Kobe Bryant beat more 50-win teams in the playoffs than any other star in NBA history

In fairness to Jokic, at least with regard to that stat, in the 2019-20 COVID-shortened season, the big man did lead his Nuggets to series victories against two teams - the Utah Jazz (44-28) and Los Angeles Clippers (49-23) - who had win percentages higher than that of 50-win teams in normal years. But because the regular season was shortened by COVID-19, those two teams weren't able to reach 50 wins. A 50-win regular season equates to a 60.9 percent win rate. The '20 Jazz had a 61.1 percent regular-season win rate, while the '20 Clippers had a 68.1 percent regular-season win rate.

Nevertheless, all of that Jokic slander got us thinking about which NBA All-Stars won the most playoff series against teams that had at least 50 wins in the regular season.

The answer is none other than the late, great Kobe Bryant - and comfortably so.

Players with most playoff series won against 50-win teams

Bryant won an astounding 25 playoff series against teams that won at least 50 regular-season games that same year, three more than the next closest player, Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen. Considering Bryant in total won 33 playoff series in his entire career, for 25 of those playoff series victories, amounting to roughly 76 percent, to come against 50-win teams is nearly unfathomable.

Bryant owns this record courtesy of a long, successful career playing in an era in which the Western Conference was a beast, perhaps even more so than it is today. Let's use 2008 as an example. That year, the Golden State Warriors went 48-34... and they missed the playoffs by a full two games, as the No. 8 seed Utah Jazz went 50-32. That means every single team to make the playoffs out of the West in '08 won at least 50 games.

And who won that West that year?

That would be Bryant and the Lakers.

Among Bryant's top vanquished foes in the playoffs were the 59-23 Portland Trail Blazers in the 2000 Western Conference Finals, the 58-24 San Antonio Spurs in the 2001 Western Conference Finals, the 61-21 Sacramento Kings in the 2002 Western Conference Finals and the 58-24 Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2004 Western Conference Finals.

While it is true that Bryant was not the No. 1 player for many of those playoff series victories, the fact that he kept winning series against 50-win teams after Shaquille O'Neal, who ranks fifth in this same exercise, left L.A. speaks to Bryant's greatness.

Pippen impressively comes in second here. Michael Jordan's sidekick actually had two more playoff series victories against 50-win teams than Jordan, thanks to his career lasting another six seasons after Jordan's second (but not final) retirement.

By the time Pippen left the East in 1998 to join the Western Conference, the power had shifted between the two conferences, as the West had become the juggernaut it is today. As an example, in 1999-00, Pippen and the Portland Trail Blazers had to face a 50-32 Timberwolves team in the first round, followed by a 55-27 Utah Jazz team in Round 2, both series in which Portland was victorious.

Of course, even more so than Bryant, Pippen was not the No. 1 player on those teams. He wasn't when he was playing alongside Jordan, and he definitely wasn't the top dog on those Blazers teams when he had reached the role-playing portion of his career.

Meanwhile, Jordan ranks third here even though he had a shorter career than anyone else in the Top 8. (MJ had just 11 full seasons in Chicago, not counting his 18-game second season due to injury, or his first retirement return in '95.) Among Jordan's most impressive playoff series victories was the '93 Finals, when MJ and Co. took down Charles Barkley's Phoenix Suns in six games. That Suns team went 62-20 in the regular season that year. Jordan and Co. also took down the 60-22 Orlando Magic in the '96 Eastern Conference Finals, a team that was led by a young Shaq, and followed that up by defeating the 64-18 Seattle SuperSonics in the Finals in six games.

Just to reiterate, this exercise is only looking at the NBA All-Stars with playoff series victories against 50-win teams. If we were looking at the players with the most such wins in their careers, the role-playing (and very clutch) Derek Fisher and Robert Horry would be No. 1 among all players, each with 30. Ridiculous.

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: The NBA All-Stars with the most playoff series wins against 50-win teams