose in round one, and then
Speaker 2: twenty eleven, the Critical Run twenty eleven playoff run, he
Speaker 2: has thirty three, eleven and four to close out Portland
Speaker 2: in round one. In round two, he sweeps the two
Speaker 2: time defending champion Lakers in Kobe and far out played Kobe. Again,
Speaker 2: that's not some old tired Lakers team. They just won
Speaker 2: back to back titles. Dirk swept him out and played
Speaker 2: better than Kobe in that series. And then the Western
Speaker 2: Conference Finals against again, they're young, but Katie ross Harden.
Speaker 2: Game one of those Western Goverends Finals, he plays one
Speaker 2: of the greatest playoff games anyone's ever played. He had
Speaker 2: forty eight points on fifteen shots. Derk Nivitzki had forty
Speaker 2: eight points on twelve of fifteen from the field in
Speaker 2: game one of that series. In Game three of that series,
Speaker 2: he had another forty point game. He averaged thirty to
Speaker 2: a game to get back to the finals. So round one,
Speaker 2: you play Portland, Okay, that's not some great Portland team.
Speaker 2: Round two, you sweep the two time defending champs. Round
Speaker 2: three you outplay Durant. You have no other stars on
Speaker 2: your team. You get to the It's young Durant, but
Speaker 2: still Durant rouss Harden. You get to the finals. In
Speaker 2: the finals, who's waiting for you? Lebron Wade Bosh and
Speaker 2: that's all that's the story is told as it's Lebron's
Speaker 2: meltdown and that did happen, but Dirk still had to
Speaker 2: take it from him. Average twenty six to ten in
Speaker 2: those finals. For the playoff run average twenty eight and
Speaker 2: eight on he was one percent away from a fifty
Speaker 2: forty five ninety five for the playoff run. For the
Speaker 2: playoff run, he is shooting splits, were forty nine percent
Speaker 2: from the field, forty six percent from three, ninety five
Speaker 2: percent from the line. And then the next year he's
Speaker 2: swept by OKC in round one that obviously the thunder
Speaker 2: team that went to the finals.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: He averages twenty seven and six for the series and
Speaker 2: then that was about it for him. But he was
Speaker 2: amazing in the postseason early then after they made the
Speaker 2: finals after six before eleven that's seven to ten run.
Speaker 2: It's not that he was terrible, except for the one
Speaker 2: year in seven seventy was bad eight nine ten. It
Speaker 2: just lost to better teams and then back to the finals.
Speaker 2: One of the most important impressive rings ever that gets
Speaker 2: you number sixteen on the list, Dirk Novitski, let's go
Speaker 2: to a caller.
Speaker 5: Hey, Nick Megan, O leave here, UFC broadcaster and Spurs
Speaker 5: basketball fan.
Speaker 2: But the fact that I'm a Spurs.
Speaker 5: Fan has nothing to do with my opinion that Dirk
Speaker 5: on your list is way too high.
Speaker 2: I mean, yes, he.
Speaker 5: Has a ring, Yes, great offensive player, but some of
Speaker 5: those playoff collapses about losing to the number eight seed
Speaker 5: Warriors and the defense, I don't know, questionable. So if
Speaker 5: he's this high in your list, I'm telling you Tim
Speaker 5: Duncan better be top five.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, I'm not gonna reveal where Tim Duncan is,
Speaker 2: but Tim Duncan being around the top five is not
Speaker 2: outrageous at all. Listen, Dirk was not better than Duncan.
Speaker 2: No one rog you Dirk was better than Duncan. But
Speaker 2: when you say some of those playoff collapses, it's really
Speaker 2: just one, just one true playoff collapse. Again, three would
Speaker 2: have won the title if he doesn't get hurt. You
Speaker 2: can't tell me differently, And that was he was out
Speaker 2: playing Tim Duncan in that series until he got hurt.
Speaker 2: Six gets to the finals. Tough confluence of events with
Speaker 2: the officiating and d Wade having one of the greatest
Speaker 2: four game stretches in NBA history, then takes his lumps
Speaker 2: and O seven again, no superstars, no top seventy five. Well,
Speaker 2: Jason gives top seventy five guy on the eleven team,
Speaker 2: but he wasn't in his top seventy five form when
Speaker 2: he did it. He was a good player, but not
Speaker 2: a great player. And Dirk carries him to a ring
Speaker 2: sixth all time leading scorer, won an MVP, few other
Speaker 2: top three MVP finishes, unreal playoff run, and some great
Speaker 2: playoff numbers. Dirk Novitzky your sixteenth best player of the
Speaker 2: last fifty years. Next week we will get into the
Speaker 2: player who I believe to be disrespected by history and
Speaker 2: disrespected by modern analytics more than any other player in
Speaker 2: NBA history. He'll lead off our list as we get
Speaker 2: into the top fifteen next week on the fifty Greatest
Speaker 2: Players of the last fifty years? On What's Right with
Speaker 2: Nick Ray