The Most Unlikely Stat Explosions in NBA History

There's nothing like seeing an NBA player have everything click on a single night. Whether he's finding the bottom of the net whenever his wrist flicks, magically ending up in the right place for every rebound, finding passing angles no one else can see, rejecting shots left and right or committing thievery so often he should be arrested, a player in that type of zone is always worth watching.

Those types of performances are rare enough for the league's best and brightest. But for the morass of mid-level contributors and the myriad benchwarmers below them in the NBA hierarchy? They're nigh impossible.

Except when they're not.  

Those are the showings we're interested in here—the ones where the non-household names seemingly defy logic and demand our attention with dominance that's as extreme as it is unexpected. By looking at the top 1,000 outings* (and ties) in each of the five major box-score categories and comparing them to the season averages of the players who recorded them, we can see which outbursts rank as the biggest outliers. 

We want to find the players who seem allergic to blocking shots before channeling their inner Dikembe Mutombo—just minus the finger-wagging. We're looking for the players who either pass first or just can't score often but then manage to pace their team by a substantial margin. 

We're trying to find the explosions. 

*Due to the limitations of Basketball-Reference.com's incredibly useful Play Finder, we're only looking at 1963-64 and later for points. For all other stats, 1985-86 serves as the earliest eligible season. 

A Crowd Atop the Steals Leaderboard

Garett Fisbeck/Associated Press

It's difficult to differentiate between the many players who have recorded elite single-game steals numbers, simply because the top 1,000 performances since 1985-86 range only from six to 11. Without much separation, it's tough for those at the top to distinguish themselves. 

Still, four different players have done exactly that in the last decade by recording six swipes during a season in which they averaged only 0.5 per game:

1. Sebastian Telfair (April 19, 2005)
2. Dahntay Jones (March 6, 2006)
3. Keith Bogans (November 11, 2010)
4. Steven Adams (March 24, 2014)

The entire quartet is surprising, but Adams' name should jump off the page. 

Not only is the Oklahoma City Thunder center a big man, unlike the other three players who joined him at the top of this leaderboard, but he was playing out his rookie season after failing to make much of an impression at Pittsburgh. This performance came entirely out of nowhere, and nothing he's done since has come close to replicating it. 

Adams had recorded a four-steal outing in December, but that was his only other showing with more than two takeaways throughout his rookie season. During the follow-up campaign, he failed to top two during any given outing. 

"But his six steals—understood to be a rookie record for the center position—were also a surefire indication of how much more comfortable he is now at the defensive end," Stuff.co.nz wrote back in New Zealand, and it was right on the money. 

Adams certainly does look comfortable playing defense, but this is still an awfully difficult total to match for any frontcourt player. 

Rounding out the Top Five: Earl Boykins with seven steals on November 29, 2002 while averaging 0.6 per game.

2 Tied for the Blocks Crown

Joe Murphy/Getty Images

On March 26, 1994, Kevin Duckworth decided that he'd had enough of the New Jersey Nets. The Washington Bullets weren't able to muster up a win, but he held Kenny Anderson, Kevin Edwards and Benoit Benjamin in check by swatting away seven shots. 

A little more than a decade later, the Washington-based franchise had become the Wizards, and Michael Ruffin followed in Duckworth's oversize footprints. 

The 6'9" big man was making his debut for the Wizards after leaving the Utah Jazz behind, and he started off with a bang by suffocating the Memphis Grizzlies. Washington advanced to an easy win, thanks in part to his seven rejections. 

The similarities are eerie here.

Both men played for the same franchise. Duckworth was three inches taller, but each lined up at the same position. And most significantly for our rankings, both recorded seven blocks during a season in which they averaged only 0.5 per game. 

Duckworth wouldn't swat more than two shots during any other appearance that season, and his high of seven remained three more than the No. 2 mark in his career.

As for Ruffin, he actually did have another game during the 2004-05 campaign in which he recorded more than two blocks. Three months after his debut, he recorded a trio of them against the San Antonio Spurs. The second-best mark of his career? A five-spot in 2001. 

Third Place: Doug Christie with seven blocks on February 29, 2000 while averaging 0.6 per game.

No. 5 Assists: Elliot Perry Drops 16 Dimes

Rocky Widner/Getty Images

Team: Milwaukee Bucks

Date: March 24, 1998

Assists: 16

Season Average: 2.8

Just prior to his 29th birthday, Elliot Perry was finishing up what would soon prove to be his final full campaign with the Milwaukee Bucks. He'd toiled along throughout the year as a diminutive point guard (6'0", 150 lbs) who often had to work his way off the bench, but February saw him move into the starting lineup. 

The assists gradually climbed up, initially peaking with nine dimes on March 14. But 10 days later, Perry would blow that total out of the water with a ridiculous 16 assists against the Houston Rockets, sparking a double-digit victory against a superior squad that had handed Brewtown a defeat the week before. 

All five Milwaukee starters finished in double figures, led by Ray Allen (33 points) and Armen Gilliam (29). Both were presumably rather grateful for Perry's on-target feeds, though their thanks didn't help him enjoy any kind of repeat performances in the later stages of his career.

Honorable Mentions

1. Avery Johnson: 17 assists while averaging 3.1 per game in 1989-90.
2. Vern Fleming: 16 assists while averaging 3.0 per game in 1992-93.
3. Aaron Brooks: 17 assists while averaging 3.2 per game in 2013-14.
4. Bobby Hurley: 17 assists while averaging 3.3 per game in 1994-95.
5. Vern Fleming: 17 assists while averaging 3.3 per game in 1995-96.

No. 4 Assists: When It Rains, It Pours from George McCloud

William Sallaz/Getty Images

Team: Denver Nuggets

Date: March 26, 2001

Assists: 22

Season Average: 3.7

When George McCloud exploded for 22 assists, he became one of the few men in NBA history to top the 20-dime barrier. But perhaps even more impressively, he did so at the tail end of his career, recording his enormous output during his penultimate season in the Association. 

The 33-year-old had moved into the starting lineup for just the one game, joining Antonio McDyess, Calbert Cheaney, James Posey and Kevin Willis in the charge against the Chicago Bulls, who were still reeling from Michael Jordan's recent retirement.

Despite coming into the contest with only one double-digit assist total to his credit during the 2000-01 campaign—12 against the Los Angeles Clippers in his seventh outing of the year—McCloud managed to record 22 assists with only five turnovers. The rest of his team totaled just eight feeds in the five-point victory. 

The truly crazy part? Before his exploits in the Windy City, that showing against the Clippers was the top mark of his career. 

No. 3 Assists: Negele Has Himself a Knight

Layne Murdoch/Getty Images

Team: Phoenix Suns

Date: April 5, 1991

Assists: 19

Season Average: 3.0

April is often crazy season in the NBA—the time when players who spent much of the year riding the pine get to strut their stuff because their team has either locked up a playoff berth or is too far out of the chase. Or, injuries strike.

Such was the case for Negele Knight during the 1990-91 campaign. 

The Phoenix Suns were one of the better teams in the Western Conference that year, and Knight was merely a nondescript rookie out of Dayton, one acquired with a second-round pick in the 1990 NBA draft. But when Kevin Johnson went down with an injury, Knight quickly transitioned from playing garbage minutes to earning 40 per game as a starter. 

And in his first outing while filling that role, he dropped 19 assists against the Golden State Warriors. Oh, and he also recorded 22 points in the game, which left him a point shy of Cedric Ceballos in the quest to pace Phoenix in both offensive stats. 

Since 1985-86, only 23 different players have managed to hit those marks in the same game. Knight did so in his very first start. 

Even though he never again worked his way past 11, that's impressive enough. 

No. 2 Assists: Brian Roberts Goes Crazy

Team: New Orleans Hornets

Date: March 25, 2013

Assists: 18

Season Average: 2.8

From one rookie to another. And, in a ridiculous coincidence, from one Dayton product to another. 

Brian Roberts, unlike Negele Knight, wasn't a second-round pick; he went undrafted after he finished up his collegiate career with the Flyers, and the New Orleans Hornets probably didn't anticipate handing him significant playing time during his first go-round in the NBA. He earned spot starts throughout the year, including the fateful night of March 25. 

With Greivis Vasquez out of the lineup, Roberts stepped in for the second start of his young career and promptly recorded a jaw-dropping 18 assists to go along with his 13 points and five rebounds. 

"He can play, obviously," New Orleans head coach Monty Williams said after the game, per John Reid of NOLA.com. "We did a good job of defending, so that allowed him to show his speed. The threat of shooting the ball is something you don't see out of point guards, but we tell him to be aggressive. He was really aware of the guys being open. It doesn’t happen if he doesn't work hard and he works his tail off."

Roberts would receive a few more chances to step into the starting five before the season ended, but he never came close to matching this output. Eleven was the second-best mark of the year, and that remains his only other double-digit outburst up through the present day. 

No. 1 Assists: Lester Conner with the 18-Spot

Dick Raphael/Getty Images

Team: Milwaukee Bucks

Date: February 23, 1991

Assists: 18

Season Average: 2.2

Unlike Negele Knight and Brian Roberts, Lester Conner wasn't a rookie getting his feet wet in the NBA when he exploded. Instead, he was a veteran point guard who'd just been traded from the New Jersey Nets to the Milwaukee Bucks. 

So in that sense, he was still fairly new to the situation when he threw up 10 points and 18 dimes against the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was only his 17th game and second start with the Bucks.

During the previous 16, Conner had recorded only 40 total assists, giving him an average of just 2.5 per game. This performance came out of nowhere, and he wouldn't replicate it for the rest of the year. In fact, it took him the next seven outings to produce another 18 dimes for Milwaukee. 

To really drive this home, we can look at what percentage of Conner's assists during the season in question came during this single showing. First, the percentages for the other four featured players:

• Elliot Perry: 6.96 percent
• George McCloud: 7.89 percent
• Negele Knight: 9.95 percent
• Brian Roberts: 8.22 percent

Throughout the 1990-91 season, a staggering 10.91 percent of Conner's total assists came during just the one night. 

No. 5 Rebounds: A Trio of Big Men

Joe Murphy/Getty Images

Three players finished tied for the first featured spot in the rebounding category, with all recording a 20-board outing during a season in which they averaged a mediocre 4.4 per game. 

First came Joe Kleine during the 1992-93 campaign, exploding for his milestone performance against the Sacramento Kings. It was his last season with the Boston Celtics, and he nearly doubled his third-best showing on the boards (11) while outdoing the second-best (14) by a rather significant margin. 

Kleine was a strong rebounder earlier in his career, which, interestingly enough, was actually spent with Sacramento. But he'd declined quickly after a 1989 trade sent him to Beantown, where he was often relegated to mop-up duty off the bench. 

Eleven years later, Marcus Fizer joined the Chicago Bulls. One night after recording 12 rebounds off the bench, the big man moved into the starting five for the first time that season. He recorded a ridiculous 20 boards—including five on the offensive glass—in that penultimate game of the 2003-04 campaign, but his late-season breakout never afforded him a bigger role in the future. 

After two more years of declining per-minute production, he was out of the league. 

Finally, we have Joey Dorsey, who also torched the opposition during his second-to-last game of the season. During that 2010-11 go-round, the big man only topped 13 boards once, and it was the 20-rebound contest that's featured here. 

Though there's still an outside chance he could set a new high-water mark in the future, 20 remains Dorsey's career high, seven rebounds clear of every other outing. 

Honorable Mentions

1. Timofey Mozgov: 29 rebounds while averaging 6.4 per game in 2013-14.
2. Chris Wilcox: 24 rebounds while averaging 5.3 per game in 2005-06.
3. DeAndre Jordan: 20 rebounds while averaging 4.5 per game in 2008-09.
4. Zach Randolph: 20 rebounds while averaging 4.5 per game in 2002-03.
5. Lavoy Allen: 22 rebounds while averaging 5.0 per game in 2012-13.

No. 4 Rebounds: No Thorns for This (Malik) Rose

TIM SHARP/Associated Press

Team: San Antonio Spurs

Date: November 8, 2003

Rebounds: 22

Season Average: 4.8

Malik Rose, who was once dubbed "Shaq of the NAC," managed to live up to the moniker for one night. He'd dominated the North Athletic Conference during his time at Drexel, but the NBA made it a bit more difficult for him to remind fans, teammates, coaches and scouts of Shaquille O'Neal on a regular basis. 

Still, during one November night eight years into his career, Rose played like the Big Diesel. 

Against a frontcourt composed of Dirk Nowitzki and Antoine Walker—hardly a pair of rebounding powerhouses—Rose owned the glass. The Dallas Mavericks as a whole grabbed 45 boards, paced by Nowitzki's 11; the San Antonio Spurs big man doubled that with 22 of his own. 

Of course, this was quite the outlier. 

Rose couldn't top 14 for the remainder of the 2002-03 season, and for the rest of his lengthy career, he'd never again get past 15.

No. 3 Rebounds: John Henson Asks for More Playing Time

Team: Milwaukee Bucks

Date: April 10, 2013

Rebounds: 25

Season Average: 4.7

John Henson eventually needs someone to give him a chance.

This ridiculous outlier of a performance couldn't force the Milwaukee Bucks' hand, but he's consistently thrown up promising per-minute numbers while sparkling on the defensive end during his young career. 

How much of an outlier was it when the North Carolina product hauled in 25 rebounds against the Orlando Magic? Well, the rookie was averaging just 3.8 per game before the monstrous showing, and his torrid pace at the end of the year raised that mark to the 4.7 you can see above. 

But the most staggering part of this game was the simple fact that Henson came off the bench. He still played over 41 minutes during the overtime affair, but he didn't even enter the proceedings until half the time in the first quarter had already ticked off the clock. 

No. 2 Rebounds: Mark McNamara Pulls in 22 Rebounds

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Team: Philadelphia 76ers

Date: December 2, 1987

Rebounds: 22

Season Average: 3.7

At his best, Mark McNamara averaged 4.5 rebounds per game for the San Antonio Spurs during the 1983-84 season. And while the game log from that year is incomplete, no extant number in the rebounding column is any higher than 10. 

There's a decent chance a game from earlier in his career could render this inaccurate, but McNamara had never pulled down more than 10 boards before his 22-rebound explosion against the Los Angeles Clippers in December 1987. 

After that, he'd only top 10 once more—a 13-board outing three years later. 

During that first standout performance, McNamara also scored 13 points while adding two assists and one block. Even though he wasn't particularly efficient from the field, it stands out as the best line of his career, especially because a whopping 10 rebounds came on the offensive end and created second-chance opportunities for his Philadelphia 76ers. 

To put that in proper perspective, the entire Clippers lineup could only match his 10 offensive boards.

No. 1 Rebounds: Aaron Gray Confuses Everyone

Ron Turenne/Getty Images

Team: Chicago Bulls

Date: April 16, 2008

Rebounds: 22

Season Average: 2.8

Aaron Gray had received sparse minutes during his rookie season with the Chicago Bulls prior to suddenly getting 35 minutes against the Toronto Raptors. It was the only time that year he'd receive at least 30, and it was similarly his only start. 

Additionally, the Raptors' front line, led by Chris Bosh (8.7 rebounds per game in 2007-08) and Rasho Nesterovic (4.8), was notoriously weak on the glass.

That doesn't change the fact that Gray ended one possession after another by corralling nearly ever missed shot by the Raptors. He hauled in a ridiculous 22 rebounds, which is rather remarkable since you could pick any other two games from that 2007-08 season and fail to see him total 22. The highest number you could get would be just 18. 

Yes, he received an incredible opportunity, and that aided him in his climb up to the top of this leaderboard. However, he still managed to record a defensive rebounding percentage of 50.6 during the victory over Chicago, which indicates that he grabbed over half the available defensive rebounds when he was on the floor. 

No. 5 Points: Danilo Gallinari Is Hurt No Longer

Team: Denver Nuggets

Date: April 10, 2015

Points: 47

Season Average: 12.4

First, a torn ACL sidelined Danilo Gallinari for the closing portion of the 2012-13 season. Then, after his experimental surgery failed and he had to go under the knife once more, he missed all of 2013-14.

At this point, the 26-year-old Italian forward was still supposed to be moving toward his athletic prime, but the wear and tear on his ligaments made that feel rather unlikely. It wouldn't have been at all surprising if the 39 points he scored in December 2012 forever remained his career high. 

But in the midst of a tumultuous season for the Denver Nuggets, everything clicked for Gallinari at the end of March. He set a new high-water mark with a 40-spot against the Orlando Magic and then topped that with 47 points just a few weeks later. Against the Orlando Magic, he made 15 of his 23 shots from the field, went a torrid 7-of-12 from downtown and connected on all 10 of his free-throw attempts. 

Before that game, his season scoring average was a mediocre 11.7. In his 57th game of the season, which just so happened to be a double-overtime loss to the Orlando Magic, he still managed to raise that by 0.6 in one fell swoop. 

Honorable Mentions

1. John Brisker: 47 points while averaging 12.5 per game in 1973-74.
2. Andre Miller: 52 points while averaging 14.0 per game in 2009-10.
3. Charlie Villanueva: 48 points while averaging 13.0 per game in 2005-06.
4. Darius Miles: 47 points while averaging 12.8 per game in 2004-05.
5. Mo Williams: 52 points while averaging 14.2 per game in 2014-15.

No. 4 Points: Corey Brewer Can't Be Kept from the Hoop

Team: Minnesota Timberwolves

Date: April 11, 2014

Points: 51

Season Average: 12.3

It's never easy to score more than 50 points against an NBA team. It's tougher still to do so as a wing player who can't connect from outside the arc. 

Yet Corey Brewer defied the odds, suddenly thriving as a scorer when a perfect storm of fast-break opportunities and cuts to the basket allowed him to torch the Houston Rockets for 51 points. Brewer went 19-of-30 from the field and knocked down 11 free-throw attempts, but he only added a pair of triples to his tally. 

There are some players who don't typically score points in bunches but seem to have the talent necessary to go volcanic on any given night. Brewer is not in that category because of his perimeter limitations.

That's what made this so shocking—not just the fact that his previous career high was only 29 points. 

"What Brewer did on Friday night isn't part of any larger pattern, but that kind of event is what can make watching a random basketball game such a singularly delightful experience," Eric Freeman wrote for Yahoo Sports. "His 51 points will always be a part of the not entirely sensible but goofily memorable history of the league."

No. 3 Points: Tony Delk Joins the 50 Club

Barry Gossage/Getty Images

Team: Phoenix Suns

Date: January 2, 2001

Points: 53

Season Average: 12.3

The following are the top-scoring games of Tony Delk's career:

1. 53 points on January 2, 2001
2. 27 points on December 22, 2001
3. 26 points on November 7, 2002
4. 26 points on December 23, 2000
5. 26 points on February 17, 1998

When the Phoenix Suns guard dropped a 53-spot against the Sacramento Kings, he more than doubled his previous best. That, in and of itself, is ridiculous.

The fact that it came against a suffocating Sac-Town squad that finished the 2000-01 season ranked seventh in defensive efficiency just makes it doubly ridiculous. 

Plus, Delk was another one of those players who lined up at a smaller spot in the starting five—he played point guard and shooting guard for Phoenix—and didn't drain shots from the outside. En route to 53, he made 20 of his 27 shots from the field, but a missed triple was the lone try that he launched from outside the arc. 

Since 1985-86, he's one of only five guards—Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Clyde Drexler and Jim Jackson are the others—to break past the 50-point barrier without making a three-point attempt.

No. 2 Points: The Original Mike Dunleavy Can't Be Tamed

Dick Raphael/Getty Images

Team: Houston Rockets

Date: December 6, 1980

Points: 48

Season Average: 10.5

Mike Dunleavy Jr., the sharpshooting forward currently rostered by the Chicago Bulls, was born in September 1980. Three months later, his father, also named Mike Dunleavy, enjoyed the game of his life. 

The elder Dunleavy was in the midst of his career with the Houston Rockets, but he wasn't exactly one of his team's featured scoring options. Before December 6 came around, he'd topped out at 29 points against the New York Knicks—one of only two times he'd managed to post a number in the 20s. 

But after making 19 shots from the field and another 10 at the charity stripe, he set a new personal best with 48 points. It was quite the outlier, seeing as the confidence he gained still didn't allow him to break into the 30s before the campaign drew to a conclusion. 

For the record, his son's career high? Thirty-six points on five separate occasions for the Indiana Pacers. 

Step it up, junior. 

No. 1 Points: Terrence Ross Justifies the Hype for a Night

Team: Toronto Raptors

Date: January 25, 2014

Points: 51

Season Average: 10.9

As Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star tweeted after Terrence Ross caught fire against the Los Angeles Clippers, "Terrence Ross scored 5.5 percent of his career points tonight. If Damian Lillard did that he'd score 136." 

Those stats no longer apply, but they were significant at the time. Dating all the way back to the 1960s, there was simply no precedent for a player of Ross' caliber exploding like this. 

There still isn't. 

During that outing, the Toronto Raptors swingman reminded everyone of why he entered the league with such lofty expectations. He dunked emphatically a few times, hit 10 of his 17 looks from downtown and took over down the stretch, though it wasn't enough to overcome a stellar showing from Jamal Crawford and the rest of the Clippers. 

But thus far in his young career, Ross hasn't shown he's going to be more than a one-hit wonder. He couldn't score more than 24 in a single game during the rest of the 2013-14 season, and this last go-round saw him top out at 23.

At least he'll always have 51. 

Note: All stats, unless otherwise indicated, come from Basketball-Reference.com and my own databases.

Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @fromal09.