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If the Golden State Warriors have shown anything, it's that defence may be important in winning championships, but the ability to put the ball into the basket makes all the difference between winners and losers.
As much as players like Dikembe Mutombo and Dennis Rodman have earned their places in basketball history, it is the scorers like Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant that find themselves with greater legacies and on the minds (and feet) of most fans.
From the cool scorers of the 1970s like George Gervin and David Thompson to the high flyes of the 1980s like Dominque Wilkins and Julius Erving, the scorers of the NBA are the rockstars of the sport.
Going position by position, from the point guard to the centre, here are the greatest scorers in basketball history.
PG: Stephen Curry
The modern NBA game has been moulded by this short, skinny guard who went to the fifth most recognised basketball school in his home state. Bursting onto the world as the sharpshooting point guard from Davidson, Curry's mastery of the three-point shot have created a dynasty with the Golden State Warriors and has made the game he played more three-point crazy than a student rec centre.
Curry's stature and overall efficiency when it comes with scoring the basketball are unprecedented in the game's long history, as illustrated here.
Curry remains the only player in NBA history with at least 400 made three-pointers in a season, holds the gold, silver and bronze medals for most threes in a season, and has already earned the title as the greatest shooter the game has ever seen. The Minnesota Timberwolves, who selected two different point guards ahead of Curry, are still kicking themselves and will be for a long time.
SG: Michael Jordan
Though Kobe Bryant has more points than Jordan and might be better overall offensive weapon on the court, being a much better pure shooter, MJ isn't the greatest player ever for no reason.
Jordan has 10 scoring titles to Kobe's two. Jordan's field goal percentage is just under 50 percent at .497, while Kobe is at an average .447. At their best, Michael was clearly the superior offensive (and defensive) player.
From the start, Michael proved to be an amazing talent, averaging 28.2 points per game in his first season and setting a postseason record of 63 points in a game against the legendary 1986 Boston Celtics in his sophomore campaign.
He also holds five of the ten highest scoring postseason games in the league. Kobe's highest night in the postseason, 50 points against the Phoenix Suns, is Jordan's 8th highest scoring game in the postseason.
When it comes to the shooting guard position, there is only one player who could take this crown.
SF: Kevin Durant
This was a coin flip decision between King LeBron James and Kevin Durant. LeBron is on pace to break Kareem Abdul Jabbar's all-time points scoring record and has a slightly higher field goal percentage than Durant (.504 to .491). James is also a freight train when he puts his head down to get to the basket.
That being said, James is a better overall basketball player than Durant, but when it comes to the art of putting the ball into the basket, Durant is in a different category. There has not been a player in the league's history who makes scoring so easy and effortless.
Durant's long frame and ballhandling skills make him the closest thing to unstoppable when he's having a good game. LeBron's strengths are his intelligence and his ability to be a de-facto point guard on the court. Durant's strength is just his pure talent of getting two or three points when he wants.
PF: Karl Malone
As tempting it was to put a player like Dirk Nowitzki here for taking the power forward position outside the paint and behind the arc, number wise, Karl Malone stands alone for scoring at the position.
Malone retired behind only Kareem Abdul Jabbar for most points scored in the league history and helped teammate John Stockton become the all-time leading assist man. Malone physically was one of the strongest men who has ever laced up a pair of sneakers and ran the floor like no other big man before him.
Similar to LeBron running down at a full head of steam, only fools and/or incredibly brave souls would dare stand in the way of Malone when he was putting the ball through the hoop. With a career average of 25 points per game and a .516 shooting percentage, The Mailman deserves a spot in this starting lineup.
Centre: Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Similar to the small forward position, this was a two-person race. Wilt Chamberlain was the most dominant scorer the league has ever seen or will ever see. No other player has come close to averaging 50 points per game in a single season or scoring 100 points in a game.
That being said, the most unstoppable two points in NBA history comes from the long arms, 7'2 skinny frame of Kareem Abdul Jabbar and the skyhook shot. This shot even gave Chamberlain trouble when these two men's careers intersected in the early 1970s.
It is the consistent level of performance for two decades that has not been seen in the NBA and puts him ahead of Wilt the Stilt. In 1984, Kareem broke Chamberlain's all-time points scored record and added another five years of production before hanging up his goggles and sneakers.
