Editor's note: We're ranking the best Finals performances since the NBA-ABA merger. This list was originally published during the 2008 Finals and is now updated through the 2011 Finals.

The NBA Finals have produced a ton of incredible performances in the three decades since the NBA-ABA merger, starting with Bill Walton's supreme effort against the Sixers in 1977 and going all the way through to Dirk's heroics against the Heat in this year's series.

But inevitably, some of them made more of an impact than others, both on the stat sheet and in other, more subjective terms. And for that reason, some resonate much more than others when we talk about the great moments in Finals history.

That's where this project comes in. Using both numbers and a healthy dose of opinion, my task is to rank the top 50 individual NBA Finals performances since the merger. I've included the player efficiency rating (PER) of every player in the top 50 as a guide, but this wasn't my only measuring stick. Basically, everything counts: competition, defense, clutch play, winning, durability ... it all matters.

From that, we can whittle down a list of top performances. Subjectively, you may agree or disagree with where a given effort ranks -- this isn't the type of exercise where there are right and wrong answers. But in at least one man's view, here's how the 50 best performances since the merger go, from 1 to 50: