Basketball On The Internet.

This (Northern) fall will mark the beginning the 2021-2022 season (Covid permitting) and will also mark the 75th anniversary of the NBA. BOB CRAVEN, our US correspondent this week takes a look at some NBA records that will unlikely ever be broken.

BOB'S CORNER: This (Northern) fall will mark the beginning the 2021-2022 season, and will also mark the 75th anniversary of the NBA.

I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some NBA all-time records that will almost certainly never be broken, or that would be very unlikely to be broken, given the way the game is played today. 

I will not be including any low scoring records prior to the advent of the 24-second shot clock.  So, we will ignore the lowest-scoring game ever in the NBA, where the Ft. Wayne Pistons defeated the Minneapolis Lakers, 19-18 in 1950.  In no particular order of importance, here we go:

100 points in a game.

Wilt Chamberlain is the king of the NBA record book, so I’ll start with the most famous record of his that will not fall:  Wilt’s 100-point game. 

Back in 1962, the NBA was not as big a deal as it is now, and they played numerous neutral court games in an attempt to promote the game to a wider audience of fans and to the press. 

The Philadelphia Warriors played a “home” game against the Knicks on March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pennsylvania (the home of the chocolate company). The Knicks were the worst team in the Eastern Conference, and they were missing their starting centre due to illness. 

Wilt was hot from the start and had 41 points by halftime, then scored 28 more in the third quarter.  The fans started yelling for the Warriors to “feed Wilt”, so the Warriors started doing that in the fourth quarter when it became clear that hitting 100 might be possible.

The Knicks countered by fouling the other Warrior players and by playing deliberately on offence.

The Warriors countered that by fouling the Knicks to get the ball back.  He scored the 99th and 100th points on a bucket with 46 seconds left. 

He was 36-63 from the floor (both were new records) and incredibly, he was 28-32 from the foul line (both also new records)—remarkable for a notoriously bad foul shooter who averaged 51.1 per cent from the line for his career.

Of course, his 100 points is still (and will always be?) the current record.  He held the old record of 78 set earlier that same season, which broke the previous mark of 71 set by Elgin Baylor of the Lakers.

Highest minutes per game average for a season - 48.5 minutes.

Wait a minute.  There are only 48 minutes in a regulation NBA game. 

During the ’61-’62 season, Wilt averaged 48.5 minutes per game.  Some games, obviously, went into OT.  Chamberlain only missed 8 minutes that whole season because he was ejected in one game with 8 minutes remaining.  Otherwise, he played every minute of every game. 

The way the game is today, it’s a safe bet that will never be broken.  Chamberlain owns the top 7 highest averages, and the last person to average 40 minutes/game (40.3) was Monta Ellis during the 2010-11 season.

Most rebounds in a single game —55.

Again, here’s Wilt with this record.  It was in 1960 and it was against Bill Russell and the Celtics.  For comparison, the #1 rebounding TEAM in the NBA this year is the ‘76ers, and they are averaging 49+ rebounds per game.  Wilt also is the career total rebounding leader for a career with 23,924.

20 consecutive missed free throws.

In 1948, Giff Roux of the St. Louis Bombers did just that.  The Bombers lost that game by 4 points—Roux’s career FT percentage was 51.1% (just like Wilt).  The next highest number of misses without a make is 11 by Shaq.

30 assists in a game.

In 1990, Scott Skiles of the Magic broke Terry Porter’s old mark of 29. 

Skiles also scored 22 points in the game, so it wasn’t like he was passing off as the first, second and third options.  His 30 assists were two more than the rest of both teams combined (14 each) in that game.

Seven personal fouls in a game.

1n 1990, Carl Bowdler of the Hawks was whistled for seven fouls in a game.  The official scorer at some point in the game had lost count and this wasn’t discovered until after the game ended.

After his 6th foul, he kept on playing until, two minutes later, he was whistled for his 7th. He accumulated no stats in those extra two minutes. You have to wonder if the official scorekeeper suffered any consequences.

118 50-point games.

From 1959 to 1969, Wilt Chamberlain had 118 50-point games, which might be harder to break than his 100-point single game. 

During that memorable ’61-’62 season, he did it 45 times, which is more than anyone else had achieved in an entire career.

Average 50-points per game in a season.

Again, it’s Wilt at 50.4 during that ’61-’62 season.  No one else in NBA history has averaged 40 in a season.

Achieve a quadruple-double.

I noted not too long ago about the number of quadruple-doubles in NBA history and who achieved them.  It’s been a long time since there’s been one, and there may never be another again. 

However, only 4 years ago, it almost happened, but the easiest part of it was what tripped him up.  Draymon Green in 2017 missed out because he just couldn’t/didn’t score points.  He had double figures in rebounds, assists and steals, but he only had 4 points — he had one more blocked shot than he had points.

Win 11 titles as a player or coach.

Bill Russell won 11 titles as a player with the Celtics, and Phil Jackson won that many as a coach.  Next highest as a player not on those Celtic teams is Robert Horry of the Lakers with 7, and Red Auerbach won 9 as a coach. 

It was easier back in those days as a team only had to win 2 series most of the time. Much more parity now, plus players don’t stick with a team as long anymore.

Most points scored in one quarter by a player—37.

Klay Thompson of the Warriors did just that in 2015 against the Kings.  He was 13-13 from the field, including 9-9 from 3-point land, and he outscored the Kings as a team by 15 points in that quarter.

Most games played in the regular season—88.

Walt “The Bell” Bellamy played in 88 games during the ’68-’69 season.  He started the season with the Knicks and played their first 35 games of the season. 

He was then traded to the Pistons, who at that point had only played 29 games.  It is unlikely this will be challenged as league rules have changed.  Back then, a player could play for his new team after a trade as soon as that player could join his new team.  Now, physicals must be passed, which often can take a fair bit of time to schedule, plus travel time.

Fastest DQ for fouls—2-minutes and 43 seconds.

Bubba Wells of the Mavericks, whose NBA career lasted all of 39 appearances.  Coach Don Nelson inserted him in a game with orders to “Hack-a-Worm” on Dennis Rodman. 

Wells committed his 6 fouls in less than 3 minutes—and the strategy didn’t work.  Rodman, a career 58% FT shooter, made 9 of 12.

Most points scored by a team in a half—107.

Achieved by the Suns in 1990:  50 points in the first quarter and 57 more in the 2nd, by which time they led 107-67.  They eventually won 173-143.  Those 173 points also tied the ’59 Celtics for most points ever scored in a non-overtime game.

Most consecutive wins by a team—33.

The Lakers in ’71-’72.  The next highest is 28 by the Warriors during the ’15-’16 season.

Most free throw attempts in a game—39.

Dwight Howard achieved this in both 2012 and 2013, and with two different teams:  ’12 with the Magic and ’13 with the Lakers.  He made 21 in the first game and 25 in the 2nd.

Not likely to happen again as the rules were changed on ‘off-the-ball fouls’ in the last 2 minutes of a quarter, so no more “Hack-a-Dwight”.

Most consecutive games scoring 100 or more points—136.

Accomplished by the ’81-’82 Denver Nuggets—their record for those games was 74-62.  Coach Doug Moe obviously believed ‘defence is optional’ or, as Rick Barry used to call it “the matador defence”.  They made the playoffs that year, too, but didn’t win a game.  The longest such streak in the last 25 years is 37.

Most career assists—15,806.

That would be by our local Gonzaga boy, John Stockton, achieved between ’84 and ’03 with the Jazz.  That’s almost 4,000 more than Jason Kidd, who is next in line.  Stockton led the league in assists for 9 straight seasons.

Most career steals—3,264.

Again, this would be John Stockton.

Most offensive rebounds in a career—7,382.

Only one person this could be, given that offensive rebounds were not a stat in the NBA until the ’72-’73 season:  Moses—Moses Malone, that is.  He’s more than 2,500 rebounds clear of #2, Artis Gilmore.  Only total rebounds available for the likes of Wilt and Bill Russell.

Highest free throw percentage for a season—98.1%.

During the ’08-’09 season, this was the number for José Calderón of the Raptors.  This was an unusual year for him in this category.  He was always good—85% prior to that year, and 79.8% the following year.  He’s not in the top-20 for his career.

During the 3-point era, most career points without a 3-point field goal—23,334.

This belongs to Robert Parrish who played from ’76-’97.  He was 0-6 in his career from beyond the arc.  The NBA introduced the 3-point FG for the ’79-’80 season.

Most consecutive games played—1,192.

A.C. Green is the guy.  During his 2nd year, he missed 6 games due to injury, then started his streak.  He was also famous for being very religious and for claiming that he would be, and that he was, a virgin until after his playing years were over.

Most technical fouls in a season—41.

This would be Rasheed Wallace during the 2000-2001 season.  This will not happen again as there have been rule changes that call for suspensions after 16 in a season, and it gets worse from there if more are called.

Largest margin of victory—68 points.

In 1991, the Cavs defeated the Heat 148-80, although they were only up by 20 at the half.  The Cav’s bench players outscored the entire Miami team for the game.

Now, just in case you were wondering what the lowest scoring game (both teams combined) in NBA history was since the advent of the shot clock, here it is. 

On Feb. 27, 1955,the Celtics beat the Hawks 62-57.  The fewest points scored by one team in a game since the shot clock came into use was on April 10, 1999, when the Heat beat the Bulls, 82-49.

And here’s a couple of NBA anniversaries for April 14:

1962—Elgin Baylor of the Lakers scored an NBA Finals record 61 points in leading the Lakers to a win over the Celtics and Bill Russell.

1994—Our late, lamented Seattle Sonics became the first team in NBA history to have 10 players score in double figures in the same game.  All 12 Sonics scored in the 150-101 victory over the LA Clippers.