Today’s Sportstat: December 7, 2019
A big scoring night on your birthday in the NBA
Trivia question: Can you name the only NBA player to ever score 60 or more points in a regular season game on his birthday? (Answer in the article.)
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo celebrated his 25th birthday last night with 27 points and the Bucks won their 14th straight game with a lopsided win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Giannis became the fourth player this season in the league to score 25 or more points in a game on their birthday. The other three this season:
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota, 36 points on 11-15-19
Eric Paschell, Golden State, 34 points on 11-4-19
Devin Booker, Phoenix, 31 points on 10-30-19
While Giannis tallied 27 on his 25th birthday, his effort on his birthday falls a little short of the most epic scoring nights on a birthday. Shaquille O’Neal holds the NBA record for most points in a regular season game on a birthday with 61. He accomplished this feat on March 6, 2000, his 28th birthday.
There have been six players who have scored 45 or more points in a regular season NBA game on their birthdays:
Shaquille O’Neal, 61 points on 3-6-2000
Dominique Wilkins, 53 points on 1-2-87
LeBron James, 48 points on 12-30-2009
Anthony Davis, 46 points on 3-11-2017
Michael Jordan, 46 points on 2-17-92
Neil Johnston, 45 points on 2-4-55
In case you were wondering, Kevin Garnett holds the mark for most points in a playoff game on a birthday with 32. He did it on his 28th birthday in a playoff game on May 19, 2004.
The most amazing scoring-on-your-birthday story in the playoffs belongs to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. KAJ had 31 points in a playoff game three times on his birthday… on his 24th, 25th and 31st birthdays.
Two others players tallied 30 or more points in a playoffs game on their birthdays: George Gervin did it twice with 31 points on April 27, 1982 and then with 30 points the following year in a playoff contest in 1983 on his birthday. Isiah Thomas had 30 points in a playoff game on his birthday, April 30, 1988.
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Today’s Sports Stat: March 12, 2018
New Orleans Pelicans big man Anthony Davis celebrated his 25th birthday yesterday by collecting his first triple-double in the NBA. He had 25 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 blocks in his team’s loss to Utah.
In the games leading up to his 25th birthday, Davis accumulated 9,125 points and 4,044 career rebounds. His 9,125 career points before his 25th birthday are the seventh most in NBA history. LeBron James tops this category with 13,927 career points.
Following are the Top 10 players in most career points before the age of 25.
LeBron James, 13,927
Kevin Durant, 12,258
Carmelo Anthony, 10,768
Kobe Bryant, 10,658
Tracy McGrady, 10,420
Shaquille O’Neal, 9,208
Anthony Davis, 9,125
Bob McAdoo, 8,960
Dwight Howard, 8,936
Gilbert Arenas, 8,445
Davis also became only the fourth player in NBA history to reach 8,000 career points and 4,000 career rebounds before the age of 25. The others: Shaquille O’Neal, Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett.
Davis and Garnett are the only two players in NBA history to have 8,000 points, 4,000 rebounds, 700 assists, 500 steals and 500 blocked shots before their 25th birthday.
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The NBA’s 1,200-600-300 players
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a biweekly blog published every Wednesday and Sunday with a bonus “SIX STATS…” published every Friday.
- Larry Bird…Image via Wikipedia
Last season the L.A. Clippers Blake Griffin was the only NBA player to have over 1,200 points, over 600 rebounds, and 300 or more assists. Griffin scored 1,845 points, had 989 rebounds and dished out 312 assists. LeBron James fell 10 rebounds short last year of making the 1,200-600-300 club.
Larry Bird tops the list of players with the most 1,200-600-300 seasons with 10. He is, however, followed by an active player, Boston’s Kevin Garnett, who has amassed nine of these seasons.
Following are the players who have the most 1,200+ points, 600+ rebounds, and 300+ assists seasons in the NBA.
1,200-600-300 seasons…Players
10… Larry Bird
9…. Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone
7…. Wilt Chamberlain
6…. Charles Barkley
5…. Elgin Baylor, Oscar Robertson
4…. Dave Cowens, Billy Cunningham, Fat Lever, Scottie Pippen, Chris Webber
3…. Alvan Adams, Brad Daugherty, John Havlicek, Connie Hawkins, Grant Hill, Magic Johnson, Detlef Schrempf, Mychal Thompson, Antoine Walker, Sidney Wicks
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