The NBA's most unbreakable records, including marks by Wilt Chamberlain, LeBron James and Hakeem Olajuwon

When the Los Angeles Lakers host the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, the team and the NBA will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lakers' 33-game winning streak in the 1971–72 season. Considered one of the most unbroken records in NBA history. It was January 7, 1972, when the Lakers defeated the Hawks 134-90 to lead the streak to 33 games and fell to Milwaukee two nights later.

In the NBA's 75-year history, there have been only five 20-game winning streaks within a season, an indication of how rare such a run is. To frame what's needed to bring something even closer, consider the last two.

The 2015–16 Warriors started 24–0, and they had the best regular-season team ever, ending 73–9. The 2012–13 Miami Heat won 27 in a row, and they only had LeBron James at the peak of his physical strength as well as three other Hall of Famers (Ray Allen, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade) playing in perfect harmony. Were.

Yet the 1971–72 Lakers, led by Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Gail Goodrich (Elgin Baylor retired nine games into the season, literally just before the streak began), posted a record that remained relatively safe.

Here's a look at some individual records that will stand the test of time as unbreakable, even 25 years from now as the NBA celebrates its 100th season.

Weather

• Wilt Chamberlain's entire 1961–62 season is essentially written in statistical concrete, which should never be repeated. He averaged 50.4 points per game, the highest ever - and none even close. Michael Jordan is the only player other than Chamberlain to average over 37. Chamberlain averaged 39.5 shots per game, which is the highest ever—and none even close. No one else's average has been more than 30. Elgin Baylor has averaged 29.7 once, Jordan and Allen Iverson have each averaged 27 once.

Another mark sure to stand forever, he averages 48.5 minutes per game. He was never replaced that season; He missed just eight minutes of a game after being knocked out in the fourth quarter. He reached an average of over 48 minutes as he played seven overtime games. He was miraculously almost never in bad trouble, averaging a career-low 1.5 games.

• 41 technical fouls of Rashid Wallace. Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals live in notoriety in Portland due to the controversial whistle. Wallace's relationship with the officials went from bad to worse, and it played out the following season as he racked up a record 41 technicals en route to 18 ejections. In 2006, the NBA introduced new rules that called for a suspension for a season when a player reached 16 years, possibly tarnishing Wallace's record. He is third in technical glitches with 317 in his 16 seasons, behind only Karl Malone, who had 332, and Charles Barkley, who had 329.

• Walt Bellamy's 88 Games. In 1968–69, Bellamy debuted with the New York Knicks and played 35 games. He was then traded to the Detroit Pistons and, due to unbalanced scheduling quirks, played 53 games there to reach 88 for the season. The players have played over 82 games 41 times, most recently when Josh Smith played 83 for the Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets in 2014–15. Bellamy is second only to Tom Henderson, who played 87 games between the Bullets and the Hawks in 1976–77.

livelihood

• 6,731 offensive rebellions of Moses Malone. When you include his ABA number, it's 7,382. Looking at NBA numbers alone, this is 2,500 more than second-place Artis Gilmore and 2,100 more than Robert Parrish. He has the two most aggressive rebounding games in history with 21 and 19. The current active leader in offensive rebounds is Dwight Howard, who is still 2,600 behind Malone.

• John Stockton has 15,806 career assists. Stockton led the league for nine consecutive seasons from 1987 to 1996. He is the all-time No. 2, nearly 4,000 ahead of Jason Kidd and 5,000 ahead of No. 3, Chris Paul. At 36 years old, Paul averages a league-leading 9.9 APG this season. He would have to retain it until he was 42 years old to pass Stockton. The former Utah Jazz legend is the owner of four of the most supportive seasons in history and seven of the top 10. He had 31 games of 20 assists or more. Stockton is also the all-time leader with 3,265 career steals, nearly 600 more than Kidd at No.

• 1,192 consecutive games of AC Green. The run lasted for 16 consecutive seasons with four different teams from 1986 to 2001. Green surpassed Randy Smith, who played 906 games in a row from 1972 to 1982. The longest recent streak was that of Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingalls, who played 384 games in a row. from 2015 to 2021. Tristan Thompson played 447 consecutive games with the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2011 to 2017.

• LeBron James's 1,067 consecutive regular season games (and counting) scoring double digits. James started the streak in 2007 and has had some close calls, including last season, when he hit a 3-pointer to reach 10 points after badly spraining his ankle in one game and then leaving for the locker room. was killed Earlier this season, he left a game with an abdominal injury after scoring 10 points. James surpassed Jordan, who had a previous record of 866 consecutive games in 2018. The only running streak that was close was that of James Harden, but ended last season in 450 games after skipping a game with a hamstring injury. James has scored less than 10 points in two playoff games during the period, the last time in 2014 when he scored seven points against the Indiana Pacers.

• 3,830 block of Hakeem Olajuwon. Mark Eaton's record of 5.56 blocks per game in a season is also far-fetched, but Olajuwon's numbers are much higher. He is more than 500 ahead of second-placed Dikembe Mutumbo, who is closer to ninth place than first on the list. To match Olajuwon, a player must play every game for 15 seasons and block an average of 3.1 games. There are only three active players who have scored an average of 3 blocks even once in a season (Miles Turner, Serge Ibaka and Hassan Whiteside).

Play

• Scott Skills '30 assists. This record has already stood the test of time, as it has been on the books for more than 30 years since December 30, 1990. He was stuck on 29 assists, a record held by Kevin Porter since 1978 for six minutes. Fourth quarter before receiving a record dime with one minute to play. Skills, who averaged 8.4 assists per game that season and 20-assist games later, scored 22 points that night (and the Orlando Magic scored a team-record 155 points in a win over Denver). The closest came most recently in 2017, when Rajon Rondo had a 25-assisted game with New Orleans. In the past 10 seasons, Rondo and Russell Westbrook are the only players to have more than 22 assists in a game.

• Wilt Chamberlain's 100 points. The 60th anniversary of this achievement, which took place on March 2, 1962, is approaching, and there is a very good chance that the 100th anniversary will come without touching it. Chamberlain had a 78-point game earlier that season (in a triple-overtime loss to the Lakers when Elgin Baylor scored 63 points) and two 70-point games the following year. The key was in the line, where he was 28 out of 32. He was the 51% free throw shooter of his career, and it was easily his best-percentage free throw night of that magical season. The second most, of course, was 81 points scored by Kobe Bryant in 2006, with 17 fewer shots (46 to Wilt's 63). Since Bryant, Devin Booker is the only player to reach 70 in a game, still 30 points behind Chamberlain's record.

• 55 rebounds from Wilt Chamberlain. This happened on November 24, 1960, in a game Chamberlain later said was the most exhausting game of his career. Rivals were Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics, who won by three points. It broke Russell's record of 51 rebounds the previous season. Chamberlain and Russell have the 12 most rebounding games in history. Only two other players in history have 40 (Nate Thurmond and Jerry Lucas). There have been only a few 30-rebound games over the past two decades, the most recent one being Ennes Freedom, who played 30 games last season. Considering the possibility of this record being broken, there have been fewer than 50 instances of a team having at least 56 rebounds in a regulation game this season. The Jazz scored 68 in a win over the Hornets in December (Rudy Gobert pulled down 21 of them), matching the season high set in November's win over the Kings (no Memphis player exceeded 12). was not).