Basketball from a fans perspective
“Another one bites the dust”(soon)
The music group Queen’s got nothing on Russell Westbrook, their hit song “Another one bit’s the dust” will soon apply as he breaks the triple-double record. Mr. Triple-Double registered his 42nd triple-double on Sunday, the triple-double for Westbrook will tie him with LeBron James and at his current pace will likely surpass him before the end of November.
The all-time record for triple-doubles is 59 held by for Celtic great Larry Bird. Point guard Westbrook stands 6 foot 3 inches tall and the two players in front of him have a height advantage. LeBron stands 6-8 while the Celtic legend Larry Bird is 6-9. The most astounding portion of this story consider the amount of talent that’s arrived in the NBA since 1992 the last year Bird played in the association.
The Stilt
The late Wilt Chamberlain had several nicknames, Wilt the Stilt, the Big Dipper and Goliath. There might have been a number of profanity nicknames that were likely not shared with the big man. He was not the first 7-foot center to play in the NBA however he changed the game with his arrival in the 1959-60 season. Any time you cause rules committee to change aspects of the game that details for all concerned of your impact on the game. The lane on the court was 12 feet wide when Chamberlain arrived he would set up in the low post he would lean in and finger-roll the ball into the basket. After watching him destroy teams in 1964 the lane was widen four feet to 16 feet where it remains to this day.
With the widen lane Chamberlain was forced to change his game and he continued to excel. Rookie of the Year and MVP only one other player (Wes Unseld later) would accomplish the feat. Chamberlain would leave the NBA as its All-Time scoring leader when he retired after the 1973 season. He would remain number one until several players would later pass him. Chamberlain is now in 5th place behind Jordan, Kobe, Malone and the leader Kareem Abdul Jabbar. On March 2nd 1962 Chamberlain set a record that will never be broken. Playing for the Warriors his team scored 69 points and Chamberlain scored the other 100 for a 169-147 victory over the Knicks.
That season the Dipper would average an amazing 50.4 points per game. The NBA didn’t begin counting blocked shots until the 1973-74 season. February 2nd 1968 Chamberlain scored 22 points had 25 rebounds 21 assists and 12 blocked shots. That was also the year Chamberlain led the NBA is assists the only center to accomplish this. The battles in the paint between Chamberlain and Russell are the stuff of legend. As for the belief Bill Russell stopped Chamberlain totally untrue, the 6-9 Russell forced Chamberlain to play at his best but couldn’t stop him. Nobody could stop Chamberlain at 7-1 and 290 pounds, slow him yes---stop him impossible.
Three games in three games
UMKC fell to the Green Bay Phoenix 95-77; the Phoenix had five players in double figures while the Roos only had guard LeVell Boyd. Boyd wasn’t on the court by himself however he might have been as he led the way with 23 points. Nobody on the Roos roster was even close, Broderick Newbill managed 12 points however that was it the balance of the team was in single digits. Martez Harrison the Roos leading scorer at nearly 20 points a game totaled but 8. The Roos shot fairly well and were only out rebounded by 6; the third game in three days must have been a contributing factor. UMKC now stands 3-2 as they await their next opponent Arkansas-Monticello on November 25th at home.
Could he, well maybe
In ‘72-‘73 Nate “Tiny” Archibald led the NBA in scoring and assists while a member of the Kansas City Kings. Fact is Archibald might have been the first combo guard because the Kings had little offense behind him. Archibald led the way that year with 34 ppg and 11.4 assists. This difficult feat has never been repeated since then; with the move of Rockets guard to the point James Harden could duplicate the effort of Archibald?
We love speculating in the sports world so why not this accomplishment. As this is written Harden is 4th in scoring with a 30.6 per game average he‘s only 3.5 points behind league leader DeMare DeRozen. Harden is the leader in assists with 13 a game. Harden refers to himself as the “best player in the NBA” can we legitimately argue against his statement at this point?
