Your Sunday Recap Vol. 2
NBA Trivia and facts from the week of Mar. 16-22.
Here is a curation of all of the social media posts I posted this week (a combination of NBA trivia and facts) and some interesting quotes I’ve read.
Enjoy!
But before we get to that, here are the stories I published this week:
1.
Kobe Bryant was a terror in the 06-07 NBA season.
He led the league with 31.6 points per game and there was nothing any defender could do to slow him down.
And on Mar. 16, 2007, he scored a season (and league) high 65 points in a 116-111 win over the Portland Trailblazers.
This in itself is impressive.
But what made this performance even more awesome was that it ignited a scoring tsunami from Kobe.
The following game, on 3/18, he dropped 50 points.
The game after that (on 3/22): 60.
Game after that (on 3/23): 50
Then, he cooled down and dropped 43 points on Mar. 25 before exiting his Super Saiyan form.
He then scored 23 after that, on 3/27.
But then he popped a Senzu bean on 3/30 and dropped 53 points.
Kobe was something else during these two-and-a-half weeks-ish.
2.
On March 17, 1999, this legendary head coach coached his 2,051st regular-season NBA game, to become the NBA’s all-time leader in games coached.
Do you know who he is?
It’s Lenny Wilkins.
Wilkins was the Atlanta Hawks head coach and on this day. Unfortunately, his team lost to the Miami Heat by 1 point (86-85).
He coached 2,487 games from 1969 to 2005 and still leads the All-Time list.
3.
On March 18, 1997, this Los Angeles Clipper recorded 18 rebounds in a win against the Phoenix Suns.
Know who it is?
It’s Loy Vaught.
The forward played 43 minutes and scored 14 points along with his game-high 18 rebounds.
Fortunately, it was enough to counter the Suns’ Kevin Johnson’s stellar performance. He played just under 44 minutes and scored 37 points and dished out 10 assists.
The final score was 121-111.
4.
Michael Jordan added to his greatness on this day (Mar. 19) in 1996.
His Airness scored 38 points in a 98-94 win against the Philadelphia 76ers.
So, how is this significant?
Well, this led to him being the 10th NBA player to reach 24,000 career points.
He joined the ranks of legends such as Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West, to name a few.
5.
The final time Charles Barkley played on a Mar. 20 was in 1999.
And on this day, he went off.
The Houston Rockets’ power forward scored a game-high 35 points on 61.9 percent shooting and grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds in a win against his former team, the Phoenix Suns.
6.
On Mar. 21, 1995, the New York Knicks’ Patrick Ewing and Charlotte Hornets’ Alonzo Mourning clashed.
The Knicks hosted the Hornets and these two titans battled for the W.
Mourning recorded 18 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Ewing had a better individual stat line with 35 points, 18 rebounds and 2 blocks.
But it wasn’t enough to lead the Knicks to victory. The Hornets won the game 78-69.
7.
“So he’s got the Bird thing down, so now I’ve got to get the Magic Johnson routine down. That means I’ve got to learn how to dribble, make the no-look pass, all that stuff. We’re out there every day playing Magic vs. Bird, Celtics vs. Lakers, and I’m learning skills that big men don’t ever show. I’m developing some moves.”
-Shaquille O’Neal, Shaq Uncut: My Story
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