NBA Numbers Game on a Wednesday
As promised in the picture-laden Tuesday Newsletter Extravaganza ...
If you scrolled all the way to the bottom of our latest Tuesday Newsletter Extravaganza, which was overstuffed with pictures from my recent soccer escape to England, you saw the advisory in which I promised to deliver a fresh batch of Numbers Game … albeit one day later than usual.
Here's a link to Tuesday's photo album:
And here are the overdue statistical gems …
Numbers Game
🏀 152
The 152 combined points in Philadelphia's recent 79-73 victory over New York represented the lowest single-game total in the league by far this season and the lowest in any NBA game since January 2016.
🏀 172
The league's previous single-game low this season occurred in the Knicks' previous game before that loss to the Sixers: New York's 98-74 victory over Orlando.
🏀 14
The Heat entered Tuesday's play having blown a lead of 10 or more points 14 times this season. That tied the reigning Eastern Conference champions for the second-most such blown leads in the league this season with 11-54 Washington, according to Sportradar data. Only 14-52 San Antonio has more blown double-digit leads with 16, per Sportradar.
🏀 426
A remarkable Sportradar stat: Memphis led the league entering Tuesday's play with 426 man-games lost this season. Charlotte was next in line with 261 man-games lost.
🏀 .564
Phoenix still had the league's third-hardest remaining strength of schedule on a winning percentage basis (.564) entering Tuesday's play, according to Sportradar. Milwaukee faced the league's fourth-hardest remaining schedule in terms of opponent winning percentage at .545.
🏀 15
There have been 15 games this season in which an NBA player has scored at least 50 points ... but none since Golden State's Stephen Curry scored 60 points on Feb. 3.
🏀 70
Those 15 games, by a total of nine different players, include four games in the 60s (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker and Curry) and two in the 70s (Luka Dončić and Joel Embiid).
🏀 25
There were 25 50-point games last season by 15 different players ... most in the NBA since the early 1960s and Wilt Chamberlain's prime.
🏀 28
Dallas' Daniel Gafford has sunk 28 consecutive shots from the field over his past four games, leaving him seven shots away from tying Chamberlain's all-time record for most consecutive makes without a miss.
🏀 203
Golden State's Klay Thompson has made 203 3-pointers this season. It's the ninth time he's reached 200 3-pointers made in a season — second in league history only to teammate Stephen Curry's 11 such seasons according to my fellow Substacker
.🏀 15
Ben Simmons appeared in only 15 games this season before the Nets ruled him out for the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign due to an ongoing back injury. Simmons played just 42 games last season after appearing in zero games during the 2021-22 season when he was the centerpiece of Philadelphia's trade with Brooklyn to acquire James Harden.
🏀 4
Cal State Fullerton might have missed out on the Big West Conference Tournament this season, with the field whittled from 10 teams to eight, but the competition is advised to enjoy our absence while it can. The Titans, remember, reached the Big West championship game in four of the five previous seasons and twice won the conference title to earn the automatic NCAA Tournament berth that goes with it.
🏀 97.1
One last reminder before we go: I'm on the radio Saturdays from noon to 1 PM CT on 97.1 (FM) The Freak in Dallas with an hour of live NBA talk presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Join us online by clicking the link embedded in this sentence or via the iHeart radio app to listen to The Saturday Stein Line on this or any Saturday ... or catch the podcasted version of the show once it drops via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or #whereveryougetyourpodcasts. And we repeat: Click the microphone icon on the 97.1 (FM) The Freak feed on the iHeart Radio app to leave a 30-second message or a question for me to answer on an upcoming show.
Yato, the only way echo sideways is if we see another close out like last night, where Jason Kidd plays Maxi Kleber at the five while the Mavericks are making a run and both lively and Gafford, who went to the bench cause he had played the whole third and fourth quarter, and what happens to lose. Mind you I counted at least a handful of bad calls. The rest missed were Gafford got thrown into the glass twice and there wasn’t a foul called a few others but yet if you breathed on Oklahoma, the whistle was going wild so to me, there has to be something done with the officiating, because this year has been the worst but a healthy Luka and you give me these two guys and PJ starts figuring it out and Kyrie I take that team because you never know
Marc, as always I really enjoy the stats, numbers. Mavs after Kidd changed the lineup. After numerous ugly games. Seems to have found some chemistry, energy. That brings me to Gafford needing 7 to tie the great Wilt 8 to pass him. I believe Mavs strength of schedule favors the Mavs. If they can continue there run? The 5 spot in the standings definitely possible. Marc Ty for keeping us in the know