Tag Archives: Horace Grant

An NBA history lesson: How to lose with style starring the Denver Nuggets

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This weekend Marcus Camby had  an impressive and interesting game in Portland’s trouncing of the Suns. Camby pulled down 20 boards to go with no points. One of Denver’s most prominent twitter fans J.R. (@Smooth_Operatah) remembered the last time Camby has a 20+ rebound game to go with no points, which was back when he was in Denver.

On December 5th 2007 Allen Iverson shot an astounding 73% True Shooting Percent and scored 51 points. Couple this with a 20 rebound game for Marcus Camby’s and you have the makings of a crazy game. To me the bizarre part was that the Nuggets lost.  Using Basketball-Reference’s box score database, which includes all regular season games back to the 1985-1986 season and all playoff games back to 1991, I went in search of a game where such a feat had occurred and more importantly where the team managed to lose. The exact criteria I used was a True Shooting percentage of 55% or better for 50 points or more and another player with 20 or more rebounds.

Boston Celtics lose in OT to the Atlanta Hawks 126-123 on February 3rd 1987

It took five extra minutes of play but the Human Highlight Reel  and Willis managed to put up the impressive combo of stats I was looking for. Of course, the end result was victory against the defending champs.

New York Knicks win in OT against the Atlanta Hawks 137-128 on December 7th 1991

The first example of a team getting a 50 point scorer with good numbers and twenty rebounds to go with it to lose. Like before it took overtime and strangely enough the tandem it happened to was Willis and Wilkins!

Denver Nuggets lose to the Chicago Bulls 116-103 on March 24th 1992

His Airness joins the list with the help of the underrated Grant. The Nuggets also make their way onto the list but as the losing team. In 1992 Jordan scoring a lot, Grant rebounding  and the Nuggets losing were all pretty common.

San Antonio Spurs beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-89 on February 21st 1994

One of greatest and shortest lived tandems makes the list. Robinson and Rodman both did what they do best for the victory. Robinson also took down 9 more boards and had 6 blocks for good measure.

Chicago Bulls beat the Miami Heat 106-100 on November 6th 1996

Rodman and Jordan both make it back to the list. In just the fifth game of Rodman joining the Jordan-Pippen-Jackson Bulls Rodman and Jordan put up an impressive line. The end result was a win and given the closeness of the game every rebound and point was needed.

Los Angeles Lakers beat the Los Angeles Clippers 123-103 on March 6th 2000

  • Shaquille O’Neal 23 rebounds (7 offensive)
  • Shaquille O’Neal 61 points (24-35 FG 69%, 0-0 3P 0%, 13-22 FT 59%)

I was obviously looking for tandems when I started this search. Turns out Shaq was able to do it all on his own back in his MVP season. It’s also quite amuing to note that Shaq shot better from the field than from the line and brought down more defensive rebounds than free throws.

Indiana Pacers beat the Sacramento Kings in OT 93-91 on January 5th 2001 (Honorable Mention)

  • Chris Webber 26 rebounds (10 offensive)
  • Chris Webber 51 points (24-47 FG 51%, 0-1 3P 0%, 3-6 FT 50%)

Webber didn’t meet my criteria for True Shooting percentage (55%) but his stat line was still impressive enough I wanted to make sure I included him. He also joins the Nuggets and the Hawks in the loss column, which is definitely sad given an otherwise great game.

Detroit Pistons beat the Chicago Bulls 110-83 on April 3rd 2001

In 2001 Ben Wallace was the best player in the league on an otherwise abysmal Pistons roster. Jerry Stackhouse on the other hand was not a very good player but he was able to have a very good game. The result was a great game in an otherwise terrible season.

Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets 111-107 on December 5th 2007

Camby was no stranger to rebounding. Iverson was no stranger to scoring. However, Iverson managed to shoot efficiently and the result was an impressive game. Of course Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith shot terribly and the Nuggets managed to be the only team in the last 25+ years to lose with a 20+ rebounder and a 55% True Shooter with a 51 point night in a regulation game.

 Summing Up

I was quite happy I was able to find another game to match the Nuggets in losing with such an impressive line. Of course the Nuggets stand alone as the only team to do so in regulation. I also have to give some props to players that appeared multiple times:

  • Dominique Wilikins
  • Kevin Willis,
  • Michael Jordan
  • Dennis Rodman
Thanks again to @Smooth_Operatah for the great idea and if you have other interesting stat lines to look for definitely let us know.
-Dre

 

Who were the real Playoff MVPs of 1995?

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With the lockout in full swing our analysts have been antsy. We’re happy to answer fan requests for historical fact checking*. Today’s request comes via a Tweet from Mosi Platt of the Miami Heat Index:

@NerdNumbers You have your assignment RT @NBAHistory: Announcer Bob Neal: “Horace Grant is the MVP for the Magic in this series thus far.” @NBATV NOW (Orl/Chi, Gm 6, ’95 EC Semis)

The 1995 playoffs were pretty crazy. The Orlando Magic took down the Bulls despite Michael Jordan returning. The Houston Rockets shocked the world and won it all despite being a lowly sixth seed. Two surprising facts came from these two series.

Horace Grant was the MVP of the Magic-Bulls Series

Don't look back, they might be gaining!

In a series with Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal, it’s surprising to realize the best player on the court was indeed Horace Grant. Here was the breakdown in terms of Wins:

  1. Horace Grant (Orlando Magic) 251 Minutes, 0.293 WP48, 1.53 Wins Produced
  2. Shaquille O’Neal (Orlando Magic) 238 Minutes, 0.265 WP48, 1.31 Wins Produced
  3. Scottie Pippen (Chicago Bulls) 248 Minutes, 0.221 Wp48, 1.14 Wins Produced
  4. Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls) 254 Minutes, 0.192 Wp48, 1.02 Wins Produced
  5. Anfernee Hardaway (Orlando Magic) 246 Minutes, 0.133 WP48, 0.68 Wins Produced

Bob Neal was speaking the truth. Horace Grant was better (just barely) than Shaq, and together Shaq and Horace rant circles around Scottie and Michael. Of course Horace and Shaq’s great play may have come from playing a team lacking bigs. Against the Rockets they crumbled when faced with Hakeem’s Finals MVP performance. . . or did they? That brings us to surprise fact number two.

Clyde Drexler was the real finals MVP in 1995

Well at least they both got a trophy.

We can maybe give Hakeem some credit for slowing down Shaq in the finals. That said, Clyde’s performance was inspired. Here’s how the finals went down:

  1. Clyde Drexler (Houston Rockets) 162 Minutes, 0.342 WP48 1.15 Wins Produced
  2. Robert Horry (Houston Rockets) 187 Minutes, 0.213 WP48, 0.83 Wins Produced
  3. Mario Elie (Houston Rockets) 161 Minutes, 0.199 WP48, 0.69 Wins Produced
  4. Shaquille O’Neal (Orlando Magic) 180 Minutes, 0.176 WP48, 0.66 Wins Produced
  5. Anfernee Hardaway (Orlando Magic) 172 Minutes, 0.179 WP48, 0.64 Wins Produced
  6. Nick Anderson (Orlando Magic) 161 Minutes, 0.160 WP48, 0.54 Wins Produced
  7. Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets) 179 Minutes, 0.122 WP48, 0.46 Wins Produced
  8. Horace Grant (Orlando Magic) 168 Minutes, 0.084 WP48, 0.30 Wins Produced

Sadly Horace Grant’s greatness disapeared in the finals. But the story wasn’t Hakeem outplaying the bigs of Orlando; the real story was how Clyde Drexler and Robert Horry destroyed the Magic from the wings.

With no NBA in front of us for the foreseeable future, it is fun to go back to the past. Let us know if you have any weird stories you want us to look into and — provided we have time and there are no developments with the lockout — maybe we’ll look into it.

-Dre

* Don’t worry Mark, I haven’t forgotten about the Spurs, they’re on deck.