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Saturday, March 08, 2025
Nikola Jokic Posts First 30-20-20 Stat Line in Pro Basketball History
Last night, Nikola Jokic posted historic numbers--31 points, 22 assists, 21 rebounds--as his Denver Nuggets defeated the Phoenix Suns 149-141 in overtime. Jokic dominated the overtime with five points, five assists, three rebounds, and one steal. This is not only the first 30-20-20 stat line in pro basketball history, but Jokic broke Wilt Chamberlain's 47 year old record for single game assists by a center (Chamberlain had 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists for the Philadelphia 76ers in a 131-121 win versus the Detroit Pistons on February 2, 1968). Jokic joined his teammate Russell Westbrook and Chamberlain as the only three players in pro basketball history to have a 20-20-20 game. This was Jokic's seventh 15-15-15 game this season and the 14th of his career, tying two Oscar Robertson records.
It is unfortunate that the NBA and its media partners ignore ABA numbers when discussing all-time records, but it should be noted that Julius Erving had 26 points, 20 rebounds, and 15 assists in a 138-91 playoff victory versus Rick Barry's New York Nets on April 13, 1972. Erving was a rookie when he accomplished that feat, and--as far as I can determine--Jokic is the only other player in pro basketball history to notch a 26-20-15 game (in addition to last night's performance, Jokic had a 35-22-17 game versus Sacramento on January 23, 2025).
Jokic now has 29 triple doubles in 2024-25, matching his career-high for a season, and tying for sixth on the all-time single season list behind Westbrook (42 in 2016-17), Robertson (41 in 1961-62), Westbrook (38 in 2020-21), Westbrook (34 in 2018-19), and Chamberlain (31 in 1967-68). Side note: as long as you are not brainwashed by Amin Elhassan and Zach Harper or LeBron James' p.r. man Dave "Vampire" McMenamin, you understand that Westbrook is an all-time great.
The prevailing media narrative seems to be that Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will win the 2024-25 regular season MVP award. Gilgeous-Alexander is having a great season for the West-leading 52-11 Thunder; he ranks first in the NBA in scoring (career-high 32.8 ppg), second in steals (1.8 spg), and eighth in free throw percentage (.898). Gilgeous-Alexander has no skill set weaknesses, and there is nothing negative to say about his game--but Jokic is nearly averaging a triple double and he is poised to become the first player in pro basketball history to rank in the top three in scoring (28.9 ppg, third), rebounding (12.9 rpg, third), and assists (10.6 apg, second). I explained my MVP criteria in an article handicapping the 2017 MVP race, and my MVP criteria remain the same: "My philosophy about the MVP award remains unchanged; the MVP should be
the best all-around player in the league, unless there is a player who
is so singularly dominant in one or two phases of the game that this
dominance makes him more valuable than the league's best all-around
player at that time. So, Shaquille O'Neal should have won several MVPs
(instead of just one) even though he was never the best all-around
player in the league; his dominance in the paint made him more valuable
than anyone else during his prime."
O'Neal averaged more than 28.9 ppg three times in his 19 season career, and he averaged more than 12.9 rpg three times; he exceeded both of those numbers in the same season just twice, and in one of those seasons (2000-01) he captured his lone regular season MVP. Jokic is putting up "Shaq-like" numbers as a dominant big man and he is the best all-around player in the league as signified by his scoring/rebounding/passing excellence, so I would designate him as the clear choice for 2024-25 MVP--not based on one game, but based on his season-long triple double dominance.
Kevin Durant is the Ninth Member of Pro Basketball's 30,000 Point Club
The Memphis Grizzlies built a 19 point lead and held on to defeat the Phoenix Suns 119-112, but the headline story from that game is that the Suns' Kevin Durant joined the elite 30,000 point club by making a free throw with 1:11 remaining in the third quarter. Durant finished with a game-high 34 points on 12-18 field goal shooting. Ja Morant scored a team-high 26 points as the Grizzlies improved to 36-17 while dropping the Suns to 26-27. The Grizzlies have the second best record in the Western Conference, while the Suns are fighting just to earn a berth in the Play-In Tournament; the Suns are yet another example of how the "Big Three" model of instant team building fails more often than it succeeds.
Durant is the 30,000 point club's ninth member, and the first new member since LeBron James became the eighth (and youngest) member in 2018, one year after Dirk Nowitzki joined. Before we reflect on Durant's excellent career, it must be emphasized that it is shameful that the NBA and its media partners call Durant the 30,000 point club's eighth member, ignoring the fact that Julius Erving scored 30,026 points. ABA numbers should be counted offiically by the NBA, just like the NFL officially counts AFL numbers. Erving was just the third player to score at least 30,000 points, and he was the first "midsize" (6-7 or under) player to accomplish the feat; nearly 40 years after Erving retired, the only other "midsize" players who have scored at least 30,000 points are Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Ignoring Erving's accomplishments and statistics skews the ubiquitous conversation about the greatest players of all-time; Erving is often left out of that discussion, but he deserves to be prominently mentioned. Erving starred in the ABA for five years before enjoying a spectacular 11 year run with the Philadelphia 76ers.
He made the All-Star team in each of his 16 professional seasons, he
never played for a losing or non-playoff team, and he is the only player
to win an MVP award in both leagues. Erving won four regular season MVPs, three championships, and two Finals MVPs; he did a lot more than just score, but he was also one of the greatest, most consistent scorers of all-time, with scoring averages ranging from 20.0 ppg to 31.9 ppg in his first 14 seasons.
Durant is unlikely to join James in the 40,000 point club, but he has come a long way from being a skinny rookie who was played out of position at guard before blossoming in his second season after being shifted to his natural position of small forward. Durant spent his prime years at small forward but as his body developed and the league began favoring smaller lineups he became a devastating weapon at power forward, stretching the floor while not being afraid to attack the hoop. Durant had a high, loose dribble as a young player but he developed into an effective ballhandler. He did not average at least 4 apg until his sixth season, but he averaged at least 4 apg in each of the next 12 seasons. Durant won four scoring titles, and he posted two 50/40/90 seasons that exemplify how complete his scoring repertoire is: Durant is renowned as a midrange assassin, but he also posts up, drives to the hoop, drains three pointers, and not only draws fouls but shoots his free throws at an elite (.882) clip. Like Erving, Durant has an all-around game, and an impressive list of accomplishments, including two Finals MVPs, two championships, and one regular season MVP.
Six of the nine members of the 30,000 point club are in my Pantheon (an asterisk denotes that the player is in my Pantheon):
Remembering Al Attles, Who Served the Warriors for Six Decades as a Player, Coach, General Manager, and Ambassador
Al Attles passed away on Tuesday at age 87. He won the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's prestigious John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014, and he was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2019. Attles spent over 60 years with the Warriors franchise as a player, coach, general manager, and team ambassador, a span of service with one franchise unmatched in league history.
At just 6-0, 175 pounds Attles may not have looked fearsome at first glance, but his hard-nosed style of play and his refusal to back down from any opponent earned him the nickname "The Destroyer" during an 11 year playing career with the Warriors, who he joined in 1961 when the franchise was still located in Philadelphia. The Warriors moved to the Bay Area in 1962. Attles averaged double figures in scoring four times, but he made his mark as a scrappy player who did the little things to help his team win. He ranked seventh in the league in assists in 1967-68 when league leaders were determined by totals, not averages. Although he was not a prolific scorer, Attles ranked in the top 10 in field goal percentage three times (1961-62, 1962-63, 1965-66).
Attles played with some of the greatest players of all-time, including Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry, and Nate Thurmond. Attles scored 17 points on 8-8 field goal shooting during Chamberlain's 100 point game, and he averaged 10.9 ppg playing alongside Chamberlain for the 1964 San Francisco Warriors team that lost 4-1 to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. Attles averaged 7.4 ppg and 3.9 apg playing with Barry and Thurmond as the 1967 San Francisco Warriors advanced to the NBA Finals, where they lost to Chamberlain's Philadelphia 76ers.
Attles became the Warriors' player-coach with 30 games remaining in the 1969-70 season, and he led the Warriors to a 41-41 record as a player-coach in his final season as a player in 1970-71. The San Francisco Warriors became known as the Golden State Warriors prior to the 1971-72 season, when Attles guided the team to a then franchise-record 51 wins. In 1974-75, Attles coached the Warriors to a 4-0 NBA Finals sweep of the Washington Bullets. Rick Barry played like Superman during that campaign, but the Warriors would not have triumphed without Attles' excellent coaching. Barry made this statement after Attles passed away: "My heart is heavy today with the loss of my mentor and friend. Al was
my roommate during my rookie season in the league. He taught me valuable
lessons on being a professional that couldn't be learned on the court.
Later, as our coach during the 1975 championship season, he exemplified
leadership, togetherness and a keen strategic ability that enabled us to
succeed at the highest level. We shared so many wonderful and
memorable moments together. My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife,
Wilhelmina, and his entire family. He will be dearly missed."
Attles coached the Warriors through the 1982-83 season, and he still holds the Warriors' franchise record for most coaching wins (557). Attles joined the Warriors' front office after his coaching career, spending three years as the team's general manager before filling various other roles. In recent years, he was the team ambassador. He is one of only six players whose numbers have been retired by the Warriors franchise; his number 16 hangs in the rafters alongside the numbers of Rick Barry (24), Wilt Chamberlain (13), Tom Meschery (14), Chris Mullin (17), and Nate Thurmond (42).
Jerry West passed away Wednesday morning at the age of 86. Younger fans may not understand why West's silhouette has been embedded in the NBA's official logo for over 50 years, but even a brief review of West's accomplishments makes it clear that West is not only one of the greatest basketball players ever but one of the most important people in basketball history.
West earned induction in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in three separate roles: as a player (1980), as a member of the Team USA squad that won the gold medal in the 1960 Olympics (2010), and as a contributor (2024, in what will now be a posthumous honor). He was one of 11 players selected to the NBA's 35th Anniversary Team (1980). West was also selected to the NBA's 50 Greatest Players List (1996), and the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team (2021).
West made the All-Star team in each of his 14 seasons, he earned 10 All-NBA First Team selections (tied for fourth all-time behind only LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Karl Malone), he won the 1970 scoring title, he won the 1972 assist title, and he made the All-Defensive Team in each of the first five seasons that honor was presented at the end of his career (1969-73). West was the third player to surpass the 25,000 point plateau, and he retired with the third highest regular season scoring average (27.0 ppg), trailing
only Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. West finished second in regular season MVP voting four times in an era when only one non-center (Oscar Robertson, 1964) won an MVP between 1957 and 1981.
West finished his playing career with a 1-8 NBA Finals record, but he
earned the nickname "Mr. Clutch" because of his tremendous performances
in the biggest games. West declared, "If it comes down to one shot, I like to shoot the
ball. I don't worry about it. If it doesn't go in, it doesn't go in." West holds the career NBA Finals scoring record
(1679 points), ahead of LeBron James (1562), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1317),
and Michael Jordan (1176). West has the third highest career NBA Finals scoring average (30.5 ppg), trailing only Rick Barry (36.3 ppg) and Michael Jordan (33.6 ppg). West won the inaugural NBA Finals MVP award in 1969, and he remains the only player to earn that honor as a member of the losing team.
Robertson and West ranked 1-2 (in whatever order you prefer) all-time among guards until well into the 1980s when Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan made their marks.
Baylor and West were known as "Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside," and they are still one of the greatest duos in NBA history. West was a big-time scorer while playing alongside Baylor, but when Baylor missed all but five minutes of the 1965 playoffs West took his game to a record-setting level, averaging 46.3 ppg on .453 field goal shooting as the Lakers won 4-2 versus the Baltimore Bullets in the Western Division Finals. West then scored 33.8 ppg versus the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, but Bill Russell and a lineup filled with other Hall of Famers crew beat the Lakers, 4-1. Russell's Celtics were West's greatest nemesis, defeating West's Lakers six times in the NBA Finals.
Chamberlain joined Baylor and West for the 1968-69 season, but by that stage of their careers those three players were rarely fully healthy at the same time. The otherwise incredibly durable Chamberlain missed 70 games during the 1969-70 season because of a knee injury, and during the trio's four seasons together with the Lakers, Baylor played in 76, 54, two, and nine games before retiring early in that fourth season. Without Baylor, but alongside Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich, West finally won an NBA title in 1972 as a key member of one of the NBA's greatest single season teams; the Lakers won a still-record 33 straight regular season games before storming through the postseason with a 12-3 mark, including a 4-1 rout of a New York Knicks team that won NBA titles in 1970 and 1973.
West is a member of my basketball Pantheon, and is without question one of the top five guards of all-time, along with fellow Pantheon members (listed chronologically) Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant.
West, Johnson, and Hakeem Olajuwon are the only players to win an NBA
Finals MVP, an NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player award, and an
Olympic gold medal.
How great was West? Picture Stephen Curry with an excellent vertical
leap and elite defensive skills--or, as West put it, "A wolf who ate
dogs":
I described West's 2011 book West by Westas "a unique contribution to sports literature: it is not an autobiography
or even an 'as told to' story; West writes (p. XII), 'the approach that I
have taken, in collaboration with Jonathan Coleman, is one that is
built on deep reportage...nothing less than a full-scale attempt to
bring forth the truth, to rely not just on my recollection of things,
but to do something more ambitious: investigate myself, speak with
others, and come to grips with what I find.'" I encourage anyone who is not familiar with West's life and career to read my review--and then to read West's book.
West was an important basketball figure from the late 1950s when he was a collegiate star at West Virginia through 2024 when he served as an executive with the L.A. Clippers until his death. After his playing career ended, he posted a 145-101 record in three seasons as the Lakers coach, including the best record in the league (53-29) in the 1976-77 season. West then moved to the Lakers front office and played a major role in building two of the greatest dynasties of the past 40 years: the Showtime Lakers won five NBA titles in the 1980s, and the Shaq/Kobe Lakers of the early 2000s won three straight championships. West felt disrespected by Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, and West moved on to Memphis, where he built the Grizzlies into a 50 win team in 2004 after the franchise had never won more than 28 games in each of its first eight years of existence. He then worked in the Golden State Warriors front office during that team's 2015 and 2017 championship seasons. West only won the Executive of the Year award twice (1995 with the Lakers, 2004 with the Grizzlies), and I agree with former Utah executive Scott Layden, who declared that the award should be named after West; a strong case could be made that West is the greatest executive in NBA history, if not North American team sports history.
It is a cliche to call a person "unique": few people have qualities
that are unusual or rare, and even fewer people fit the literal
definition of "unique" by being truly "one of a kind."
Jerry West's combined record as a player, coach, and executive is unique: no one else has ever played at an elite level in the NBA, then coached a team to the best record in the NBA, and then built multiple NBA championship teams as an executive.
Jerry West will be deeply missed, but never forgotten.
Chet Walker Made a Significant Impact on and off the Court
Chet Walker--a key member of Philadelphia's 1967 NBA championship team that set a since-broken record for regular season wins (68)--passed away on Saturday at the age of 84 after a long illness. Sam Smith, who now works for Bulls.com after making his name covering the team for the Chicago Tribune and writing the best selling book The Jordan Rules, penned a must-read tribute to Walker, tracing the arc of Walker's life from childhood in Mississippi and Michigan to leading Bradley University to the 1960 NIT title to a great NBA career highlighted by seven All-Star selections, an 18.2 ppg career scoring average, and tremendous durability (he played at least 76 games in each of his 13 NBA seasons). Walker played seven seasons for the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers before playing six seasons for the Chicago Bulls. Walker averaged at least 21.5 ppg in each of his first three seasons with the Bulls, and he set a franchise single game regular season scoring record (56 points) that stood from 1972 until Michael Jordan scored 58 points in a 1987 game.
Walker was one of the "NBA 14" who paved the way for the huge contracts that today's players enjoy, but Walker's activism came at a price: his career ended abruptly when no team would sign Walker after a 1975 season during which he averaged 19.2 ppg in 76 games, and he had to wait a long time before being inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, an honor that he belatedly received in 2012. Walker chose Billy Cunningham, Adrian Dantley, Earl Monroe, and Isiah Thomas as his presenters, and those four legends represent a cross section of Walker's impressive life on and off the basketball court: Cunnningham was his teammate, Dantley incorporated Walker's moves into his Hall of Fame caliber arsenal, Monroe played against Walker in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, and Thomas shares Chicago roots with Walker. Walker produced "A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story," a movie about Isiah Thomas' mother that won an Emmy.
Years ago, I asked Cunningham--a teammate of Walker's on Philadelphia's 1967 championship team who later coached the incomparable Julius Erving on Philadelphia's 1983 championship team--to compare those two legendary squads, and he told me, "Dr. J would match up against Chet Walker.
Julius was obviously better in the open court offensively than Chet and
a better shot blocker. Chet was a better one-on-one player offensively
and would probably try to post up Julius and do things like that." I asked Cunningham to elaborate about the Erving-Walker comparison, and he replied, "Julius was the greatest open court player who ever played. Chet Walker
was a better jump shooter and he had, I think, a little bit more of an
arsenal in the set offense. But by no means am I taking anything away
from Julius Erving."
There is statistical evidence supporting Cunningham's description of Walker's offensive arsenal. Walker finished in the top 20 in field goal percentage six times--including sixth during Philadelphia's 1967 championship season--and he ranked in the top 10 in free throw percentage six times, including leading the NBA in that category in 1970-71. Walker ranked in the top 10 in free throws made seven times. Walker was a dependable third scoring option (19.3 ppg) behind Wilt Chamberlain (24.1 ppg) and Hal Greer (22.1 ppg) on the 1967 championship team, and when the Bulls needed a clutch basket during the early 1970s they usually relied on Walker.
Jaylen Brown would not be a $300 million player without Walker's sacrifices. A role player like J.J. Redick who shamelessly mocks the basketball stars from the past would not be a famous multi-millionaire without Walker's sacrifices that helped transform the NBA into a multi-billion dollar business. It would be great if Brown, Redick, and everyone else who benefits from the NBA's huge pot of gold acknowledged their debt to Walker and the other members of the "NBA 14."
Nikola Jokic Becomes 10th Member of Pro Basketball's Three MVP Club
Nikola Jokic earned his third regular season MVP in the past four seasons, becoming just the 10th member of pro basketball's Three MVP Club, and the first new member of that exclusive group since LeBron James joined in 2012. Bill Russell was the first pro basketball player who won at least three regular season MVP awards, and he was then followed by Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James. Jokic and Malone are the only members of that group who are not in my pro basketball Pantheon. Jokic's career began after I made my selections, while Malone did not miss the cut by much.
This season, Jokic ranked in the top 10 in scoring (10th), rebounding (fourth), and assists (third), and he is the second player in pro basketball history to accumulate at least 2000 points, at least 900 rebounds, and at least 700 assists in the same season, matching a feat first accomplished by Oscar Robertson in 1961-62.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jalen Brunson rounded out the top five in this season's MVP balloting. They each had MVP-caliber seasons, but no one filled up a boxscore quite like Jokic did, and no one was as essential to his team's success. Jokic is not a defensive stopper, but he uses his size and strength to good effect to clog up the paint, and his defensive rebounding helps the Denver Nuggets to finish off defensive possessions by gaining control of the ball. The Nuggets ranked fourth in defensive field goal percentage and sixth in points allowed, and that would not be possible if the player who leads the team in minutes played were a defensive liability.
My consistent position about MVP voting has been that the award should
go to the league's best all-around player unless there is a dominant big
man like Shaquille O'Neal who impacts the game more than any other
player. Jokic is a hybrid who fits into both categories: he is the
sport's best all-around player but he is also physically dominant in the
paint as a scorer and rebounder.
Jokic is just 29 years old and he has played at least 72 games in eight of his nine NBA seasons, so he is young enough and durable enough to play at an MVP level for at least another five or six years. It would not be surprising if he joins pro basketball's Four MVP Club, which has just six members:
If Joel Embiid continues to be an injury-prone player who cannot lead his team past the second round of the playoffs then history will not look kindly on Embiid's 2023 regular season MVP award that cost Jokic the chance to become the first pro basketball player to win four straight regular season MVPs. Jokic has posted a 9-4 career playoff series record while leading the Nuggets to the 2023 championship, and even if the Minnesota Timberwolves knock out the Nuggets in this year's playoffs that will not invalidate Jokic's prior accomplishments and honors.
Roland Lazenby Details Magic Johnson's Triumphs and Tribulations
Magic Johnson starred at Michigan State, leading the Spartans to the 1979 NCAA title in a famous showdown with Larry Bird's Indiana State Seminoles. Johnson then won five NBA titles (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987-88) with the L.A. Lakers while earning three regular season MVPs (1987, 1989-90) and three NBA Finals MVPs (1980, 1982, 1987). Johnson broke Oscar Robertson's NBA record for career regular season assists, and Johnson currently ranks seventh on the all-time regular season assists list in addition to holding the record for career playoff assists. Johnson led the NBA in regular season assists four times (1983-84, 1986-87) while also leading the league in steals twice (1981-82) and free throw percentage once (1989).
Johnson suddenly retired from the NBA in November 1991 after being diagnosed as HIV positive, but Commissioner David Stern permitted Johnson to play in the 1992 NBA All-Star Game, and Johnson won the 1992 All-Star Game MVP. Johnson coached the Lakers for the final 16 games of the 1994 season, but did not return to the bench after the Lakers went 5-11 with him at the helm. Johnson came back to the NBA as a player for 32 regular season games and four playoff games in 1996 before retiring for the final time. Johnson's lucrative endorsements and savvy business deals enabled him to amass a net worth of more than $1 billion.
Roland Lazenby's Magic: The Life of Earvin "Magic" Johnson (Celadon Books, 813 pages, $40.00) provides a detailed, engaging account of Johnson's ascension from high school phenomenon to NCAA champion to all-time NBA great. Lazenby has written biographies of several all-time great basketball players, including Jerry West, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant.Lazenby's Magic Johnson biography is divided into three parts: Part I is titled "Lansing," Part II is titled "Hollywood," and Part III is titled "Across The Great Divide."
Lansing
Part I is the longest section of the book (338 pages), and some reviewers have criticized Lazenby for focusing so much attention not only on Johnson's early days but also on Johnson's family history dating back to the 1800s. Lazenby has stated that his intention was to not just tell the story of Johnson's basketball life but to place Johnson's entire life in the larger context of American history. Lazenby may not have written the book that some other people think that he should have written, but it is only fair to evaluate Lazenby's book based on what he wrote and what he tried to accomplish--not on what other people think that he should have written or tried to accomplish.
It is interesting to learn about Johnson's family history, and it is also interesting to consider the different ways that family history can be interpreted and understood. Some of Johnson's ancestors were slaves, so should we focus on the persecution they suffered, or should we focus on how in America it is possible for a descendant of slaves to become a world-famous sports legend who earned generational wealth? Acknowledging the opportunities that America provides does not in any way diminish the horrors of slavery and racism. Reading about Johnson's family history reminds us that America is a flawed country with a troubling past but also a great country that, in the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is striving to live up to its great, foundational principles: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out
the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal.'"
Luka Doncic Posts Fourth Best Single-Game Scoring Performance in NBA History, Devin Booker Logs Second 60 Point Game of His Career
Just four days after Joel Embiid joined the 70 point club and Karl-Anthony Towns had the second 60 point game of his career, Luka Doncic scored 73 points as his Dallas Mavericks defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 148-143. Doncic tied Wilt Chamberlain and David Thompson for the fourth highest scoring game in ABA/NBA history, trailing only Chamberlain's 100 point game, Kobe Bryant's 81 point game, and Chamberlain's 78 point game. Doncic shot 25-33 from the field and 15-16 from the free throw line, but what is most striking is his 17-20 field goal shooting from inside the arc. Yes, Doncic shot .850 on his two point field goal attempts! A cardinal defensive principle in basketball is to not allow straight line drives to the hoop, but the Hawks offered little to no resistance as Doncic repeatedly drove straight to the basket. Michael Jordan would have scored 90 or 100 points against that type of defense; that may sound like hyperbole, but if you watched Jordan play then you know it is true. Jordan attacked the hoop relentlessly during an era when the game was much more physical.
Doncic stole the headlines from Devin Booker, who scored 62 points as his Phoenix Suns lost to the Indiana Pacers, 133-131. Booker now has two 60 point games during his career. Until 1988, pro basketball's 60 Point Club had only two members who had logged more than one 60 point game: Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Jordan finished his career with four 60 point games (plus his 63 point playoff game, which is still the record for the postseason). After Jordan, the next player who had more than one 60 point game is Bryant, whose six such games trail only Chamberlain's 32(!) on the all-time list.
Baylor, Chamberlain, Jordan, and Bryant are Pantheon-level players. Here are the players who have had at least two 60 point games post-Bryant: Damian Lillard (five), James Harden (four), Karl-Anthony Towns (two), Luka Doncic (two), and Devin Booker (two). With all due respect to that quintet, those players are not close to the level--as scorers, let alone as all-around players--of Baylor, Chamberlain, Jordan, and Bryant.
The 70 Point Club has experienced a similar significant expansion. After Donovan Mitchell scored 71 points in a game last season,
I wrote, "Not counting Chamberlain--whose name dominates the NBA record
book--the
NBA has seen less than one 70 point game per decade, so even in this era when it is easier to score than ever it may take 10 years before anyone
matches what Mitchell did last night." Instead of taking a decade for someone to match Mitchell's feat, Damian Lillard scored 71 points in a
game less than two months later, and now Doncic has topped both players with his 73 point explosion.
Lillard and Mitchell are both very good players, and Doncic is a great player, but the 70 Point Club used to be reserved for the all-time greats, not the "very good" and not the "great." Elgin Baylor founded the 70 Point Club on November 15, 1960 when he scored 71 points versus the New York Knicks. Baylor's record did not stand for long, as Chamberlain had six 70 point games from 1961-63, five of which topped Baylor's 71 point game. The only 70 point games from 1964-2006 were authored by David Thompson, David Robinson, and Kobe Bryant. No one scored 70 points in a game from 2007-2016, but from 2017-2024 Booker, Mitchell, Lillard, Embiid, and Doncic have done it.
Baylor, Chamberlain, and Bryant are in the Pantheon. Thompson arguably had Pantheon-level talent, and he still had a Hall of Fame career despite battling drug addiction. Robinson is no worse than top 30-35 all-time. Would any informed NBA observer make the argument that Booker, Mitchell, Lillard, Embiid, and Doncic belong in such a group? Maybe Embiid or Doncic have a chance to elevate themselves to such lofty heights, but they are not there yet.
Regular season NBA games are starting to resemble the NBA All-Star Game in terms of lack of defense/lack of competitive effort, and last year's NBA All-Star Game may have been the worst basketball game ever. Prior to Monday, there had been one day in ABA/NBA history during which two players had 60 point games--and now that has happened twice in five days. Pointing out such facts is not "hating." The NBA powers that be have drastically altered the game, and not for the better: instead of featuring the best athletes in the world competing at the highest level, the NBA has degenerated into a glorified skills exhibition. I have attended dozens if not hundreds of NBA games in person as a credentialed media member or as a fan, and I have seen firsthand that even "non shooters" in the NBA can shoot an absurd percentage on uncontested warmup shots; this helped me to understand how great NBA defense is (or was). With all due respect to Doncic, in his 73 point game he shot .850 from the field on shots that were not much more difficult than warmup shots.
The modern NBA has lowered the bar competitively, which devalues each game and cheapens the record book.
Last night, Joel Embiid set a single game franchise record by scoring 70 points as his Philadelphia 76ers defeated the hapless San Antonio Spurs, 133-123. Embiid shot 24-41 from the field while also snaring 18 rebounds and dishing for five assists. Wilt Chamberlain's 76ers record of 68 points had stood since December 16, 1967. Chamberlain still holds the NBA's single game record with his famous 100 point performance, but he accomplished that remarkable feat as a member of the Philadelphia Warriors (now known as the Golden State Warriors). Embiid is the ninth player to score at least 70 points in an NBA game, joining Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, David Thompson, David Robinson, Kobe Bryant, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, and Damian Lillard. Chamberlain, Baylor, and Embiid are the only players who had least 15 rebounds while scoring at least 70 points, but Embiid's specific stat line of 70-18-5 has never been matched; the only other player with a 65-15-5 stat line is Michael Jordan.
While Embiid dominated the unsharpened Spurs, Karl-Anthony Towns scored a career-high and franchise record 62 points as his Minnesota Timberwolves squandered an 18 point lead and lost 128-125 to a Charlotte Hornets team that is almost as bad as the Spurs. Towns had 44 points on 14-17 field goal shooting in the first half, but he managed just four points in the fourth quarter as the Timberwolves collapsed. Minnesota coach Chris Finch was not pleased with his team: "It was an absolute disgusting performance of defense and immature basketball all through the game." It suffices to say that there are good reasons to be skeptical about Minnesota's contender status despite the team's gaudy 30-13 record, but that is a subject for another article.
The NBA shamefully does not include ABA statistics in its official records, so it should be noted that Larry Miller holds the ABA single game scoring record with 67 points, and the only other ABA players who logged a 60 point game during the league's nine year run are Zelmo Beaty (63), Julius Erving
(63 in a four overtime game), and Stew Johnson (62). Four 60 point
games in nine years in a league that did not have Chamberlain skewing
the numbers sounds about right. A 60 point game should be uncommon, a
feat accomplished either by a Hall of Famer during the course of a great career (Beaty, Erving), or by a very good player having a
career-defining performance (Johnson, Miller).
The 1977-78 Official NBA Guide (published the season after the ABA-NBA
merger) has an All-Time Select Circle listing the best regular season
single game scoring performances in NBA history. At that time, the only
non-Chamberlain names on the 60 point scoring list were Elgin Baylor, Pete Maravich, Rick Barry, Joe Fulks, Jerry West,
and George Mikan. Baylor (three times) was the only player other than
Chamberlain who had more than one 60 point game. Until 1978, pro basketball's 60 point games consisted of 32 by Chamberlain, and 12 by just 10 other players.
Gervin and Thompson joined the list together on April 4, 1978, as Thompson scored 73 points for the Denver Nuggets versus the Detroit Pistons and then Gervin countered by pouring in 63 points for the San Antonio Spurs versus the New Orleans Jazz to clinch the scoring title by a whisker. Thompson's Nuggets and Gervin's Spurs both lost their respective games, but the individual scoring exploits of those Hall of Famers will be remembered long after the results of those two games are forgotten.
After Gervin, no NBA player scored at least 60 points in a game until Bernard King dazzled fans with 60 points on Christmas Day in 1985. Between 1978 and 1994, six players logged nine 60 point games. Michael Jordan led the way with four 60 point games, while Bernard King, Larry Bird, Karl Malone, Tom Chambers, and David Robinson had one each. Robinson, who scored 71 points in the last game of the 1993-94 season to clinch the scoring title over Shaquille O'Neal, is the only player who scored at least 70 points in a game between David Thompson in 1978 and Kobe Bryant in 2006. Bryant's 81 point game on January 22, 2006 remains second behind only Chamberlain's 100 point game.
From 1995-2000, no NBA player scored 60 or more points in a game. Overall, from 1995 to 2013, five players (Shaquille O'Neal, Tracy McGrady, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, and Gilbert Arenas)
had nine 60 point games. Bryant (five) is the only player from that
group who had more than one 60 point game during that period (Bryant is
the only player who had a 60 point game prior to 2014 who also had one
after 2014).
The 60 point club is much larger now, and most of that expansion has happened in less than 10 years (from 2014 to the first three weeks of 2024), with 16 new members joining the club: Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Klay Thompson, Devin Booker, James Harden, Kemba Walker, Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, Bradley Beal, Jayson Tatum, Karl-Anthony Towns, Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic, Donovan Mitchell, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Joel Embiid. Overall, from 2014-2024, 17 players had 25 60 point games, with Lillard (five), Harden (four), and Towns (two) each having more than one 60 point game.
The recent proliferation of 60 point games raises a question: Are we blessed to be living in an era filled with more elite scorers than pro basketball has ever seen, or do other factors explain why so many players are having 60 point games? I would argue that rules changes and style of play changes have increased scoring across the board, which leads to more 60 point games: the game is placed at a faster pace now, with less physicality, and with a vastly increased usage of the three point shot. The (over)emphasis on three point shooting has not only resulted in more scoring by three point bombers--including Curry, Harden, and Lillard--but the near-abandonment of the paint defensively has made it easier for players to drive to the hoop and score in the paint. Old school players like Julius Erving and Michael Jordan who rarely shot three pointers would put up huge scoring numbers in today's game because (1) perimeter defenders would not be allowed to touch them and (2) most teams do not focus on rim protection, which means that after Erving or Jordan beat the first defender they would have an uncontested runway for their aerial acrobatics.
Without taking anything away from the talent level of today's top players, I would argue that the league's overall talent level is
watered down by expansion and by the influx of players who played little
to no college basketball. This means that the best players are able to feast on weak teams: Embiid dropped 70 on a terrible San Antonio team that emerged from tanking with a young roster that has no idea how to play winning NBA basketball. This also means that the best players are able to exploit matchup advantages even against good teams because many of the good teams lack depth: a star player who logs heavy minutes in today's NBA is going to spend some of those minutes sharing the court with vastly inferior bench players, but if you look back to the 1980s the best teams often had Hall of Famers coming off of the bench (Kevin McHale early in his career, Bobby Jones, Bob McAdoo, Bill Walton, etc.).
Scoring 60 or 70 points is a big accomplishment in any league, but there is good reason to believe that it is easier than ever to score 60 or 70 points in the NBA.
Antetokounmpo Scores Career-High 55 Points, Logs Third Straight 40-10-5 Game
Giannis Antetokounmpo's 55 point performance last night while leading Milwaukee to a 123-113 win over Washington not only established a new single game career-high but is also his third straight game with at least 40 points, at least 10 rebounds, and at least five assists. Antetokounmpo shot 20-33 from the field and 15-16 from the free throw line while also grabbing 10 rebounds and passing for a game-high seven assists. Antekounmpo is just the third Milwaukee Buck to have three straight 40 point games, joining Flynn Robinson (February 1969), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (February 1972). Abdul-Jabbar averaged 39.3 ppg, 15.6 rpg, and 5.8 apg in February 1972 en route to winning his second consecutive scoring title with a career-high 34.8 ppg average.
Only three players other than Antetokounmpo have had three straight 40-10-5 games: Elgin Baylor (1961 and 1963), Wilt Chamberlain (1963), and Russell Westbrook (2016). We should not just glide past those names. Here are Baylor's numbers during his 1961 streak:
1) 50 points (17-34 FG, 16-22 FT), 20 rebounds, seven assists as his L.A. Lakers defeated the Syracuse Nationals 131-120 on December 4, 1961.
2) 45 points (15-39 FG, 15-18 FT), 25 rebounds, eight assists as his L.A. Lakers defeated the Syracuse Nationals 125-120 on December 5, 1961.
3) 47 points (17-43 FG, 13-22 FT), 23 rebounds, eight assists as his L.A. Lakers defeated the Syracuse Nationals 123-121 on December 6, 1961.
4) 63 points (23-55 FG, 17-24 FT), 31 rebounds, seven assists as his L.A. Lakers defeated the Philadelphia Warriors 151-147 on December 8, 1961.
During that four game stretch, Baylor averaged 51.3 ppg, 24.8 rpg, and 7.5 apg while shooting .421 from the field and .709 from the free throw line. "Stat gurus" may grumble about Baylor's shooting percentages, but his productivity was off the charts and his team won all four games. He did not "merely" post 40-10-5, but he posted at least 45-20-7 in each of those four games!
It is also worth emphasizing that Baylor's Lakers played games on three straight days and they played four games in a five day period. No load management back then! The fourth game is notable because Wilt Chamberlain scored 78 points and grabbed 43 rebounds in a losing effort, one of a record six times that Chamberlain scored at least 70 points in a game.
Antetokounmpo is on pace to average more than 30 ppg, more than 10 rpg, and more than 5 apg while also shooting better than .500 from the field; the only other players to post such statistics are Wilt Chamberlain (twice), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The Bucks have struggled recently, losing four of their previous five games and six of their previous 10 games prior to beating the Wizards. The main problem has been injuries/illnesses: Antetokounmpo did not play in Sunday's loss to the Wizards because of left knee soreness, Khris Middleton has not played since December 15 because of a right knee injury, and Jrue Holiday missed three games because of a non-COVID illness before logging just 19 minutes last night versus the Wizards.
If the Bucks can get healthy (and stay healthy), then they will be very difficult to beat in a seven game playoff series, particularly if Antetokounmpo keeps playing at a historically great level.
Donovan Mitchell Joins the Elite 70 Point Game Club
Last night, Donovan Mitchell scored 71 points as his Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Chicago Bulls 145-134 in overtime. Mitchell shot 22-34 from the field, including 7-15 from three point
range, and he shot 20-25 from the free throw line. He also had 11
assists, becoming the first player to post double digit assists in a 70
point game. Mitchell scored 13 of Cleveland's 15 overtime points. Gilbert Arenas holds the regular season overtime period scoring record
(16 points), while Stephen Curry holds the playoff overtime period
scoring record (17 points).
Mitchell is just the seventh player in pro basketball history to score at least 70 points in a game. Chamberlain, who had six 70 point games, is the only player with multiple 70 point games. Elgin Baylor scored a then-record 71 points on November 15, 1960 as his L.A. Lakers defeated the New York Knicks 123-108. Chamberlain's 78 point game broke Baylor's record, and then a few months later Chamberlain had his legendary 100 point game.
Mitchell's performance was sensational, and much more legitimate than Booker's not just because Mitchell's team won but also because Mitchell's scoring was essential for the win. That being said, Booker and Mitchell are without question the least accomplished members of the 70 Point Club, as Baylor, Chamberlain, and Bryant are Pantheon members while Robinson is one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players and Thompson is a Hall of Famer who was an MVP caliber player in the mid to late 1970s before drug abuse derailed his career.
Not counting Chamberlain--whose name dominates the NBA record book--the NBA has seen less than one 70 point game per decade, so even in this era when it is easier to score than ever it may take 10 years before anyone matches what Mitchell did last night.
Nikola Jokic Joins Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor in Exclusive Triple Double Club
Last night, reigning two-time NBA regular season MVP Nikola Jokic put up a stat line for the ages as his Denver Nuggets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 119-115: 40 points, 27 rebounds, 10 assists. How rare is that trifecta? Only two other players in NBA history have posted at least 40 points, at least 25 rebounds, and at least 10 assists in a game: Wilt Chamberlain (four times), and Elgin Baylor (one time). Baylor is perhaps the most underrated great player of all-time. Chamberlain last played in the NBA in 1973, and he passed away in 1999, but his name appears in NBA highlight reels and game recaps on a regular basis, because almost every time a player does something great it turns out that Chamberlain was the last player to do it--and he usually did it more often than anyone else, if not more often than everyone else put together, as is the case with 40-25-10 triple doubles.
During Michael Jordan's amazing '86-'87, Wilt was always in the papers because Jordan was always scoring the most this's since Wilt Chamberlain or taking the most that's since Wilt Chamberlain. And that ain't gonna change, folks. Not in this century.
Take big-scoring games, for example. Michael Jordan hit 60 points,
twice last year. In the eighties, only two other men have done it, each
once: Bernard King and Larry Bird. Four times this decade. Seven other
guys did it once: Fulks (the first), Mikan, Gervin, West, Barry,
Maravich and David "oh-what-a-fall-was-there-" Thompson. Elgin Baylor
did it thrice. And Wilt? Well, it's been done 46 times so you subtract.
Wilt: 32. The rest of basketball: 14. At the present rate, we will be
well into the twenty-first century before the NBA catches up.
Goldman's prediction was prescient, as the rest of the NBA did not pass Chamberlain's total of 60 point games until well into this century. Chamberlain holds many records that will likely stand forever, including most points in a game (100), most points in a season (4029; Chamberlain has the top two highest scoring seasons, and four of the top five), most career rebounds (23,924), most rebounds in a season (2149; Chamberlain holds the top seven spots), and most rebounds in a game (55).
The most recent 40-25-10 game prior to Jokic's was Chamberlain's 53-32-14 masterpiece as his Philadelphia 76ers defeated the L.A. Lakers, 158-128. Back then, "load management" may have referred to how the team's equipment was packed on a bus, train, or airplane, but it had nothing to do with playing time: even in a blowout, Chamberlain played all 48 minutes, his teammate Hal Greer logged 38 minutes, and nine other players from the two teams played at least 28 minutes each. That game was Chamberlain's seventh consecutive triple double as he finished the 1967-68 season with nine straight triple doubles; in the previous game, he logged 35-15-10 in 46 minutes, and in the next game he had 22-27-19 in 53 minutes.
This triple double connection among Chamberlain, Baylor, and Jokic brings to mind two thoughts:
1) The basketball "GOAT" (Greatest of All-Time") conversation in most mainstream media outlets is ridiculous because it is devoid of historical context. The oft-propagated notion that only two players can even be considered--Michael Jordan and LeBron James--is silly for many reasons, not the least of which is that James has not surpassed his contemporary Kobe Bryant, which should be a prerequisite before being compared to Jordan, whose individual and team accomplishments surpass those of both Bryant and James.
In a team sport, the number of championships an individual player wins is determined not solely by his greatness, but also by the quality of his teammates, the quality of competition during his era, and other factors beyond his control. That is not to say that championships don't matter, but if championships won is the main factor then the basketball GOAT is Bill Russell, who won more NBA titles (11 in 13 seasons) than Jordan and James combined (10). The fact that Russell is seldom mentioned now in the GOAT conversation demonstrates that championships are not the main factor being considered.
If championships are not the main factor, then one must look at skill set, and individual dominance. Wilt Chamberlain had sprinter's speed, incredible leaping ability, and superhuman strength/endurance. Other than free throw shooting, he had a complete skill set: scoring, rebounding, passing, defense. On what basis should we accept on faith that LeBron James (or anyone else, for that matter) is better than Chamberlain? Chamberlain at least has to be in the GOAT conversation--he cannot reasonably just be counted out without discussion.
Turning back to championships for a moment, for most of his career Chamberlain was not blessed with the same caliber of teammates or coaching that his rival Russell had, but Chamberlain was the key performer on the two most successful single season teams up to that point: the 1967 76ers, and the 1972 Lakers, both of whom won the NBA championship. Chamberlain was the 1972 Finals MVP, and he undoubtedly would have been the 1967 Finals MVP had the award existed at that time. Considering who Chamberlain played with and against, his two championships in 13 seasons in a smaller, more competitive league are arguably no less impressive than James' four NBA championships spread out over 20 seasons in a sprawling 30 team league.
2) Even though Jokic has won back to back regular season MVPs, he is probably underrated, at least in terms of how he is characterized and described by the major media outlets that cover the NBA. Whenever there is a conversation about who is the best player in the game today, we hear (in alphabetical order) the following names: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James. If Jokic is mentioned at all, it is usually as an afterthought--but Jokic is a dominant scorer, rebounder, and passer. He may not fly through the air for exciting dunks, or regularly bomb away from three point range, but his impact is undeniable, as can be seen by even a cursory examination of his team's performance with him versus his team's performance without him: when Jokic is on the court, the Nuggets perform at a championship caliber level, but when he is not on the court the Nuggets perform like a Draft Lottery team. Jokic is a better and more impactful basketball player than many of the players selected to the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team, including but not limited to active players such as Anthony Davis, James Harden, and Damian Lillard.
The Philadelphia 76ers recently added Dolph Schayes to their Legends Walk. For five years, Schayes was the NBA's career scoring leader, and when he retired in 1964 he ranked second in career scoring. Currently, Schayes ranks 75th in career ABA/NBA scoring. Zach Randolph is slightly ahead of Schayes in career scoring and Glen Rice is slightly behind Schayes in career scoring.
Randolph and Rice had excellent careers. However, Schayes was an all-time great who was selected to the NBA's 10 player 25th Anniversary Team in 1971 plus the 50th Anniversary Team (1996) and the 75th Anniversary Team (2021). In other words, when Schayes scored more than 18,000 career points that was an elite level total. Subsequent players who scored more than 18,000 career points were not as far ahead of most of their peers as Schayes was ahead of his peers. When comparing statistics of NBA players who competed in different eras, identical numbers are not always equivalent: it is more impressive to be the all-time leading scorer--even when the league had not existed for a long time--than to peak as the 70th or 80th leading scorer of all-time.
Contextual factors impact statistics. For example, during Schayes' career the NBA season was shorter, and in his early seasons all of the teams did not even play the same number of games. In 1949-50, his Syracuse Nationals played 64 games, but some teams played as many as 68 games while other teams played as few as 62 games. The NBA season schedule did not become standardized at 82 games for all teams until 1967-68. During Schayes' era, the scheduling provided fewer breaks, the traveling
conditions were harsher (no private team planes, no luxury hotels), and
the game was much more physical. Schayes' Syracuse Nationals started
1961 by playing games on January 1, January 2, January 3, January 4, and
January 5. They had one day off, and then they played on January 7 and
January 8. "Load management" might have described how cargo was placed
on trucks or trains, but it did not exist in terms of healthy players missing games or playing with minutes restrictions.
Scoring opportunities for both teams and individuals increased in the 1954-55 season when the NBA first began using the 24 second shot clock, an innovation that prevented the stalling tactics that threatened to destroy the league.
The points that Schayes scored under the conditions that he scored those points cannot be equated to the points scored by later players under different conditions.
Contextual factors have a similar impact on NFL statistics. When Ozzie Newsome retired
in 1990, he held the career record for most receptions by a tight end (662),
and he ranked fourth overall, trailing only Steve Largent (819), Charlie Joiner (750), and Art Monk
(730). Now, Newsome barely cracks the top 10 all-time for tight ends
(Tony Gonzalez is the current record holder with 1325 receptions), and Newsome ranks 66th overall. With all due respect, Ricky Proehl and Amani Toomer--the players who are currently just ahead of Newsome on the all-time receptions list--are not in the same class as Newsome, a Hall of Famer who still is on the short list of all-time great tight ends more than 30 years after he played his final game. Why are 662 receptions accumulated in recent years not equivalent to 662 receptions accumulated from 1979-90? Rules changes regarding permissible downfield contact, blocking at the line of scrimmage, and enhanced protection for quarterbacks have led to an explosion in the productivity and efficiency of the passing game. The NFL in 2022 is very much a different game than the NFL in 1982.
There is a reason that someone once suggested that the NBA Record Book
should be renamed "The Wilt Chamberlain Story." Chamberlain posted the
top four single season scoring averages in NBA history. The
non-Chamberlain record is Michael Jordan's 37.1 ppg in 1986-87.
Chamberlain's 1961-62 Philadelphia Warriors scored 125.4 ppg in a league
in which teams averaged 118.8 ppg, while Jordan's 1986-87 Bulls
produced 104.8 ppg when teams averaged 109.9 ppg. Some observers suggest
that Chamberlain's scoring average is inflated by the faster "pace" of
his era. Mathematically, this makes some sense; after all, the more shot
attempts there are per game, the more opportunities a player will have
to score. To cite an extreme example, when the NBA did not have a shot
clock and teams routinely scored less than 85 points there was very
little chance that someone would average 50 ppg for a season.
Yet,
to simply crunch a few numbers and declare that Jordan's 37.1 ppg is
somehow approximately equal to Chamberlain's 50.4 ppg flies in the face
of logic. Regardless of the overall pace of the game, Chamberlain still
had to continue to keep pace, so to speak, to average 50.4 ppg. No one
else in his era—or any other time—has come close to doing this. Jordan’s
37.1 ppg may "project" to a higher average in 1961-62, but who is to
say that the faster pace would not have fatigued Jordan or led to wear
and tear that would have predisposed him to injury? Maybe the slower
pace in 1986-87 would have suited Chamberlain even better and made it
harder for teams to defend him. Without having to run up and down the
court so frequently to get back on defense perhaps Chamberlain would
have been more energized, while his opponents would have been worn down
by the pounding they took trying to stop him in the paint; maybe a young
Chamberlain would have scored 55 or 60 ppg in 1986-87. Let's be
clear—I'm not saying that this is what would have happened; I'm saying
that I don't know and neither does anyone else. It makes just as much
sense to hypothesize that a slower pace would help Chamberlain as it
does to "standardize" his numbers downward. All that we know for a fact
is that Chamberlain scored 50.4 ppg and in nearly six decades of NBA
action no one else has come close to matching that. Showing that
Chamberlain and Jordan's scoring production is mathematically equivalent
when pace is considered is not the same as proving that Jordan would
have in fact scored 50.4 ppg in 1961-62 or that Chamberlain would have
been "held" to 37.1 ppg in 1986-87.
I don't know if Schayes would have scored more, less, or about the same in today's NBA as he did in the 1950s NBA, but I strongly believe that his 18,000-plus points are more impressive than 18,000-plus points scored in a later era when reaching the 18,000 point club was no longer a milestone event--and I strongly disagree with anyone who thinks that "pace adjustment" is a meaningful way to compare the statistics of players from different eras.
What I do know is that Schayes was a dominant scorer in his era. I also know that he could score with either hand, that he could drive to the hoop, and that he was known for his long range shooting touch. He was a rugged rebounder and a good passer. Schayes was 6-8, so in today's game his size and skill set would enable him to play inside or outside. Improved playing conditions, improved training, and the league's increased focus on efficiency/shooting percentages would likely have resulted in Schayes shooting a better field goal percentage now than he did during his career; he led the league in free throw percentage three times, and his career free throw percentage of .849 demonstrates that he was an excellent shooter.
Luka Doncic is Great--and He is Reminding Us How Great Wilt Chamberlain Was
Luka Doncic has made the All-NBA First Team each of the past three seasons while finishing in the top six in MVP voting each of those years as well. He is currently posting career-high numbers in scoring (36.1 ppg),
assists (9.0 apg), steals (1.7 spg), field goal percentage (.514), and
free throw percentage (.772). The only blemish on his resume so far this
season is his three point field goal percentage (career-low .237).
Doncic has joined Wilt Chamberlain and Jack Twyman as the only
players in NBA history to score at least 30 points in each of the first
seven games of a season. The first graphic that I saw about Doncic's
accomplishment neglected to note that (1) Chamberlain's record streak is
23 games, and (2) Chamberlain also had a streak of eight games. Doncic
has tied Twyman for third place on the list, but Chamberlain still holds
the top two spots, and it would take Doncic until December 5, 2022 to catch
Chamberlain--assuming that Doncic keeps scoring at least 30 points in
each game and does not miss a game.
We are all able to see how great Doncic is, but pause for a moment to think about how great Chamberlain was to put together one streak more than three times as long as Doncic's and then another streak one game longer than Doncic's current streak. In Wait Till Next Year, William Goldman wrote an essay about Wilt Chamberlain called "To the Death." Goldman discussed how most athletes become less famous and less renowned as time passes, but that Chamberlain was so exceptional that his feats will not easily be forgotten:
During Michael Jordan's amazing '86-'87, Wilt was always in the papers because Jordan was always scoring the most this's since Wilt Chamberlain or taking the most that's since Wilt Chamberlain. And that ain't gonna change, folks. Not in this century.
Take big-scoring games, for example. Michael Jordan hit 60 points,
twice last year. In the eighties, only two other men have done it, each
once: Bernard King and Larry Bird. Four times this decade. Seven other
guys did it once: Fulks (the first), Mikan, Gervin, West, Barry,
Maravich and David 'oh-what-a-fall-was-there-' Thompson. Elgin Baylor
did it thrice. And Wilt? Well, it's been done 46 times so you subtract.
Wilt: 32. The rest of basketball: 14. At the present rate, we will be
well into the twenty-first century before the NBA catches up.
Goldman wrote those words in 1988, and he was prophetic, as it took well into this century before the rest of the players in NBA history collectively produced as many 60 point games as Chamberlain. Kobe Bryant, with six such games, ranks a very distant second to Chamberlain.
It is odd that the "Greatest Player of All-Time" conversation is often narrowed to just Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Wilt Chamberlain played his last NBA game in 1973, and he still holds more NBA records than any other player. Almost any time a modern player does something exceptional, he is the first player to do that since Chamberlain--and often, Chamberlain did more of that than any player before or since. I am not convinced that one can objectively select a "Greatest Player of All-Time," but I am absolutely convinced that the field of candidates is larger than two, and that the field must include Chamberlain.
Remembering Bill Russell, The Greatest Champion in North American Team Sports History
Bill Russell, who led the Boston Celtics to an unprecedented and unsurpassed 11 NBA titles in his 13 season career, passed away yesterday at the age of 88. He led a remarkable life filled not only with accomplishments on the basketball court but also imbued with intelligence, courage, dignity, and tenacity away from the basketball court.
Russell led McClymonds High School to two California state basketball titles. During an era when the sport of basketball was only beginning to integrate, he was not heavily recruited, but he accepted a scholarship to the University of San Francisco and promptly led the Dons to a 55 game winning streak plus two NCAA championships. Russell is one of a select group of Division I players who have career averages of at least 20 ppg and at least 20 rpg. Although shotblocking statistics were not kept during that era, Russell was such a dominant defensive player that he would tell his teammate K.C. Jones to run to a particular spot where Russell would direct a blocked shot to start the fastbreak! Russell led the United States basketball team to a gold medal in the 1956 Olympic Games at Melbourne, Australia before returning to the United States and leading the Boston Celtics to the 1957 NBA championship as a rookie.
The Celtics lost to the St. Louis Hawks in the 1958 NBA Finals--Russell was hobbled by an injured ankle during that series--and then won an NBA record eight straight championships from 1959-66. Wilt Chamberlain's Philadelphia 76ers ended that streak in 1967. Chamberlain and Russell had perhaps the greatest rivalry not only in NBA history but in sports history. Chamberlain was the most dominant individual player, setting scoring and rebounding records that will likely never be broken, including most points in a season (4029), most points in a game (100), most career rebounds (23,924), most rebounds in a season (2149), and most rebounds in a game (55). Chamberlain was the first player to score more than 30,000 career regular season points, the only center to lead the NBA in assists, and the only player who has ranked first in scoring, rebounding, and assists at least once each for an entire season. Russell was not dominant in any statistical category other than rebounding (where he only trails Chamberlain in the record books), but Russell's teams won 11 titles while Chamberlain's teams won two titles.
Could Chamberlain have won more championships with better supporting casts? Would Russell have won fewer championships if he had played with Chamberlain's supporting casts? We will never know the answers to such hypothetical questions, but we know that Chamberlain was the most dominant offensive player ever while Russell was the most dominant defensive player ever.
During that era, the players voted for the regular season MVP award while media members voted for the All-NBA Teams. Russell won five MVP awards (1958, 1961-63, 1965) but received just three All-NBA First Team selections (1959, 1963, 1965), while Chamberlain won four MVP awards (1960, 1966-68) while receiving seven All-NBA First Team selections (1960-62, 1964, 1966-68). For some reason, the players ranked Russell higher, while the media members preferred Chamberlain.
The Celtics bounced back to win the 1968 title. In 1969, the aging Celtics finished fourth in the seven team Eastern Division in 1969, but they nevertheless reached the NBA Finals, where they faced a powerful L.A. Lakers squad featuring Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor. My favorite Bill Russell story is about his last game: game seven of the
1969 NBA Finals. His Celtics faced the Lakers in Los Angeles. The
Lakers published an elaborate description of how they would celebrate
after winning the title, down to the details about which players would
be interviewed after the game and about how 20,000 balloons would be
released from the rafters while a band played "Happy Days Are Here
Again." Russell saw those plans, and told his team simply that there
were many things that could happen that day but one thing that could not
happen was L.A. winning, so he looked forward to watching those
balloons being taken down one by one. The Celtics won, 108-106, and
Russell rode off into the sunset with 11 championship rings for 10
fingers.
The NBA Finals MVP award was first given out in 1969--West became the first and only player from the losing team to receive the honor--but in 2009 the NBA named the NBA Finals MVP award after Russell. Russell likely would have won more Finals MVPs than anyone else had the award existed throughout his career. Russell transformed a high scoring Boston team that could not win the big one into the greatest dynasty in North American sports history.
The way that championship ring counting is currently discussed is odd, because media members pretend that Michael Jordan--who won six NBA titles as a player--holds a record that was chased by Kobe Bryant (who finished with five NBA titles), LeBron James (four titles) and others. These media members ignore the six NBA titles won by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and they neglect to mention that Bill Russell won as many championships as Jordan and Bryant combined! The players closest to Russell on that list are former teammates, such as Sam Jones (10), K.C. Jones (eight), Tommy Heinsohn (eight), Satch Sanders (eight) and John Havlicek (eight, including two after Russell retired).
A lot has been said about the relative athletic ability of NBA players in the 1950s and 1960s, much of it ignorant babbling by people who do not have the faintest idea of what it means to be a great athlete or a great basketball player. Russell represented USF in track and field events, and in 1956 he was ranked as the seventh best high jumper in the world. Russell ran the 440 in 49.6 seconds. Remember, Russell posted those numbers as a 6-9 athlete whose primary sport was basketball, not track and field; someone who had world class jumping ability and speed under those conditions in the 1950s would surely have also been an elite athlete in the modern era with today's superior training conditions. If there is a plumber then or now who could keep up with Russell, I'd pay to see him.
Inevitably, Russell will be most remembered for his considerable on court accomplishments, but his life away from basketball should not be forgotten. Russell was a champion for social justice when that was not just a slogan but it meant actually taking a stand, taking risks, and possibly even putting your life in danger. Russell was front and center in Washington, D.C. in 1963 when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Russell marched in Mississippi after civil rights leader Medgar Evers was assassinated. Russell refused to play in games when he and other Black players were not provided accommodations equal to the accommodations provided to White players. Russell's house was vandalized by racists who defecated on his bed and smashed his trophies. He was not a man who spoke platitudes while safely ensconced far away from the battles; Russell was on the front lines in the fight for racial equality. Russell was one of the leaders of the 1967 Muhammad Ali Summit in Cleveland, along with Jim Brown, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor). Russell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
My basketball hero is Julius Erving, and I know that Bill Russell is Erving's basketball hero. Both of them felt unfulfilled about the time that they spent as TV basketball commentators because they understood that the deeper meaning of the sport cannot be conveyed in brief soundbites sandwiched between commercials. As Erving put it in his autobiography, "It is remarkable to me how we
can fill hours, days even, of television talking about basketball, and
yet I always feel that we are failing to communicate the truth of the
game. Even here, in this book, I worry that I am not up to the task of
explaining the essence of basketball as it is played at the highest
levels. I feel that it is like trying to explain music through words or
to describe a painting through text. You can give a feeling of the work,
or compare it to something else, but you can't re-create the actual feeling
of being on the court, or making that move, imposing your will, of the
precise moment that you realize you can reach the front of the rim." I suspect that Russell agreed with those sentiments, and I always enjoyed listening to Russell's insights about basketball.
I never interviewed Russell, but I met him at an NBA Cares event. I shook his hand, and told him how much I respect what he accomplished. I hope that I made clear and that he understood I was not talking only about basketball.
Nikola Jokic Joins the Select Back to Back MVP Club
Nikola Jokic has won the 2022 NBA regular season MVP, joining the select group of pro basketball players who won at least two consecutive MVPs: Bill Russell (1961-63 NBA), Wilt Chamberlain (1966-68 NBA), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1971-72, 1976-77 NBA), Julius Erving (1974-76 ABA), Moses Malone (1982-83 NBA), Larry Bird (1984-86 NBA), Magic Johnson (1989-90 NBA), Michael Jordan (1992-92 NBA), Tim Duncan (2002-03 NBA), Steve Nash (2004-05 NBA), LeBron James (2009-10, 2012-13 NBA), Stephen Curry (2015-16 NBA), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019-20 NBA). Antetokounmpo finished third this year, while Joel Embiid was second.
Reigning regular season MVP Nikola Jokic also had a fantastic season
(career-high 27.1 ppg, career-high 13.8 rpg, 7.9 apg, career-high .583
FG%), becoming the first player in NBA history to have at least 2000
points (2004), at least 1000 rebounds (1019), and at least 500 assists
(584) in the same season (to be fair, Wilt Chamberlain missed out on
this distinction by just eight points in 1968 and by 44 points in 1967,
two seasons during which he had over 1900 rebounds). Jokic joined pro basketball's "Five-Tool Club,"
the elite group of players (Julius Erving, Dave Cowens, Scottie Pippen,
Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett) who led their teams in scoring,
rebounding, assists, steals, and blocked shots in the same season.
Joel
Embiid, who openly campaigned for the MVP award throughout the season,
won his first scoring title with a career-high 30.6 ppg while also
grabbing 11.7 rpg and dishing for 4.2 apg.
The historical standard is that an NBA MVP must play in at least 85% of the scheduled games,
which adds up to at least 70 games in the traditional 82 game season.
Bill Walton is the only regular season MVP in NBA history who played
less than 85% of his team's games. In fact, 19 MVPs played all 82 games,
11 MVPs played in 81 games, and five MVPs played in 80 games (also,
Karl Malone played 49 of 50 games in the lockout-shortened 1999 season).
I miss the days before "load management"! If the 70 games played
threshold still matters to the MVP voters, then Jokic (74 games played)
prevails over Embiid--who played in a career-high 68 games--and
Antetokounmpo, who played in 67 games.
Jokic averaged 35.7 ppg, 16.3 rpg, 7.4 apg, and 2.1 spg in his final seven games to help his Denver Nuggets secure a playoff berth despite being without the services of injured star point guard Jamal Murray, who missed the entire season due to an ACL tear. Playoff statistics are not considered regarding regular season MVP voting, but it is worth noting that Jokic led the league in playoff scoring in 2022 (31.0 ppg) while also averaging 13.2 rpg, 5.8 apg, 1.6 spg, and 1.0 bpg. He shot .575 from the field, and it was not his fault that his outmatched Nuggets lost 4-1 in the first round to the Golden State Warriors. Jokic's career playoff averages (26.4 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 6.4 apg, .519 FG%) confirm that his game does not fall apart in the postseason, which distinguishes him from some highly touted players.
Pro basketball's 30,000 point club has admitted just eight members in 75 seasons (listed in current ranking order): Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (the regular season career scoring leader from 1984-present), LeBron James, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Wilt Chamberlain (the regular season career scoring leader from 1966-84), and Julius Erving. When Chamberlain retired after the 1973 season, he was the lone member of the 30,000 point club, and only a handful of players had scored at least 20,000 regular season points. It took a decade for Abdul-Jabbar to become the 30,000 point club's second member. In 1987, Erving became the third member--and the first "midsize" player to top the 30,000 point mark.
For more than a decade, Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain, and Erving remained the club's only members. After Michael Jordan's 1998 retirement, Karl Malone passed Jordan on the career scoring list and then became the 30,000 point club's fourth member. Jordan came out of retirement and joined the club during his brief time with the Washington Wizards. Bryant joined the 30,000 point club in 2012; he, Jordan, and Erving remain the only "midsize" players who have been brilliant enough and durable enough to score more than 30,000 points. How significant is that? If a player plays 80 games a year for 10 straight years while averaging 25 ppg he will "only" be 10,000 points short of the 30,000 point club!
Each 30,000 point club member grabbed at least 6500 rebounds, and Nowitzki
is the only 30,000 point club member who did not notch at least 4000
assists.
Chamberlain is the only 30,000 point club member who tallied at least 20,000 rebounds (his 23,924 career rebounds is a record that is unlikely to ever be broken). Abdul-Jabbar is the only other 30,000 point club member who also had at least 15,000 rebounds (17,440, fourth on pro basketball's all-time list behind Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Moses Malone). Abdul-Jabbar, Malone, and Erving were the first three 30,000 point club members who had at least 10,000 rebounds and at least 5000 assists.
James recently became the first player with at least 30,000 regular season points, at least 10,000 regular season rebounds, and at least 10,000 regular season assists. The 30,000 point club member who ranks second in assists behind James is Bryant (6306), so while it is true that James is not a pass first player it is also true that he is a very gifted passer, particularly for someone whose primary skill set strength is scoring. James is not the first great scorer who was also a great passer but his combination of durability with consistent productivity in both departments is rare. The assist statistic is inherently subjective, but there is no doubt that James performs at an elite level as both a scorer and as a playmaker.
Abdul-Jabbar and Jordan lead the 30,000 point club with six championships each, followed by Bryant (five), James (four), Erving (three), Chamberlain (two), and Nowitzki (one). Malone is the lone 30,000 point club member who did not win a title.
Abdul-Jabbar won six regular season MVPs plus two Finals MVPs. Jordan won five regular season MVPs and six Finals MVPs. Chamberlain won four regular season MVPs and one Finals MVP (the Finals MVP was first handed out after the 10th of Chamberlain's 14 seasons). Erving won four regular season MVPs and two Finals MVPs. James won four regular season MVPs and four Finals MVPs. Malone won two regular season MVPs and no Finals MVPs. Bryant won one regular season MVP and two Finals MVPs. Nowitzki won one regular season MVP and one Finals MVP.
Who will join the 30,000 point club next? Only five active players other than James have scored at least 20,000 career regular season points: Carmelo Anthony (28,243), Kevin Durant (25,248), James Harden (23,305), Russell Westbrook (23,164), and Chris Paul (20,844). Anthony, who will turn 38 in May, would need two healthy seasons at his current scoring pace to join the 30,000 point club. Considering age and current productivity levels, Durant looks like the best candidate to be the next member of the 30,000 point club.
The Houston Rockets have the worst record in the Western Conference and are just percentage points ahead of the Orlando Magic in the "race" to post the worst record in the entire NBA, but the L.A. Lakers lost to the Rockets in overtime on Wednesday night, 139-130. This loss will be tough to blame on everyone's favorite scapegoat, Russell Westbrook, but I have full faith and confidence that Skip "Clueless,""Screamin' A" Smith, and the rest of the village idiots will figure out how to trash Westbrook's name and Westbrook's game.
The Lakers' overall problem, as Charles Barkley has repeatedly noted, is that without Anthony Davis they are old, slow, and lack defensive presence in the paint. The Lakers sometimes play well in stretches, but they cannot sustain good play for much more than a quarter or two at a time. Another Laker problem is that LeBron James has entered "We're not winning anyway so let me pad my stats" mode. "Lakers Lose Despite LeBron James' Triple Double" is the headline that LeBron James wants to see after the Houston loss, and most media outlets will bow to the self-proclaimed King and comply. Let's look a little deeper at that 23 point, 14 rebound, 12 assist triple double: James shot 9-26 from the field (.346), hoisting five more field goal attempts than any other Laker, he had five of the Lakers' 16 turnovers, and he had the worst plus/minus number (-17) of any player on either team.
To top it off, despite jacking up more shots than any other player, James eschewed a potential game-winning layup at the end of regulation to pass to Carmelo Anthony, who missed a long jumper at the buzzer. When Ben Simmons passed to a teammate for a layup down the stretch of a playoff game last year, he was pilloried for being afraid to shoot, but there is no doubt that James passing up a layup for a long Anthony jumper will be portrayed as a heroic example of "making the right basketball play." Anthony shot 5-13 from the field, and his plus/minus number (-14) was second worst to James in this game, but we are supposed to pretend that the points the Lakers hemorrhaged with James and Anthony on the court do not matter, and we are supposed to pretend that a long jumper by an over the hill player is a better basketball play than a layup attempt by the player who cannot stop telling us that he is the greatest player of all-time.
After the game, Rockets rookie Jalen Green--who scored a career-high/game-high 32 points, including 10 in overtime--said, "Our game plan was just to attack Melo and find the mismatch on the floor. So when it came down to it, we were looking for Melo and I was attacking him every time."
Meanwhile, Russell Westbrook scored a team-high 30 points on 11-21 field goal shooting. He had eight rebounds, six assists, and just two turnovers in 40 minutes. His plus/minus number was -2, but it was in positive territory until the disastrous overtime that would not have been necessary if James had not been afraid to make a game-winning layup. The collective amnesia about Westbrook's prior accomplishments and the notion that he is washed up now are two of the most ridiculous basketball narratives that I have ever had the displeasure of reading and hearing. Hubie Brown is 88 years old and he does not do a full schedule of games, but he is still as sharp as ever, and it is fascinating to contrast his take on Westbrook with the dominant narratives. For example, during Sunday's broadcast of Milwaukee's 132-122 win over Phoenix, Brown noted that Giannis Antetokounmpo is on pace to become the first player
to average at least 25 ppg, at least 10 rpg, and at least 5 apg in four
different seasons. Brown mentioned that the record for such seasons is currently shared by
Oscar Robertson (three, 1961-63) and Antetokounmpo (if the NBA counted ABA numbers--which should be counted--then Julius Erving's 1974-76 seasons would be included). Brown added that Wilt Chamberlain (1964, 1966) and Russell
Westbrook (2017-18) are the only other players to accomplish this more than once, and Brown said of Westbrook, "A lot of people don't want to give him credit, but
that's the company he's in." It should be noted that reigning regular season MVP Nikola Jokic is set to join that company as he is on pace to have his second consecutive 25-10-5 season.
Westbrook is one of the greatest players of all-time, and he can still play at a high level. Just last May, the Washington Wizards put the ball in Westbrook's hands, and he set records while lifting them from oblivion into the playoffs. Will Lakers' General Manager/Coach/Media Relations Manager/Team Captain/Heir to the Regular Season Scoring Crown LeBron James play defense, display championship-level leadership, and let Westbrook run the offense to give the Lakers a fighting chance to salvage this train wreck of a season? Why should he? He is chasing the all-time scoring record, his media friends and allies will cover for him, and he knows that Westbrook--and Coach Frank Vogel--are set up to be the fall guys.
"A work of art contains its verification in itself: artificial, strained concepts do not withstand the test of being turned into images; they fall to pieces, turn out to be sickly and pale, convince no one. Works which draw on truth and present it to us in live and concentrated form grip us, compellingly involve us, and no one ever, not even ages hence, will come forth to refute them."--Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Nobel Lecture)
"The most 'popular,' the most 'successful' writers among us (for a brief period, at least) are, 99 times out of a hundred, persons of mere effrontery--in a word, busy-bodies, toadies, quacks."--Edgar Allan Poe
"In chess what counts is what you know, not whom you know. It's the way life is supposed to be, democratic and just."--Grandmaster Larry Evans
"It's not nuclear physics. You always remember that. But if you write about sports long enough, you're constantly coming back to the point that something buoys people; something makes you feel better for having been there. Something of value is at work there...Something is hallowed here. I think that something is excellence."--Tom Callahan
