This post is part of a larger list looking at some of the top individual performances in all of sports history. Check out the full list here.

When two-way great Shohei Ohtani turned his slugging slump into the greatest game in baseball history in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, it started a discussion in the Sports Illustrated newsroom: What are some of the other top individual performances in sports? And how do they compare to Ohtani’s 10 strikeouts and three home runs?

Here are our picks for the NBA and men’s college hoops.

NBA: Magic Johnson’s 1980 NBA Finals Game 6

Atop Magic Johnson’s lengthy list of accomplishments is one that makes a compelling case for the greatest accomplishment in NBA history. After losing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar late in Game 5 of the 1980 NBA Finals, the Lakers flew to Philadelphia faced with trying to close out the 76ers without the reigning MVP.

Who would fill the hole at center? How about Johnson, Los Angeles’s flashy, 6' 9" rookie point guard who started in the middle, manned all five positions and finished the game with 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. It was the first of five championships in the Magic Era and the birth of a dynasty that went by one name: Showtime.

Greater than Ohtani? Close, given the situation (Finals close-out game) but I’d say no.  — Chris Mannix


Christian Laettner’s (center) buzzer-beater remains one of the most iconic moments in March Madness history.
Christian Laettner’s (center) buzzer-beater remains one of the most iconic moments in March Madness history. | Sports Illustrated

Men’s college hoops: Christian Laettner’s 31-point Elite Eight game in 1992

All it took to win the 1992 NCAA tournament East region championship and earn a Final Four berth was perfection. Christian Laettner supplied it. In Duke’s classic, 104–103 overtime victory over Kentucky, Laettner made all 10 of his field goal attempts and all 10 of his free throws. He finished with 31 points, scoring the Blue Devils’ last eight in the final two minutes. The final shot is etched in history—the 75-foot pass from Grant Hill, the turnaround buzzer-beating jumper, the euphoric dash downcourt, the Philadelphia Spectrum awash in shock and awe.

But his penultimate field goal was more difficult, a double-clutch banker while double-teamed with the shot clock running out. Everything before the perfect ending was flawless, too. Well, maybe not everything. Laettner got a technical foul for stomping on the chest of Kentucky’s Aminu Timberlake, but avoided an ejection. That officiating restraint altered the course of college hoops history. Duke won the game by the slimmest of margins and went on to repeat as national champions.

Greater than Ohtani? No. But it was incredible to watch. — Pat Forde


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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Greatest Men’s Basketball Performances of All Time.