I began this decade as a fifth grader and will exit it as a college junior. When I’m old, I will look back on my childhood and point to right now: the 2010’s. The 2010’s established my sports fandom and will forever shape the way I view the world. I often recall the series finale of The Office when Andy talks about wishing you could know when you’re in the “good old days”. Here’s my attempt to remember the good ol’ days of sports while I’m living in them.
Legendary athletes don’t just put up incredible stats in the regular season and call it a day. They save their best when it matters most: the playoffs. These athletes rose their game to unparalleled levels for an entire postseason, not just a single game. Their heroic exploits elevated their names to a mythical status in athletics lore. Here are the greatest postseason performances of the 2010’s:
Kemba Walker, 2011
Entering the Big East tournament, UConn needed a win or two just to crack the NCAA tournament field of 68. They finished ninth in the Big East, so conference tournament began play on Tuesday afternoon. “Five days. Five games. [and] five wins” later, highlighted by Walker’s iconic stepback winner against Pittsburgh, UConn won the Big East tournament and earned a 3-seed for the big dance. Walker averaged 26 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.8 steals per game during that stretch. Load management be damned.
In the NCAA tournament, UConn defeated Kawhi Leonard’s San Diego State, Derrick Williams’ Arizona, Brandon Knight’s Kentucky and Brad Stevens’ Butler squads in the final four games to capture the national title. We may never again see a player lead their team to eleven straight postseason wins. Walker’s 2011 March ranks in college basketball’s pantheon of championship runs.
Dirk Nowitzki, 2011
Nowitzki was on the verge of permanently succumbing to what Charles Barkley dubbed the “shit list”, a list of historically great players who never won a championship. Dan Marino, Karl Malone and Barkley himself never escaped the list. Yet, at the tip of the super-team era, Nowitzki and a collection of role players grinded their way to one of the unlikeliest and most meaningful championship runs of all-time and erased Nowitzki’s name from the shit list.
- LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy’s Blazers? No problem. Six games.
- Kobe’s defending champion Lakers? Just some spring cleaning. Sweep.
- The KD/Russ/Harden Thunder? Like taking candy from a baby. Five games.
- The Prime Heatles? They say pressure creates diamond [rings]. Six games.
In Game One of the Western Conference Finals, Nowtizki scored 48 points on an unconscionable 12-15 shooting and 24-24 from the free throw line, a 93.9% true shooting percentage. He dropped another 40-piece in Game Five on a 75.2 TS%.
In the Finals, Nowitzki averaged 26 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game. His Mavericks broke LeBron James. Nowitzki’s 2011 championship run validated his legacy and ascended him into a new tier in the NBA’s Hall of Fame hierarchy.
David Ortiz, 2013
In the American League Division Series, Ortiz shredded the Tampa Bay Rays. He racked up 5 hits in 13 at bats and by Game 3, the Rays decided had enough and walked him three times. Ortiz struggled in the ALCS, however, he came up clutch when his team needed it the most. Detroit took Game 1 and held a commanding 5-1 lead into the 8th inning of Game 2, until Big Papi launched a grand slam to tie the game.
To say Ortiz caught fire in the World Series would be a criminal underestimation. He belted 11 hits in 16 at-bats. (That’s a .688 batting average for those counting at home.) Ortiz connected for two bombs and drove in six runs. In Boston’s series-clinching victory in Game Six, Ortiz was intentionally walked three times and drew a fourth. The Cardinals literally had no answer for him. Ortiz batted .353 and had an OBP of .500 in a postseason performance for the ages.
Madison Bumgarner, 2014
The Giants barely snuck into the playoffs in 2014 and had to play in a single-elimination wild card game. Bumgarner never let the Pittsburgh Pirates have a chance; he threw a complete game, four-hit shutout with ten strikeouts. In Game One of the NLCS, Bumgarner completed another 7.2 innings of four-hit, shutout ball. Bumgarner clinched the Giants’ World Series ticket with eight innings, while allowing three earned runs in his Game Five start. But the 2014 Fall Classic is where the legend of Madison Bumgarner truly takes shape.
- Game One: seven innings, three hits, five strikeouts, one run allowed. Win.
- Game Five: complete game shutout, four hits, ten strikeouts. Win.
- Game Seven: five innings, two hits, four strikeouts, save. Win. Champions.
After a 117-pitch complete game in Game Five, the Bumgarner came on in relief in Game Seven. On two days rest, we thought Bumgarner might have an inning or two in him if the Giants really needed to get out of a jam. Five innings of shutout baseball later, the Giants were World Series champions. Bumgarner’s World Series totals are other-worldly: 21 innings, nine hits, one run allowed, one walk, 17 strikeouts.
Von Miller, 2016
It was hard to exclude Joe Flacoo’s 2012 playoff run (it really wasn’t), but Miller’s superhuman efforts to carry a noodle-armed Peyton Manning to a Super Bowl warrants his presence on this list. He owned Tom Brady in the AFC Championship game, racking up 2.5 sacks, two tackles for loss and an interception. In the Super Bowl, he broke the will of league MVP Cam Newton with an additional 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles, one of which led to a touchdown. Football is the ultimate team-sport, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Yet, Miller’s dominance shined brighter than anyone else’s in 2016.
LeBron James, 2016
Name a postseason from this decade (except 2011) and there’s a case for LeBron on this list. His finest performance came in 2016, when he lead his hometown Cavaliers to the city’s first championship in 52 years.
The Cavs won their first ten playoff games and entered the Finals 12-2, where they met the 73-9 Golden State Warriors in a Finals rematch. All-Star teammates Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were healthy this time, but the Cavs still fell behind 3-1 in the series. No team had ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals.
LeBron’s 41 points, sixteen rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three blocks, as well as Irving own 41 points forced a Game Six. In the Cavs Game Six victory, LeBron added another 41 points, eleven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Facing a Game Seven in the NBA’s toughest road environment, LeBron contributed a triple double of 27 points, eleven rebounds and eleven assists. With just under two minutes remaining, LeBron made the play of his career; his signature chasedown block of Andre Iguodala kept the game tied at 89. Irving’s stepback three-pointer over Stephen Curry gave the Cavs the lead with 53 seconds remaining, and LeBron’s free throw with ten seconds remaining iced the game.
LeBron James, the kid from Akron, overcame a 3-1 deficit and finally delivered his championship promise.
Deshaun Watson, 2017
There’s a reason Dabo Swinney compared Watson to Michael Jordan. In the 2016 national championship, Watson threw for 405 yards and four touchdowns, while adding 73 yards on the ground. His Tigers fell to the mighty Crimson Tide 45-40, but how could anyone blame Watson?
In 2017, Watson brought his Tigers back to the national championship for a rematch against the Crimson Tide. This time, Watson would not be denied. He threw for 420 yards, three touchdowns and added 43 yards and a score on the ground. His touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow with one second remaining proved to be the game-winner. Watson doesn’t need a Heisman trophy to validate his collegiate success; he’s got a ring instead.
Tom Brady, 2017
The man played in eight straight AFC championship games and five Super Bowls this decade — he was making this list one way or another. In 2017, Brady threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns in the AFC Championship game. In the Super Bowl, he added another 466 yards and two touchdowns in the Patriots’ legendary 28-3 comeback victory over the Falcons. At age 39, Brady captured his sixth Super Bowl title, which ranks right alongside DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak as an utterly unbreakable record.
Alex Ovechkin, 2018
Another man on the precipice of joining “the shit list”, Ovechkin shed his playoff choker reputation en route to winning the 2018 Stanley Cup. He totaled 27 points and 15 goals in the postseason. He tallied at least one point in 19 of 24 games and in all five games of the Stanley Cup Finals. Ovechkin’s emotional lifting of the cup sends chills down your spine. It embodies everything Ovechkin went through in order to reach the absolute pinnacle of hockey.
Kawhi Leonard, 2019
The perennial-postseason underachieving Raptors acquired Leonard before the 2019 season. He injected an aura of confidence and a championship mentality into Toronto. In Game One of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Leonard posted 45 points (80.8 TS%) and 11 rebounds in the Raptors win. In Toronto’s proverbial do-or-die Game Four while trailing 2-1 in the series, Leonard dropped 39 points (77.1 TS%), 14 rebounds and 5 assists to even the series. In Game Seven, well, we all know the shot.
The Raptors fell behind MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks 0-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals, but Leonard led the Raptors to four consecutive victories to finally push the long-suffering Raptors over the hump. Toronto clinched the franchise’s first-ever championship in six games over the indisputably shorthanded Warriors. However, the Raptors won three of the first four games before Kevin Durant’s brief return in Game Five and Golden State still had the former unanimous league MVP on their team.
Leonard’s tenure in Toronto may have only lasted one season, but irreversibly changed the city of Toronto, and arguably the league, forever. Despite carrying a significant offensive burden, Leonard nearly posted 50/40/90 shooting splits, while averaging 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game for the entire postseason.
Honorable Mentions
Joe Flacco, 2012: averaged 285 yards and 2.75 touchdowns per game without throwing an interception in four playoff games.
Anthony Davis, 2012: averaged 13.7 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.2 steals and 4.8 blocks per game in the NCAA tournament.
Tom Brady, 2015: averaged 307 yards and 3.67 touchdowns in three playoff games.
LeBron James, 2015: led all players (on either team) in the Finals with 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game (lost Finals).
Sidney Crosby, 2017: totaled 27 points in the postseason and seven points during the Stanley Cup Finals.
Kevin Durant, 2017: averaged 35.2 points per game in the Finals and scored at least 30 points in all five games.
LeBron James, 2018: averaged 34.0 points, 9.1 rebounds, 9.0 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game for the entire postseason (lost Finals).
Stephen Strasburg, 2019: 5-0, 36.1 innings pitched, 47 strikeouts, 1.98 ERA
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