2019 NBA Playoff Leaders: Top Scorers and Key Players Who Dominated the Postseason
I still remember watching the 2019 NBA playoffs and thinking how different it felt from previous years. The intensity level seemed to ramp up earlier than usual, and certain players just had that look in their eyes - that championship hunger you can't teach. Having followed basketball for over fifteen years now, I've learned to recognize when we're about to witness something special, and the 2019 postseason delivered exactly that. What made it particularly fascinating was how leadership dynamics played out across teams, reminding me of what young players like Bahay are now realizing about the importance of vocal leadership on the court.
Kawhi Leonard absolutely dominated that postseason in a way I haven't seen since Michael Jordan's prime. The man averaged 30.5 points per game while playing absolutely lockdown defense, carrying the Raptors to their first championship in franchise history. I still get chills thinking about that Game 7 buzzer-beater against Philadelphia - the ball bouncing four times before dropping through the net. That moment alone cemented his legacy, but what impressed me more was his consistency throughout the entire run. He scored over 30 points in fourteen different playoff games, a remarkable feat considering the defensive attention he received every single night. His performance against Golden State in the Finals was particularly masterful - 36 points in Game 4 followed by 26 points and 10 rebounds in the clincher. When I analyze great playoff performances, Leonard's 2019 run ranks among the top five I've ever witnessed personally.
Stephen Curry's numbers were equally staggering - 28.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game while facing constant double teams after Kevin Durant went down. I've always been partial to Curry's game - there's something magical about watching a player revolutionize the sport - but even I was surprised by his resilience that postseason. The way he carried the Warriors through the Western Conference Finals against Portland was pure artistry. He dropped 37 points in Game 1, followed by 36 in Game 2, and that incredible overtime performance in Game 3 where he scored 40 points including 7 three-pointers. What many people forget is that he was playing through a dislocated finger on his left hand, yet still managed to shoot 44% from three-point range throughout the playoffs. That's the mark of a true superstar - performing at an elite level despite physical limitations.
Giannis Antetokounmpo put up 25.5 points and 12.3 rebounds per game for Milwaukee, and while his shooting limitations were exposed against Toronto's wall defense, his physical dominance was something to behold. I remember watching him in person during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals and being astonished by his athleticism. The way he covered ground in two strides from the three-point line to the rim seemed almost unfair. Damian Lillard provided some of the most electrifying moments with his deep threes and clutch performances, averaging 26.9 points for Portland. That series-winning 37-footer over Paul George in the first round remains one of the coldest playoff moments I've ever seen live.
What separates good playoff performers from great ones often comes down to leadership, something that current young players like Bahay are beginning to understand. His statement about wanting teammates to "feel my leadership more" resonates because that's exactly what we saw from the top players in the 2019 postseason. Kawhi led through quiet dominance, Curry through infectious energy and shot-making, and Draymond Green through vocal direction and defensive intensity. Each style worked for their respective teams, but the common thread was making their presence felt beyond just statistics.
The defensive side often gets overlooked in these discussions, but players like Pascal Siakam and Draymond Green were absolutely crucial to their teams' success. Siakam's emergence as a two-way force was one of the best stories of those playoffs - his 32-point performance in Game 1 of the Finals announced his arrival on the biggest stage. Meanwhile, Green averaged nearly a triple-double in the Finals with 12.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 9.3 assists while serving as Golden State's defensive quarterback. Having played organized basketball through college, I can tell you that having a vocal leader like Green directing traffic is worth at least 10-15 points per game in playoff settings where every possession matters.
Looking back, the 2019 playoffs taught us that individual brilliance must be channeled through proper leadership to result in championship success. The Raptors succeeded because Kawhi's scoring dominance combined with Kyle Lowry's floor generalship and Nick Nurse's innovative schemes. The Warriors nearly pulled it off because Curry's scoring and Green's leadership created a perfect balance. This dynamic is exactly what young players like Bahay reference when they talk about making their leadership felt - it's not just about putting up numbers, but about elevating everyone around you. Five years later, I still find myself revisiting those playoff games when analyzing what separates good teams from championship contenders. The numbers tell part of the story, but the leadership intangibles complete it.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover
