Larry Jones' Forgotten Streak of 30 Point Games
Larry Jones, who passed away on August 16, 2025 just over a month before his 83rd birthday, earned four straight ABA All-Star selections (1968-71), made the All-ABA First Team three times (1968-70), and twice finished in the top five in ABA regular season MVP voting (fourth in 1968, third in 1969). He averaged a career-high 28.4 ppg in 1968-69, ranking third in the league in scoring behind Hall of Famers Rick Barry (34.0 ppg) and Connie Hawkins (30.2 ppg).
Jones' professional career began in the Eastern Basketball League in 1964 before he averaged 5.7 ppg in 23 games for the Philadelphia 76ers during the 1964-65 season. He then spent two seasons in the Eastern Basketball League before signing with the Denver Rockets in the ABA's inaugural season. Jones turned down an offer from the L.A. Lakers before joining the Rockets. Jones averaged 22.9 ppg for the Rockets in 1967-68, and the Rockets went 45-33 in the regular season before losing 3-2 to the New Orleans Buccaneers in the playoffs.
In an interview with the Be a Baller podcast, Jones talked about his streak of 23 straight games scoring at least 30 points during the 1968-69 season. I pride myself on my knowledge of basketball history and I know a lot about Jones' career, but I had no idea that he had put together such a streak. It appears that Connie Hawkins posted the second longest such streak in ABA history (16 games in the 1968-69 season), and I know of only two longer streaks in NBA history (there are various lists of 30 point game streaks online, but many of the lists have information that does not match up with the game log data at BasketballReference.com): Wilt Chamberlain (of course) scored at least 30 points in 65 straight games en route to averaging a record 50.4 ppg in the 1961-62 season, and James Harden flopped and flailed his way to at least 30 points in 32 straight games in the 2018-19 season.
Harden's presence on the list is yet another example of how the NBA's emphasis on helping offensive players/hindering defensive players has skewed the record book. Harden repeatedly committed blatant traveling offenses, including traveling during his signature step back move into a three point shot--making a mockery of the legitimate and beautiful step back moves utilized by players such as Adrian Dantley, Larry Bird, and Dell Curry.
The only good thing about Harden's fraudulent streak is that it brought some attention to Jones' streak. Jones mentioned during the podcast interview that he received some phone calls from media members asking his thoughts about Harden approaching and then surpassing his streak. Jones indicated that he did not think much about Harden's streak--but that on reflection he realized the magnitude of what he accomplished during his own streak as a young ABA player.
During his 23 game streak of 30 point games, Jones averaged 35.6 ppg. The Rockets went 13-10 in those games--they finished the season with a 44-34 record--and Jones also averaged 6.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, and just .7 tpg during those 23 games. He was an excellent rebounder for a 6-2 guard, and he was much more of a scorer than a playmaker, but in 1969-70 he ranked fourth in the ABA in assists with a career-high 5.7 apg.
Jones averaged 24.9 ppg in 1969-70 (sixth in the ABA) and 24.3 ppg in 1970-71 (seventh in the ABA) before being slowed by injuries. Jones bounced around the ABA to the Floridians, Utah Stars, and Dallas Chaparrals before finishing his pro career averaging 10.0 ppg in 72 games (including 60 starts) for the 1974-75 Philadelphia 76ers.
Jones was from Columbus, Ohio, and he enjoyed a successful college career at the University of Toledo, averaging 20.9 ppg and 9.0 rpg in 63 games. After Jones retired as a professional player, he spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons and he was the head coach of the Las Vegas Dealers in the Western Basketball Association in 1978-79 before that league folded. He also worked as director of player personnel for the Women's Professional Basketball League, and he later coached the Columbus Minks in the Women's American Basketball Association. Jones earned a master's degree in education from Ohio State, and he worked in Columbus as a substitute teacher while also running youth basketball camps.
Labels: ABA, Connie Hawkins, Dallas Chaparrals, Denver Rockets, Floridians, James Harden, Larry Jones, Philadelphia 76ers, Toledo, Utah Stars, Wilt Chamberlain
posted by David Friedman @ 10:42 PM
Charley Rosen: Basketball Bard
Charley Rosen, author of more than two dozen books and confidant to Hall of Fame basketball coach Phil Jackson, passed away on September 13 at the age of 84. Last year, Rosen was inducted in the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame. Few people embodied the essence of being a basketball lifer more than Rosen. The 6-8 Rosen earned team MVP honors in each of his three seasons at Hunter College (1959-62) while setting school records for scoring and rebounding. In 1961, he played on the gold-medal winning U.S. squad in the Maccabiah Games, along with future pros Larry Brown and Art Heyman. Rosen never played in the NBA or ABA, but he spent some time with the Scranton Miners of the Eastern Basketball League (EBL) before teaching English at Hofstra.
Rosen wrote many articles for a variety of magazines, including "Dr. J Makes the Whole World Feel Good" for the March 1973 issue of Sport, which was then edited by the incomparable Dick Schaap. Rosen had high praise for Julius Erving, who was in the middle of his second pro season: "By the time he finishes his career, the people who care about
basketball history may look back and say there were two doctors who
shaped the sport. The first was Dr. James Naismith--and all he did was
invent the game. Dr. J made it an art."
In 1975, Rosen published his first book, Maverick, which he co-wrote with Jackson, who then played for the New York Knicks. Stan Love, who played five NBA/ABA seasons with the Baltimore Bullets, L.A. Lakers, and San Antonio Spurs, introduced his friend Rosen to Jackson, and the rest is basketball (and writing) history. Stan Love, who passed away on April 27, 2025, is the father of current NBA player Kevin Love, and the younger brother of Beach Boys singer Mike Love.
In 1979-80, Rosen coached the men's team at Bard College; he described his experiences at Bard in his book Players and Pretenders. Rosen served as Phil Jackson's assistant with the CBA's Albany Patroons from 1983-86 before becoming a CBA head coach with Albany, Rockford, Oklahoma City, and Savannah. Rosen's experiences in the CBA formed the basis of his hilarious 1992 novel The Cockroach Basketball League. Rosen coached the SUNY New Paltz women's team from 1993-95, and subsequently became a regular contributor to a variety of websites, including ESPN.com, FoxSports.com, and HoopsHype.com. For the past 30 years or so, he typically produced a new book every other year.
Rosen was an engaging storyteller
in addition to being a shrewd observer of basketball strategy and
tactics. Overall, I found his work to be entertaining and informative, but it must be noted that Rosen could be sloppy with his research, and some of his writing contains egregious errors. I won't give him a pass in life or death for errors that are inexcusable, but I will say that I generally found his skill set analysis of players and teams to be on target. For example, Rosen understood that Kobe Bryant was better than Dwyane Wade at a time when many media members who were biased in favor of Shaquille O'Neal--and thus against O'Neal's former teammate Bryant--could not bring themselves to acknowledge Bryant's greatness. Rosen also displayed an astute understanding of the differences between NBA basketball and FIBA basketball, and he explained why statistics can be very misleading. It is popular in many quarters to assert that college basketball is somehow a purer or more fundamentally sound form of basketball than NBA basketball, but Rosen cut through that nonsense nearly two decades ago with words that are still relevant today: "The NBA game has a huge advantage in player talent, offensive and
defensive prowess, coaching, officiating and the overall quality of
performance in every aspect but one. The only advantage the college game
enjoys is the consistent enthusiasm of its players. And this is true
only because some veteran NBA players on basement-dwelling teams will
take an occasional game off late in the season. The worst NBA team would
trounce the NCAA champs by upwards of 30 points."
Rosen's death caused me to think back to my formative years as a basketball fan. I have enjoyed watching, playing, reading about, and writing about basketball since I was a very young child. Basketball is a lifelong passion for me just as it was for Rosen. Basketball books that I read before the age of 15 that significantly impacted and influenced me include Basketball's Biggest Stars by Angelo Resciniti, many editions of The Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball edited by Zander Hollander, A Loose Game by Lewis Cole, The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam, Daniel Rudman's 1980 anthology Take it to the Hoop, Stuff Good Players Should Know by Dick DeVenzio, The Legend of Dr. J by Marty Bell, and The Lonely Heroes by Merv Harris--but that list would not be complete without Rosen's God, Man and Basketball Jones, a book that crackles with memorable phrases and keen insights; it was published in 1979, and I read it from cover to cover some time in the early 1980s when I was 10 or 11. An important concept from that book that stuck with me ever since is that you cannot fully understand what is happening in a basketball game if you are only watching the ball, because there are nine players who do not have the ball whose movements (or lack of movement) are significant. A funny line from that book that still makes me chuckle is Rosen's description of Elvin Hayes after delineating the different ways that various forwards play and after noting Hayes' propensity to shoot fadeaway jumpers: "If there are small forwards, power forwards, defensive forwards, and penetrating forwards, then Elvin Hayes is the only backwards-forward in the NBA."
At the end of the first chapter of God, Man, and Basketball Jones, Rosen waxed poetic about his love for basketball:
Basketball is one-on-one and burn-on-burn.
Basketball is ballet with defense.
Basketball is a blur of acrobatic giants, perilous abandon, and ram-slam-in-your-mother's-eyes dunk shots.
And for even the most casual fan, basketball can also be a dribbling, leaping, flowing salvation.
He concluded the book with this thought: "He who lives by the jump shot dies. But a true vision of Basketball Jones releases the selfless energy that sustains the game, sustains life, and brings them both to victory."
If heaven is a playground--to borrow the title of Rick Telander's classic 1976 book about basketball in New York City that I read a few years after my first exposure to Rosen's work--then Rosen is hooping now without having to worry about bad knees or bad calls, and he is enjoying the full glory of the selfless energy of Basketball Jones.
Labels: Angelo Reciniti, Basketball Jones, CBA, Charley Rosen, David Halberstam, Dick DeVenzio, Julius Erving, Kobe Bryant, Lewis Cole, Marty Bell, Merv Harris, Phil Jackson
posted by David Friedman @ 4:05 AM
