What NBA Player Has Had the Most "Good Games" and "Great Games" Since 1983-84?

If you assume that a "Game Score" of 15 is good, 22.5 is really good and 30 and better is great, here are your guys with the most of these games in either the regular season or the playoffs since 1983-84 (when basketball-reference.com's database starts).


Some observations:  1) if you assume Magic and Bird were denied about 4 seasons each by the database cutoff, and give them their averages per season, they still don't rank top 5 in any category (except Bird in 30+ games); 2) Michael and LeBron are clearly the two best guys; 3) Game Score stat appears to favor offensive players and disfavor players such as Duncan and Garnett; 4) 7 guys in the top 10 on all 3 lists - Karl Malone, James, Jordan, Kobe, Shaq, Hakeem, Barkley.  5) surprising entries -- Nique????  not only present, but goes 16/14/15th place;  Kevin Johnson!  Chris Mullin!


I have always said that the belief that Steph Curry is substantially better than James Harden or Russell Westbrook (or has had a significantly better career) is not justified.  They are all very similar in my eyes.  Look at the "very good games" list - virtually identical.  On the "excellent games" list, Harden and Curry are almost identical while Westbrook trails slightly behind.  One would certainly be surprised that ESPN had Harden ranked in the 80s and Steph around 20.



* = Hall of Famer


Game Score 15 and above ("Good" Games):

	Player	Pos	From	To	Count
1	Karl Malone*	F	1986	2004	1190
2	LeBron James	F	2004	2017	1045
3	Michael Jordan*	G	1985	2003	1031
4	Kobe Bryant	G	1997	2016	955
5	Tim Duncan	F	1998	2016	953
6	Shaquille O'Neal*	C	1993	2011	947
7	Hakeem Olajuwon*	C	1985	2002	918
8	Dirk Nowitzki	F	1999	2017	883
9	Kevin Garnett	F	1996	2013	854
10	Charles Barkley*	F	1985	2000	846
11	John Stockton*	G	1985	2003	831
12	David Robinson*	C	1990	2003	718
13	Clyde Drexler*	G	1984	1998	712
14	Paul Pierce	F	1999	2016	668
15	Patrick Ewing*	C	1986	2002	666
16	Dominique Wilkins*	F	1984	1999	655
17	Dwyane Wade	G	2004	2017	653
18	Reggie Miller*	G	1988	2005	641
19	Chris Paul	G	2006	2017	635
20	Kevin Durant	F	2008	2017	631
21	Magic Johnson*	G	1984	1996	631 -- also played pre-1983
22	Pau Gasol	F	2002	2017	621
23	Gary Payton*	G	1991	2007	617
24	Allen Iverson*	G	1997	2010	614
25	Scottie Pippen*	F	1988	2004	607
26	Jason Kidd	G	1995	2013	601
27	Carmelo Anthony	F	2004	2017	591
28	Ray Allen	G	1997	2014	570
29	Steve Nash	G	1997	2013	558
30	Larry Bird*	F	1984	1992	542    -- also played pre-1983

Game Score over 22.5 -- "Very Good Games"


1 Michael Jordan*  672
2 LeBron James  648
3 Karl Malone*  575
4 Shaquille O'Neal*  491
5 Hakeem Olajuwon*  484
6 Kobe Bryant  464
7 Charles Barkley*  456
8 David Robinson*  382
9 Dirk Nowitzki  367
10 Kevin Durant 330
11 Tim Duncan  328
12 Magic Johnson*  327  -- also played pre-1983
13 Larry Bird*     323 -- also played pre-1983
14 Dominique Wilkins 313
15 Clyde Drexler*  312
16 Kevin Garnett  311
17 Allen Iverson* 305
18 Dwyane Wade  301
19 John Stockton* 291
20 Chris Paul  284
21 Patrick Ewing* 279
22 Paul Pierce  230
23 Carmelo Anthony  228
24 Tracy McGrady 219
25 Russell Westbrook  219
26 Stephen Curry  216
27 James Harden  216
28 Kevin Johnson  207
29 Vince Carter  202
30 Gary Payton*  200




Game Score over 30 -- "Excellent" Games


1 Michael Jordan*  305
2 LeBron James  186
3 Charles Barkley*  161
4 Hakeem Olajuwon* 152
5 Shaquille O'Neal*  149
6 Karl Malone*  148
7 Kobe Bryant  127
8 Larry Bird*  119  - also played pre-1983
9 David Robinson*  119
10 Magic Johnson*  99 - also played pre-1983
11 Dwyane Wade  94
12 Allen Iverson*  92
13 Clyde Drexler* 88
14 Kevin Durant  85
15 Dominique Wilkins* 81
16 Patrick Ewing* 77
17 James Harden  77
18 Stephen Curry  75
19 Chris Paul   69
20 Dirk Nowitzki  67
21 Tracy McGrady* 64
22 Russell Westbrook 62
23 Tim Duncan  61
24 Vince Carter 57
25 Kevin Garnett  56
26 Kevin Johnson 50
27 John Stockton* 50
28 Paul Pierce  46
29 Chris Mullin*  44
30 Carmelo Anthony 43