LeBron James Meets Kareem Abdul-Jabbar With a Spectacular Stat Line
James, Green among the standouts on a Friday night
LAKERS-TRAIL BLAZERS
Anthony Davis wore another nice sweater on the sidelines to watch LeBron James put up this impressive stat line – 28 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, four blocks and three steals.
It was the second time he ever had a stat line like that. On Jan. 11, 2008 he totaled 31 points, 19 rebounds, eight assists, four steals and three rebounds in an overtime at Charlotte.
In terms of the Lakers, it was the third time this happened.
On March 14, 1976, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar totaled 30 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, seven steals and three blocks against the San Diego Clippers. On March 31, 1978, he totaled 29 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists, four steals and six blocks against Portland.
It’s also the 15th time ever someone did that stat line. The most recent was Josh Smith for Atlanta on Feb. 15, 2012 and the time before James did it in 2008, it was done by Toronto’s Oliver Miller (35 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists, four steals and three blocks) on April 21, 1996.
PACERS-CELTICS
This week saw much consternation about what is wrong with the Celtics. There was not much wrong about them in their win over Indiana.
Kemba Walker’s 32 points were his sixth 30-point game against the Pacers. It also was the third-highest total by a Celtics guard against the Pacers. The most was Walker’s 44-point showing Dec. 11, 2019 and that broke the mark of 35 points set by Ray Allen on Dec. 7, 2008.
Overall, the Celtics have 10 30-point games by a guard against the Pacers and the first was by Jo Jo White on Jan. 12, 1977.
The Pacers scored over 110 for the 46th time against the Celtics but only shot 39.2 percent. It was their lowest field goal percentage in any game when scoring at least 110 on Boston. It also was their third game when scoring at least 110 and shooting 39.3 percent or lower.
The others were a 127-118 triple-overtime loss at Houston on March 13, 2001 (38.9 percent) and a 116-111 loss at Golden State on Nov. 10, 1978.
HORNETS-WARRIORS
Draymond Green can get a triple-double with some of the best of them at times like Friday when he got 19 assists, 12 rebounds and 11 points.
The 19 assists are the most interesting number. It was the 19th game by a Warrior with at least 19 assists and the first since Baron Davis got 20 points and 19 assists on Jan. 11, 2008.
It was the third time a forward had 19 assists ever. The other instances were Larry Siegfried for the San Diego Rockets at Portland on Nov. 16, 1970 when he got 21 and Rick Barry on Nov. 30, 1976 for Golden State at Chicago when he got 19.
Green’s 19 assists marked the sixth time anyone ever got that many on the Hornets. The last time it happened was Jan. 25, 2016 when Rajon Rondo got 19 for Sacramento.
Stephen Curry scored 29 and did it while taking 15 shots. The number of times, he has scored at least 25 on 15 or less shots is now 32 and this was the first instance for him since getting 25 points on 14 shots against Charlotte March 31, 2019
ROCKETS-RAPTORS
Kyle Lowry may or not be traded by the deadline but for now he is a Raptor and his triple-double is among the reasons they beat the Rockets.
Lowry’s triple-double came against the team that traded him to Toronto a while ago and it was the 18th of his career and 17th with Toronto. Lowry posted four during the championship season in 2018-19, had two more last year and then posted one on Feb. 2 in Orlando.
Lowry’s triple-double was Toronto’s 27th in team history and the second against Houston. The other was Dec. 16, 2012 when Jose Calderon finished with 18 points, 10 boards and 10 assists.
It also was the fifth triple-double this season against the Rockets, who allowed eight triple-doubles last season.
Norman Powell is a favorite among those who play fake basketball (me) and his 30 points were the 11th instance of a Raptor getting 30 on the Rockets. Vince Carter got the first four 30-point games for Toronto against Houston, Mike James got the next one in 2006, DeMar DeRozan got the next three, Lowry did it in 2018 and the most recent 30-point game was Kawhi Leonard getting 32 on Jan. 25, 2019.
SUNS-BULLS
The Suns finally beat the Bulls is something their fans might have liked to hear around June 1993. Instead, they will settle for a routine Friday in February where Chris Paul collected 15 assists.
Paul has plenty of 15 assist games (we assume) (93 is your right answer, talk about synergy!). Anyway, it was the third time he did against the Bulls and the seventh time a Sun got 15 assists or more on the Bulls. Kevin Johnson did it five times and Steve Nash had the instance back in 2010.
You don’t win a game very often hitting six 3-pointers on 22 tries and for Phoenix it was the 88th time it hit six or less 3’s on 22 or more tries. Of those games, the Suns have won 27 but Friday was their second win in the last 38 instances since eking out a 74-72 win over New Orleans on March 19, 2015.
KINGS-PISTONS
At some point on the way to allowing 140 in New York, coach Luke Walton was shown breaking a clipboard in a timeout.
Walton and the Kings could feel better than the clipboard Friday when their first nine-game skid since 2009 ended in Detroit.
A loss would have given the Kings 10 straight losses for the first time since dropping 12 straight March 9-April 3, 1998, a time that is so different in the NBA that Sacramento never eclipsed 96 points and its highest opposing total was 114.
The Kings were not great, shooting 41.6 percent but they still scored 110 and won, marking only the 28th instance with 110 on 41.6 percent or less. The most recent time in regulation was April 15, 1989 in Golden State when Sacramento shot 40.8 percent in a 114-110 win.
Richaun Holmes had the most notable stat with 17 rebounds and that represented Sacramento’s first player with 17 boards since DeMarcus Cousins got 18 Jan. 28, 2017 in Charlotte. He also is the first player in the Sacramento era with at least 17 boards against Detroit. Oscar Robertson did it twice in 1962 and 1964 and Jerry Lucas had six games of 17 boards against Detroit from 1964 to 1967.
JAZZ-HEAT
For only the seventh time the Jazz scored less points than the other team (a long-winded way of saying they lost).
Jimmy Butler was the reason, scoring 33 for the Heat, who win some and lose some (they’re 16-17). It was not only Butler’s most points against Utah but his first 30-point game against the Jazz. He just missed one Nov. 16, 2018 for Philadelphia with a 28-point showing.
Butler’s 33 points to go along with 10 rebounds and eight assists marked the 21st 30-10-8 game in Miami history and second against the Jazz. The other was Dwyane Wade on March 14, 2009 when he totaled 50 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
Goran Dragic’s 26 points are notable because they were the third-most by a Heat reserve against Utah. The two highest are Jon Sundvold’s 28 points on Jan. 10, 1989 and Harold Miner’s 27 on Jan. 12, 1993.
Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points despite hitting two 3-pointers. He has scored 30 without hitting more than two 3-pointers on 14 occasions and it last happened before Friday on Feb. 26, 2020 against the Celtics when he went 2-for-10 but scored 37.
HAWKS-THUNDER
Theo Maledon entered Friday with a career-high of six assists. When you next read the Oklahoma City game notes, that number will be 12.
Maledon had 12 against Atlanta and he was the second time a Thunder rookie got 12 assists. The other time was Russell Westbrook on Jan. 7, 2009 in Minnesota.
Of course, it happened 35 times when the team was playing in Seattle (but we probably should not discuss that until the NBA grants Seattle another team).
This was the 24th time a rookie got at least 12 assists on the Hawks. The last was Ricky Rubio for Minnesota on Jan. 14, 2012.
Someone getting 20 rebounds is notable, certainly more notable than the 21 shots it took for Trae Young to get to 17 points. Clint Capela’s 21 boards were the first time a Hawk did it against the Thunder. It happened three times when Seattle used to fly to Atlanta but we’ll withhold that info until Seattle gets a team.
In terms of 21-rebound games against Oklahoma City, this was the 10th instance of a player getting at least 21 boards on the Thunder and third time this season. Enes Kanter (why can’t the Thunder get guys like that) did it twice on Jan. 25 and Feb. 16 for Portland. Capela achieved 21 boards on the Thunder for the second time, joining Kanter and Kevin Love as the only players with multiple 21-rebound games on Oklahoma City.
CLIPPERS-GRIZZLIES
The Clippers had a very basic 20-point win in Memphis where they shot 55 percent and hit 14 3’s. Their 55 percent from the floor was their third-highest percentage against Memphis.
You would have thought the two highest percentages were in recent seasons but they were not.
Instead, the highest is the 59.7 percent on Feb. 3, 2005 and the 59 percent on Feb. 6, 2009. The leading scorers in those games were Bobby Simmons in 2005 and Zach Randolph in 2009, shortly before he became a fan favorite in Memphis.
I’d like to tell you something notable happened for Memphis but the reality is it didn’t. They just got beat and that happens.