#12 Numeracy- Basketball by the Numbers

Basketball is all about breaking records, I personally enjoy taking a look at players who exemplify this mindset. The names of players like Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, James, Harden, and even Russell Westbrook come to mind. These players have scored in troves and put many others in the league to shame.

Let's talk triple doubles, first off a triple double is when a player achieves double digits in three statistical categories. The record for most triple doubles in NBA history belongs to Oscar Robertson . At 6'5 Oscar brought a different dimension to the scoring game at the point guard position. Think Magic Johnson but smaller. Robertson was a fantastic combination of speed and skill to net himself the all time highest amount of triple doubles at 181. The only person who comes close to this achievement is Russell Westbrook with 140. But it is fair to give Westbrook respect in the sense that he is the only player to average a triple double in two seasons.

Let's talk about the truly impressive numbers, single game scoring. When people think of scoring Wilt Chamberlain comes to mind. The man was an absolute freak of nature in the best possible way. "Wilt Chamberlain could run a 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds, had a 45+ inch vertical, and could bench press 500+ lbs (all while being 7’2, weighing 280+)". While these figures are questionable most people don't doubt them due to the sheer force Wilt exerted when he played and his previous achievements in track and field. This athleticism put him above and beyond any player of his day. It was almost child's play for him to put up massive amounts pf buckets including the NBA's only triple digit scoring from a single player with 100 points. It was no stretch for Wilt to put up 70+ points. He did it 6 times that I can personally recall from the record books. The only person who came close to breaking into triple digits was one of my childhood heroes Kobe Bryant who put up 81 points in a game after dropping 62 in only three quarters earlier that month. I'm a huge fan of prolific scoring, personally two of my favorite high level scorers of all time are Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony. Obviously I had to name drop Melo because I've always been a fan. But none the less the NBA has had some of the most impressive athletes in sports history. Whether it be the "super freak" athletic ability of Wilt Chamberlain, the high flying dunks of Vince Carter (who holds the NBA record for oldest active player and the only player to have played in three different decades), or the blazing quick speed of De'Aron Fox (who I have seen outrun Russell Westbrook, widely regarded as one of the leagues fastest players, on multiple occasions)