Utah Jazz Legend John Stockton Sets NBA Record

On April 7, 1989 John Stockton is the first NBA player to have back-to-back 1,000 assist seasons.

Stockton spent his entire career with the Utah Jazz from 1984 to 2003. He is considered one of the best point guards of all-time.

John Stockton in 1989 with the Utah Jazz.

Stockton holds the NBA record for most career assists with 15,806 and steals with 3,265. The next closest player to Stockton in assists is Jason Kidd with 12,072, and steals is Kidd again with 2,674.

John Stockton averaged a career double-double, with 13.1 points and 10.5 assists per game. He had five of the top six assists seasons in NBA history (the other belonging to Isiah Thomas). He holds the NBA record for the most seasons, games, and a consecutive game played with one team, and is third in total games played, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish. He missed only 22 games during his career, 18 of them in one season. He played in 38 games where he tallied 20 or more assists.

Stockton appeared in 10 All-Star games, and was named co-MVP of the game in 1993 with Jazz teammate Karl Malone, which was held in Salt Lake City, Utah. He played with the 1992 and 1996 US Olympic basketball teams, the first Olympic squads to feature NBA players, keeping the game ball from both gold medal games.

He was selected to the All-NBA First Team twice, the All-NBA Second Team six times, the All-NBA Third Team three times, and the NBA All-Defensive Second Team five times. He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history in 1996.

Stockton's career highlight came in Game 6 of the 1997 Western Conference Finals. Stockton scored the last nine points for the Jazz, including a buzzer-beating 3-point shot over the Houston Rockets' Charles Barkley, to send the Jazz to the first of its two consecutive NBA Finals appearances. In both of these appearances, Stockton's Jazz teams were defeated by the Chicago Bulls.

In Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, Stockton made a three-pointer with 41.9 seconds left to give the Jazz an 86–83 lead, but Bulls guard Michael Jordan made two field goals to put his team ahead 87–86, the second one after stealing from Jazz forward Karl Malone. Stockton missed a three-point attempt with 5.2 seconds left and said in a post-game interview that he felt confident that the shot would go in.

For many years, he and Malone were the Jazz's 1-2 punch. The two played a record 1,412 regular-season games together as teammates (by comparison, only three other NBA players besides Stockton and Malone have reached 1,412 NBA games played). Many of Stockton's assists resulted from passes to Malone. Stockton earned the "old school" tag for his physical play - surveys of athletes and fans alike often judged him among the toughest players in the NBA, usually just behind teammate Karl Malone. His uniform of "short shorts" was noteworthy as he was the most recent notable NBA player to wear them, preferring the style after the rest of the league had adopted today's baggier look. Off the court, he dressed in rather ordinary attire, which contrasted with many of his NBA contemporaries who favored flashy designer clothes. Stockton was and is known for his reserved demeanor in interviews.

On May 2, 2003, Stockton announced his retirement with a released statement instead of the customary news conference. The Jazz later held a retirement ceremony for him, in which Salt Lake City renamed the street in front of the Energy Solutions Arena (then known as the Delta Center), where the Jazz play, John Stockton Drive.

His number-12 jersey was retired by the Jazz during a game on November 22, 2004. A statue of Stockton can be seen in front of the Energy Solutions Arena; an accompanying statue of Karl Malone was placed nearby on March 23, 2006.

The Malone and Stockton statues stand on a bronze plaque commemorating their achievements together. Stockton was announced as a member of the 2009 class of inductees to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on April 6, 2009; he was formally inducted on September 11. Stockton chose 2000 inductee and fellow point guard Isiah Thomas to present him at the induction ceremony.

Along with his teammate Karl Malone, Stockton is considered one of the best players who never won an NBA championship.

Chamberlain Breaks NBA Scoring Record

On Feb. 14, 1966, Wilt Chamberlain breaks NBA career scoring record at 20,884 points, which was previously held by Bob Petit, who played on the Milwaukee and St. Louis Hawks. Chamberlain’s record breaking score came on the way to earning his second MVP award during his first full season on the Philadelphia 76ers.

During the 1965-1966 season Chamberlain averaged 33.5 points and 24.6 rebounds a game, leading the league in both categories. The totals were his sixth highest scoring season of his career as well his third highest rebounding season.

Chamberlain would go on to finish his career with 31,419 points, as he led the NBA in scoring seven times, field goal percentage nine times, minutes played eight times, rebounding eleven times, and assists once.

Despite being such a great scorer, Chamberlain's main weakness was his notoriously poor free throw shooting, where he has the third lowest career free throw percentage in NBA history with 51.1% (based on a minimum of 1,200 attempts). Chamberlain claimed that he intentionally missed free throws so a teammate could get the rebound and score two points instead of one, but later acknowledged that he was a "psycho case" in this matter.

He committed surprisingly few fouls during his NBA career, despite the rugged play in the post. Chamberlain never fouled out of a regular season or playoff game in his 14-year NBA career. His career average was only 2 fouls per game, despite having averaged 45.8 minutes per game over his career. He had 5 seasons where he committed less than 2 fouls per game, with a career low of 1.5 fouls during the 1962 season, in which he also averaged 50.4 points per game. His fouls per 36 minutes (a stat used to compare players that average vastly different minutes) was a remarkable 1.6 per game.

Chamberlain was also responsible for several rule changes, including widening the lane from 12 to 16 feet, as well as changes to rules regarding inbounding the ball and shooting free throws.

Chamberlain is most remembered however for his 100-point game, which is widely considered the greatest basketball record of all-time. He is also only one of two basketball players, the other being Michael Jordan to have averaged at least 30 points per game over their entire career, but Chamberlain is the only player to average over 50 points a game for an entire season.

For his feats, Chamberlain was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, ranked no. 2 in SLAM Magazine's Top 50 NBA Players of All-Time and no. 13 in the ESPN list "Top North American athletes of the century" and voted the second best center of All-Time by ESPN behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on March 6, 2007.

Chamberlain’s record would hold up for over 15 years until Kareem Abdul-Jabar would break his record. After Abdul-Jabar broke Chamberlain’s record, Karl Malone and Michael Jordan have also surpassed his numbers, out ranking Chamberlain to fourth as they are second and third respectively behind Abdul-Jabar who is still the NBA’s All-Time leading scorer with 38,387 points.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Sets Scoring Record

On Feb. 5, 1989, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar becomes first NBA player to score 38,000 points.

Since Abdul-Jabar scored 38,000 points only one other player, Karl Malone has come close to scoring as many points. However, Malone retired with the second most points all-time 36,928.

Kobe Bryant is the current active leader in points scored with 31,700. It would take Bryant another five years minimum to reach Jabar’s record.

He is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season MVP Awards.

In college at UCLA, he played on three consecutive national championship teams, and his high school team won 71 consecutive games.

At the time of his retirement, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA’s all-time leader in points scored, games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goal attempts, blocked shots, defensive rebounds, and personal fouls.

Abdul-Jabbar also has been an actor, a basketball coach, and an author. In 2012, he was selected as a U.S. cultural ambassador.

The Mail Man's Streak Begins

On Dec. 18, 1991, former Utah Jazz great and Hall of Famer, Karl Malone also know as the “Mail Man” started a streak of 575 games scoring in double figures.

His streak would be the third longest in NBA history only behind Michael Jordan (840) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (787).

Malone would go on to finish his career as the second player on the All-Time scoring leader board for the NBA, only behind Abdul-Jabbar.

He would finish his career with 36,928 points in 1,476 games marking an average of 25 points per game.

During his career with the Jazz and Lakers, Malone would earn two MVP awards in 1997 and 1999 with the Jazz; he would be named to 14 NBA All-Star games, where he was named the MVP of the All-Star game twice.

He would also be named an 11-time All-NBA First Team player; two-time All-NBA Second Team player, one time All-NBA Third Team player. He would also earn defensive awards, being named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team three times from 1997-1999, the NBA All-Defensive Second Team once, and the NBA All-Rookie Team.

In 1996, Malone would be named to the NBA’s 50^th Anniversary All-Time Team.

In 2006, the Utah Jazz would retire Malone’s no. 32 jersey.

Malone would also help the United States to two gold medals in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 1996 Atlanta Olympics as part of the Dream Team and Dream Team II.

Bryant, Jamison Score 50

On Dec. 6, 2000, Antawn Jamison of the Golden State Warriors and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers each score 51 points in the game. It marked only the third time in NBA history that opposing players have scored at least 50 in a game. The previous time that happened was 38 years ago when Wilt Chamberlain scored 63 points and Elgin Baylor scored 50-points as the Bucks and Lakers played.

Jamison also scored 51 points in the game prior to the one he and Bryant both scored over 50.

While Antawn Jamison has gone on to be a NBA journeyman, Kobe Bryant has lit up the record books. Currently he is ranked fourth all-time in the NBA, with 31, 617 points. Bryant joins just four other players to score over 31,000 points in the NBA as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan are above him, and Wilt Chamberlain is behind him.

With Bryant on the comeback trail right now, he could possibly pass Jordan this year to take sole possession of third place in the NBA’s All-Time scoring leader list.