The 10 Best Stat Lines of the 2014-15 NBA Season
Goodbye, 2014-15 NBA regular season.
Hello, stat-line nostalgia.
We have no choice but to bid the NBA's regular season farewell, so we need to make sure it receives a proper sendoff. And what better way to say "Ta-ta for now" then by rehashing some of the most noggin-numbing stat lines of the campaign?
Individual performances will be selected subjectively following deep data dives and highlight-hoarding binges that seek to single out the most sanity-shattering efforts. Once chosen, each stat line will be ranked according to Basketball-Reference's Game Score, which measures the impact said numbers had on the tilt in question. All ties automatically go to Stephen Curry.
In the interest of riffing on stars other than Anthony Davis and Curry, we're imposing a limit of one appearance per player.
Beyond that, our creative license is bound to nothing—except, of course, the task at hand: remembering why the NBA's regular season rocks our socks.
10. Dec. 5: Tim Duncan Still Owns a Time Machine
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Stat Line: 14 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, two blocks, 50 percent shooting
Game Score: 17.8
At first glance, Tim Duncan's triple-double in the San Antonio Spurs' 107-101 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies doesn't belong here. There are certainly more provocative stat lines out there, many of which will follow.
Here's the thing: Duncan is 38 years old. He shouldn't even be in the NBA, let alone collecting All-Star appearances and a triple-double.
Alas, he continues to defy convention.
With this outing, he became the second-oldest player in league history to notch a triple-double, according to ESPN Stats & Information. He also became the third player since 1999, age 35 or older, to reach 14 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and two blocks (Vlade Divac and Karl Malone).
Flashiness isn't everything here. In lieu of explosion or youth, Duncan has consistency. He breaks barriers and thwarts time regularly. And just when you think there's a limit to his ageless wonder, he pushes the bill even further, posting a stat line typically reserved for players at least a decade younger than himself.
9. March 13: DeMarcus Cousins' Super-Duper Double-Double
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Stat Line: 39 points, 24 rebounds, two steals, one block, 50 percent shooting
Game Score: 35.4
Double-doubles are an overlooked art. They're too common. Players don't just earn a single-game double-double anymore; they average them.
Against the Philadelphia 76ers, DeMarcus Cousins put the "Wait, did that just happen?" back in double-double displays. He barreled through the Sixers' stingy defense and Rookie of the Year candidate Nerlens Noel, bullying his way to a stat line that suggests he hails from a lab adjacent to the one Anthony Davis was conceived in.
The Sacramento Kings lost 114-107, because of course they did. But not even their collective futility can rain on Cousins' box-score parade.
Here's the list of other players over the last 30 years who registered at least 39 points and 24 rebounds on 50 percent shooting in the same game:
- Patrick Ewing
- Chris Webber
- Hakeem Olajuwon
Well, this settles it: Cousins knows how to pick his (statistical) friends.
8. March 4: Anthony "How's My Megastardom Taste?" Davis
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Stat Line: 39 points, 13 rebounds, three steals, eight blocks, 56.7 percent shooting
Game Score: 38.1
It's the moment we've all been waiting for, perhaps even fearing: Anthony Davis' takeover.
There was no stopping him when the New Orleans Pelicans narrowly edged out the Detroit Pistons 88-85. He abused the rim, drilled clutch jumpers, assaulted the glass and swatted away the Pistons' shot attempts like they were breaking some sort of rule by actually shooting.
Quite predictably, this is a stat line no team wants a part in defending. Davis is just the fourth player to go for 39 points, 18 rebounds and eight blocks since 1985. The others: Dwight Howard, David Robinson and Olajuwon, or two Hall of Famers and a future Hall of Famer.
None of them were younger than 23 at the time.
Davis was 21 here.
By the way, Davis' box-score blitz came after an extended stay on the bench. Imagine what his line would look like if he didn't have five games' worth of rust to work off.
7. Jan. 10: Pau Gasol Makes Even the Spurs Jealous
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Stat Line: 46 points, 18 rebounds, three assists, one steal, 56.7 percent shooting
Game Score: 38.9
Holy fountain of youth.
Players on the wrong side of 34 really shouldn't be setting new career highs, but Pau Gasol doesn't care. He was cooking in the Chicago Bulls' 95-87 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, and mincemeat was the only thing on his menu.
Not only did he pump in a career-best 46 points against a top-three defense, but he was a raging monster on the glass, outmaneuvering, outworking and outclassing Milwaukee's length.
Gasol now joins Jordan as the only Bulls player to score 46 points and collect 18 rebounds in one game. He's also hanging out with Olajuwon, as just the second player since 1985 to go for 46 points, 18 rebounds and three assists after his 30th birthday.
If this is what 34 looks like, sign me up.
6. April 9: Stephen Curry Is Sorry He's Not Sorry
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Stat Line: 45 points, 10 assists, 73.9 percent shooting
Game Score: 38.9
Contrary to popular belief, the hot hand does exist in the NBA.
Stephen Curry stole it.
And he won't give it back.
Singling out one of the point guard's many incredible performances is difficult. But his 45-point explosion in the Golden State Warriors' 116-105 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers perfectly encapsulates what he's done all season: plant and replant his flag in MVP territory.
Curry went off for 19 points and two assists on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting in the fourth quarter alone, turning a game that didn't matter for Golden State into his MVP-case-capping playground. He now joins Magic Johnson and Clyde Drexler as the only players on record to tally 39 points and 10 assists on 73 percent shooting in under 40 minutes of action.
"There is nothing left to say, except that he is MVP," Warriors head coach Steve Kerr explained afterward, per Golden State of Mind's Andy Liu. "I have never seen a player with this skill set."
File "Gain Steve Kerr's long-awaited MVP endorsement" under the laundry list of things Curry accomplished on this night. You can pencil it in just beneath "Destroy the box score solely because I can."
5. March 4: Russell Westbrook and the "Say What?!" Triple-Double
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Stat Line: 49 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists, three steals, one block, 48.5 percent shooting
Game Score: 41.9
Russell Westbrook should come with a warning label. He is suitable for neither children nor NBA defenses comprising only humans.
The Oklahoma City Thunder needed every last bit of Westbrook's preternatural abilities to upend the Sixers 123-118, so it's a good thing he had them on hand. He sprinted up and down the floor, attacked the heart of Philadelphia's defense and fought for rebounds in an aggressive manner that would leave DeAndre Jordan beaming with pride and envy.
No other player has matched this stat line since at least 1985. Adjust the point total to 40, and nothing changes.
Westbrook still stands alone, in company all his own.
Crazy still, this isn't an isolated example. The numbers are unique; the nitrous running through Westbrook's veins is not.
Take the energy and will from this game, apply it to 65 others, and you'll have his season in a nutshell.
4. April 1: James Harden Is from Outer Space
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Stat Line: 51 points, eight rebounds, six assists, three steals, 64 percent shooting
Game Score: 42.1
James Harden's career highs are like gallons of milk mistakenly stocked among jugs of bleach: They have a short life.
Not two weeks after tallying a career-high 50 points against the Denver Nuggets, Harden torched the Kings for 51 points in the Houston Rockets' 115-111 victory, driving and jump-shooting his way to a new career best. And he didn't stop there.
Volume-scoring outings are often accompanied by bagels elsewhere. Passing, rebounding and defense are afterthoughts when you're in shooting rhythm and exerting yourself as a scorer. But Harden eclipsed 50 points while doing a lot of everything.
Two other players have tallied 51 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals in the same game over the last 30 years: Michael Jordan and LeBron James. That's it.
Thus, we're left to conclude the following: Harden is really good at basketball but even better at celebrating April Fool's Day.
3. Jan. 23: Klay Thompson Takes Over the World
8 of 10Stat Line: 52 points, five assists, four steals, two blocks, 64 percent shooting
Game Score: 44.8
Klay Thompson's superstar coming-out party can be traced back to a stretch that lasted fewer than 10 minutes.
During the third quarter of Golden State's 126-101 drubbing of Sacramento, Thompson caught fire in a special way, scoring 37 points on a perfect 13-of-13 shooting (9-of-9 from deep)—the significance of which remains difficult to contextualize even now.
Sure, he's just the fourth player over the last three decades to top 50 points in under 34 minutes. And yes, no one else has reached 50 points, five assists and four steals in under 40 minutes during that time. (Jordan comes closest, having done the same in 41 minutes).
But Thompson's flawless third quarter—along with the rest of his showing—was bigger than the numbers. As ESPN.com's Ethan Sherwood Strauss wrote at the time:
"The experience was astounding. He just kept topping himself, that quick-release form swishing shots seemingly simultaneous to his catching the pass. It all happened faster than one can reasonably process. He turned a close game into a blowout while obliterating not just the opponent, but even the sense that there was an opponent. It’s a minor footnote that the Sacramento Kings were blown out 126-101.
"
This line, that 37-point third quarter, transcended everything. Thompson, the Warriors, the Kings, the numbers—everyone and everything.
Even the game itself.
2. Chris Paul: April 1, 2015
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Stat line: 41 points, 17 assists, five rebounds, four steals, one turnover, 61.9 percent shooting
Game Score: 47.5
Chris Paul isn't a score-first point guard. He just likes to imitate one sometimes—without straying from his primal playmaking roots, of course.
To be honest, there's a chance we all played more defense than the Blazers in their 126-122 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers. But that doesn't make Paul's performance any less ridiculous.
Five of his assists resulted in made three-pointers. If we add those 15 points, as well as the 24 from his other 12 dimes, to his personal total of 41, we find he was responsible for 80 of the Clippers' 126 points. That's 63.5 percent of their total offense. If that doesn't qualify as absurd, nothing will.
Moreover, Paul is now the only player since at least 1985 to record 41 points, 17 assists and four steals in the same game. And he put forth such an effort while committing just one turnover.
Somehow, the world didn't stop functioning on this night, which is really a backhanded compliment. This wasn't especially out of the ordinary for Paul. It was most definitely an extreme, but he's a man of win-willing extremes.
Feel free to adjust your MVP ballots accordingly.
1. March 12: Kyrie Irving Is a Stat-Line Overlord
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Stat Line: 57 points, five assists, four steals, 62.5 percent shooting
Game Score: 48.2
This isn't just about the 57 points Kyrie Irving tallied in the Cleveland Cavaliers' thrilling 128-125 overtime victory against the Spurs.
To be sure, they play a big part. Of the 17 different players to score at least 57 points in a single contest since 1985, a 22-year-old Irving is the youngest by far. His 57 points are also a league high for this season and a Cavaliers franchise record.
That stuff matters. But so does the way in which Irving played overall.
“Kyrie Irving, he was unstoppable,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said afterward, per the San Antonio Express-News' Dan McCarney. “I don’t know how to guard that. We all know how talented he is, but he went to a new level tonight.”
Popovich isn't wrong.
Most of Irving's field-goal attempts were contested, and yet he still managed to shoot a godly percentage from the floor—including a perfect 7-of-7 showing from beyond the arc. Over the last 30 seasons, no other player has shot better than 3-of-3 from long range when scoring 50 points.
Finally, there's everything else. He racked up five assists and four steals to complement his 57 points, never once showing signs of fatigue. Allen Iverson and Jordan are the only players since 1985 to match this stat line. Irving was that out of his mind.
For one night, he was that unbelievably good.
*Unless otherwise cited, all stats are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and accurate heading into games on April 15.
