Ballin’: The Most Unlikely 41, Ever
NBA January 18th. 2008, 10:41am
Phoenix Suns 106, Los Angeles Lakers 98: The Suns played seven guys, and six of them reached double figures and took over first in the division, all the while laughing at how lustily the fans at Staples booed the hell out of Kwame Brown, who is replacing Andrew Bynum for the next two months.
Cleveland 90, San Antonio 88: Rumors of the Cavs’ demise were greatly exaggerated. This win came on the road. And the Spurs had Parker (23), Duncan (20) and Manu (31).
Denver 120, Utah 109: Marcus Camby had eight points, 24 rebounds and 11 blocks, but the big story is Linas Kleiza who became perhaps the most unlikely player in NBA history to top 40 points. He finished with 41. In fact yes – we’re calling it now – Kleiza is the most unlikely player in NBA history to top 40. We just looked it up and LaBradford Smith only dropped 37 on MJ back in the 90s.
47 Responses to “Ballin’: The Most Unlikely 41, Ever”
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January 18th, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Tony Delk had 50 once for PHX.
January 18th, 2008 at 10:44 AM
and to think…i was laughed by some people here when i said the cavs would still make the playoffs even after they lost 6 straight.
(fingers crossed so tightly that i may break the bones…just so lebron doesnt get hurt again)
January 18th, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s 50-point outing in Dec ‘05 doesn’t know how to feel about this.
January 18th, 2008 at 10:46 AM
good to hear Kwame still getting booed at home. Michael Jordan’s dumbest move ever to pick him number one. Kwame brown is a good reason why nba is making kids go to college for one year. Too many kwame’s came out and got huge contracts and did nothing. What a waste of talent he is.
January 18th, 2008 at 10:55 AM
I was going to say Tony Delk too. That was the most WTF big game I can ever remember. 53 in fact. He was 20 for 27.
Also, I watched about 15 minutes of that Lakers game, and Kwame was unbelievably horrible. He literally looked like someone from the stands was playing. And he kept getting the ball. It was tough to watch.
January 18th, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Mahmoud regularly scored 50+ in college at LSU though. I’ll bet Kleiza has never sniffed 30 in an organized game before, let alone 40. I think that is a good. Most Unlikely 40 Point Game EVER.
January 18th, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Robert Horry once scored 40 in a game, too.
(at the time, not surprising, but today… seems very unlikely it could have ever happened)
January 18th, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Holy s***, Kwame was almost a carbon copy of how I play in my weekly rec league. I’m in my 30s and out of shape. Kwame, what’s your excuse?
January 18th, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Bhahahahhaha, Kwame Brown, what a bum, don’t boo him Lakers fans he might start crying, he can’t handle people getting on him. Just ask MJ and Doug Collins.
I remember someone on this site saying oh the Lakers are doing so well, when I reminded them that they were doing well at this point last year, then they came back with well injuries killed them which I have correctly pointed out could happen again.
Lesson is, don’t get too excited about a team’s prospects 40 games into an 82 game season.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:01 AM
As a Wizards fan, THANK YOU MITCH KUPCHACK! Kwame for Butler? what a joke. Kwame must have had too much cake over during his injury hiatus.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Kleiza had some big games for Mizzou where he went over 30
January 18th, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Kwmae just isn’t what he used to be… or ever was… or something.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:23 AM
NBA folks, NBA history.
And Horry’s won a handful of rings.
You could bump into Linas at the grocery store and not know the guy.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:23 AM
I know the TV schedule-bashing gets tiresome, but seriously. Is there going to be an NBA doubleheader this year that doesn’t include either the Heat or the Lakers?
January 18th, 2008 at 11:26 AM
@jgp3553
What? As if the Heat aren’t a quality team worthy of the national spotlight or something?
January 18th, 2008 at 11:32 AM
Neither Chris Jackson nor Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was a bad player in his day. Wouldn’t call him going off “unlikely”.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:32 AM
I’m guessing that the Heat have something like twice as many appearances so far this year as wins. The NBA needs a flex schedule a-la Sunday Night Football
January 18th, 2008 at 11:33 AM
And Horry’s won more than a handful of rings.
/fixed
(okay, I hate that “fixed” gimmick, but it had to be done.)
Kleiza is a huge guy. If I saw him at the grocery store, I’d pretty much be required to ask him if he played pro basketball.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:34 AM
I know Mahmoud was good. I had a defective jersey of his from his Nuggets days. Name and number on the back, but the front was blank. I think I got it at Champion.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Damien Wilkins scored 41 against the Hawks a couple of months ago (to the day). He’s tanked it ever since, to the point of getting benched. Not as shocking as Kleiza though.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:35 AM
@grungedave – That’s horribly racist.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:36 AM
I just checked the NBA.com TV schedule. The Heat are on ESPN tonight. There’s a Heat/Lakers doubleheader on TNT on Monday. The Lakers are on ESPN Wednesday night. I stopped looking after that.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:36 AM
I think I just found a more legitimately unlikely 40 point scorer:
Acie Earl, April 12, 1996, 40 points
January 18th, 2008 at 11:38 AM
CRM – what, am I supposed to ask him if he plays rugby instead?
January 18th, 2008 at 11:42 AM
regarding Natl NBA scheduling…can we trade every nationaly televised Heat game for a Hornets game? I guess theyre fun to watch and doing quite well, yet i havent seen them on TV once this season.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:42 AM
Might have been joking.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:44 AM
@CoRM – so long as he’s not using the eastern time zone feed, I think it’ll be alright.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:44 AM
Acie Earl probably takes the cake. His career average was only 5 PPG.
Another good one is Willie Burton who once scored 56. He is probably the most unlikely player to ever score 50.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Most unlikely player to ever score 40 points in a game?
You guessed – Frank Stallone.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:45 AM
I’ve only seen the Hornets on national TV once this year, and they are fun to watch. It was last Friday night on ESPN. And you’ll never guess who they were playing. OK, the Heat.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:46 AM
Linas Kleiza: further proof that we still don’t understand the genius of Quin Snyder.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:48 AM
@CRM: David Hasselhoff guessed it.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Damn why does Acie Earl sound so familiar?
Was he good in college, where did he go?
January 18th, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Wow, Damien Wilkins definitely is in this discussion. Forgot about him.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:51 AM
CRM – I knew the joke, hence the follow-up rugby joke.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:53 AM
my bad
January 18th, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Todd Day (career 12.3 ppg) went for 41 against Minnesota.
I think Willie Burton takes it.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:11 PM
I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned Willie Burton’s 50 point game yet. That might be the greatest WTF moment in NBA history.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Yeah, hard to believe nobody mentioned Burton.
49er, Earl was a pretty good player at Iowa in the early 90s.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Acie Earl was a star at Iowa who fooled me into thinking he would be a fine NBA player. He scored less than 1000 points in a six year NBA career, which means the 40 point game was about 25% of a typical season for him.
I think he takes this one.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:22 PM
I’ve never heard of Linas Kleiza. And you know what else? With a name like that, I might make that same comment a week from now.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:23 PM
I dont think Acie Earl belongs in this discussion at all. He was a solid college player and a first round pick.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acie_Earl
January 18th, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Other unlikely members of the 50 point club include:
Vernon Maxwell. He was fighting with fans before Ron Artest was ever born. And he was a college teammate of Dwayne Schnitzus, my favore mullet wearing 7 footer ever.
Charles Smith, the one from Pitt who played for the Knicks. College teammate of “Send It In” Jerome Lane.
Michael Adams.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:26 PM
If we’re still playing this game (and if Mad Max is somehow “unlikely”), I submit:
Dana Barros – who torched my Rockets for 50 back in 1995.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:27 PM
When Earl scored those 40 points it actually set the record for points scored in the Fleet Center, in Boston. Earl was drafted by Boston, was a bust and ended up in Toronto.
The record held for awhile before it was eventually broken by Allen Iverson, IIRC.
From wiki:
“He was traded to the Toronto Raptors before the 1995-96 season, and his statistics improved – scoring 7.5 points per game, and averaging 3.1 rebounds per game. Late in this season, Acie had his career best game. On April 12, 1996 against the team that drafted him – the Celtics – Earl posted a double-double, with 40 points and 12 rebounds, albeit in a 136-108 loss.”
January 18th, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Mad Max is unlikely considering most of the other names on the list belong to Jordan, David Robinson, Kobe, AI, Lebron, Hakeem, etc, etc.
Maxwell was a solid player in his day, so was Charles Smith and Mike Adams but they were never likely to score 50 in a game.
January 18th, 2008 at 1:22 PM
I think Tracy Murray once scored 50 in a game. I’ll add his name to the list. But nobody is beating Willie Burton.