NBA Playoffs: All-time leaders in postseason career blocked shots

Yash Matange

NBA Playoffs: All-time leaders in postseason career blocked shots image

'Defense wins championships' is a pretty popular belief that NBA teams abide by. 

Until the game's recent evolution to pace-and-space and 3-point shooting, the game was heavily concentrated near the rim. So, defensive centers were an essential and critical part of nearly every team's roster. 

However, an important factor must be noted. 'Blocks' were recognised for the first time only in the 1973-74 season, which eliminates all-time great centers like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain from this category while also taking off a couple of years from the career of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 

Anyhow, since 1973, Tim Duncan leads the way with 568 playoff career blocked shots, nearly a century more than second-placed Abdul-Jabbar.

Here's a look at the top 10 players with the most career postseason blocks:

RankPlayerPlayoff career blocksPlayoff games
1Tim Duncan568251
2Kareem Abdul-Jabbar476237
3Hakeem Olajuwon472145
4Shaquille O'Neal459216
5David Robinson312123
6Robert Parish309184
7Patrick Ewing303139
8Serge Ibaka292146
9Kevin McHale281169
10LeBron James252266

Serge Ibaka (8th) and LeBron James (10th) are the only active player in the top 10 for postseason career blocks, a leaderboard led by Hall of Famer Tim Duncan.

Outside of that, there are three more active players ranked between 10-25 - Dwight Howard (248, 13th), Kevin Durant (182, 24th) and Draymond Green (180, 25th).

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Yash Matange