When it comes to the NBA Finals, what do Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Jimmy Butler, Devin Booker and Giannis Antetokounmpo have in common? Well, more on that in a second.

The NBA Finals are the brightest stage in basketball. It is the last series before a champion is crowned. And just recently, we saw the Milwaukee Bucks bring home the NBA championship, which broke the franchise’s 50 year drought.

Winning a championship is a difficult feat. And a big part of that difficulty is getting through the NBA Finals. With the atmosphere being as competitive as ever, there’s no question that players can either play the best basketball of their lives or shy away from the bright lights. Although the latter happens more often than not especially in their Finals debuts, there are a good handful of players who made the most out of their opportunity. For this piece, let’s take a look at the five most explosive Finals series debuts in recent memory.

Devin Booker

Although the Suns fell short in the NBA Finals this year, Devin Booker still put up one of the best individual performances in Finals history. In his Finals debut, he averaged 28.2 points, 4.0 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game.

Aside from producing a dominant statline, Booker also tallied two straight 40-point games in the series. He became only the seventh player to register back-to-back 40-point games in the NBA Finals after scoring 42 and 40 in Games Four and Five, respectively. Booker found himself in elite company with the likes of Jerry West, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Rick Barry, Shaquille O’Neal, and Finals nemesis Giannis Antetokounmpo. But unfortunately, he is also the lone player in that list to lose both of those games despite his 40-point performances.

Individually, Booker put together an incredible Finals series debut. With Booker still just 24, there’s no doubt he still has a lot of room to grow into an elite player. But after witnessing his spectacular performance this year, he isn’t far from getting there.

Jimmy Butler

Jimmy Butler surprisingly led the Heat into the NBA Finals last year. Coming into the playoffs as the fifth seed in the East, no one expected them to run past the Pacers, Bucks, and the Celtics. And although the Heat suffered injuries during the Finals, Butler took matters into his own hands and managed to make his team competitive.

Despite pitted against the LeBron James and Anthony Davis-led Lakers, Jimmy Butler registered one of the best Finals performances in league history. In his Finals debut, he averaged 26.2 points, 9.8 assists, and 8.3 rebounds per game.

Jimmy Butler also made history by becoming only the third player to register a 40-point triple double in a Finals game. He tallied 40 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds on 70% overall shooting from the field in Game Three. The only other players to achieve a 40-point triple double are Jerry West and LeBron James. Butler also became the oldest player to register a 40-point output in his Finals debut. And to cap off his incredible performance, Game Score actually ranked Butler’s performance as the second-best performance in Finals history with a score of 42.00.

Stephen Curry

The Warriors started their championship runs in 2015, after they won their first of three in the past decade. And as we all know, the best offensive player on that team was Stephen Curry. Despite being pitted against LeBron James and the Cavs, the Warriors star didn’t disappoint in his NBA Finals debut.

Stephen Curry averaged 26.0 points, 6.3 assists, and 5.2 rebounds per game. The hot-shooting Curry certainly tormented the Cavs’ defenses from beyond the arc as he made 39% of his threes. Furthermore in Game Five, he also fired 37 points, which was spiked by seven three point shots, to go along with seven rebounds.

Despite facing arguably the best player in the world in LeBron James, who was making his fifth of ten trips to the NBA Finals at that time, Curry ushered in a revolutionary three-point shooting era. In addition to this, Stephen Curry also became just the sixth player in NBA history to win his first MVP trophy and first championship ring in the same year. The last player to replicate this feat was Shaquille O’Neal, who did so in the 1999-2000 season.

Anthony Davis

AD’s arrival was huge for the Purple and Gold. With the duo of LeBron James and AD, the Lakers were able to capture the franchise’s 17th NBA title, which is tied for the most championships by any franchise. As we all know, the Lakers gave up majority of their young core to get AD, and the eight time All-Star didn’t disappoint.

Despite being a first timer in the postseason past the second round, Anthony Davis showcased his wares with ease. In the NBA Finals, he averaged 25.0 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. In fact right from the get-go, AD already made history in the brightest stage of them all. The Brow registered 30+ points in his first two Finals games. He scored 34 and 32 in Games One and Two, respectively. With this accomplishment, AD became just the fifth player to achieve this feat.

Aside from this, with his 32 points and 14 rebounds in Game Two, AD also became just the fifth player in league history to record a 30 and 10 on 75% shooting from the field in a single NBA Finals contest. Living up to the bill, there’s no question that the Lakers’ gamble paid off after securing the championship. Although he wasn’t crowned as the Finals MVP, his numbers are surely MVP worthy. Given his dominance, Anthony Davis will probably be the next face of the franchise down the road.

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Giannis Antetokounmpo

Winning a championship is not an easy task and it’s even more difficult when you’re doing it without a super team. In fact, the difficulty level is much higher when it’s your first trip to the Finals. However despite the odds against him, Giannis Antetokounmpo defied the impossible in the NBA Finals.

In spite of the team dropping its first two games in the Finals, Giannis successfully led the Bucks to a championship. The Greek Freak averaged a monster 35.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game in his first Finals appearance against the Phoenix Suns. He also registered three games where he finished with at least 40 points and 10 rebounds. In Games Two and Three, Giannis dropped 42 and 41 points, respectively. His 40 and 10 outputs in back to back games was only accomplished by Shaquille O’Neal, back in 2000.

But in his best game, Giannis Antetokounmpo had a 50 point-performance in the championship clinching game to go along with 14 rebounds.  His scoring output in Game Six would be the most points scored in a potential title-clinching game.

By taking the Bucks to the promised land and putting up spectacular all-around numbers, Game Score ranked Giannis as the best performance in Finals history with a score of 31.9. Although this is up for debate, Giannis didn’t only get the job done, but he also registered breakthrough performances that solidified him as one of the best to play the game. In fact, Giannis Antetokounmpo also became the youngest player to win the NBA Finals MVP Award since Kawhi Leonard did so in 2014. At only 26 years old with multiple major awards under his belt, there’s no doubt that we are in Giannis’ era now.