Whether or not the Lakers win Friday night in Dallas to make this a playoff series again, Kobe Bryant at some point, likely early in Game 3 will pass former teammate Shaquille O'Neal for third place on the all-time NBA playoff scoring list. With the Lakers down 0-2 to the Mavericks, I'm sure individual scoring marks are the last thing on Bryant's mind. But with Kobe only two points behind Shaq, and with Bryant's active streak of 157 consecutive playoff games with 10 or more points, O'Neal is definitely getting passed tonight.
| All-Time NBA Playoffs Scoring Leaders | ||||
| Rank | Player | Points | Games | PPG |
| 1 | Michael Jordan | 5,987 | 179 | 33.4 |
| 2 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar |
5,762 | 237 | 24.3 |
| 3 | Shaquille O'Neal | 5,248 | 214 | 24.5 |
| 4 | Kobe Bryant |
5,246 | 206 | 25.5 |
| 5 | Karl Malone |
4,761 | 193 | 24.7 |
O'Neal has yet to play a playoff game for the Celtics. Shaq is also up next for Kobe on the all-time regular season scoring list. Bryant moved up this season from 12th to sixth all-time in scoring in the NBA with 27,868 points. He is 724 points behind O'Neal for fifth place.
Among all players in NBA history with 2,500 points or more in the playoffs, only five have scored more per game in their career than Bryant. One of them happens to be in this series, as Dirk Nowitzki has a 25.7 per game average, good for fifth. The others are Jordan (33.4), Jerry West (29.1), Elgin Baylor (27.0), and Hakeem Olajuwon (25.9).
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