Over the past couple of days, there have been plenty of dazzling performances. Triple-doubles and absurd scoring, we have it all. Who rose to the occasion over the past seven days? We reflect on some of the best individual game performances from Week 8.
DeMarcus Cousins scored 40 points, grabbed 22 rebounds, and blocked four shots on Wednesday night. Over the last 40 years, only one other player produced at least 40 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks in a regulation game: Hakeem Olajuwon had 40 points, 24 rebounds and four blocks in 1989. Four players did it in an overtime game over that time frame:
Joe Barry Carroll (1987)
Patrick Ewing (1990)
Shaquille O’Neal (1993)
Antonio McDyess (2000)
Cousins has produced at least 40 points and 20 rebounds in a game twice this season. The last player with multiple 40-point/20-rebound games in a single season was Patrick Ewing, who had two such games in 1989-90.
Ben Simmons recorded a triple-dozen on Thursday night (12 points, 13 rebounds and 15 assists). Simmons is the second rookie this season to record a triple-dozen, joining Lonzo Ball. This is the first time in the last 50 seasons that two rookies have achieved a triple-dozen in the same season. The last time it happened was in the 1967-68 season, when the rookies who did it were Art Williams and Walt Frazier.
Simmons became the eighth rookie in NBA history to record a triple-double with 15 assists. The others were:
Oscar Robertson (three times)
Michael Jordan (twice)
Tom Gola
Walt Frazier
Tim Hardaway
Jamaal Tinsley
Chris Paul
Kevin Durant registered 36 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and five blocked shots on Friday night. Durant became the first player in Warriors history to record at least 35 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five blocks in a game.
Durant is the third player with a 35-point/10-rebound/5-assist/5-block game this season, joining Marc Gasol (35P/13R/5A/5B) and Joel Embiid (46P/15R/7A/7B). This is the first season in which three different players have had such performance since the NBA began tracking blocked shots in 1973-74. Prior to 2017-18 season, there had been only three performances of that type in the previous 10 seasons combined:
Dirk Nowitzki – 40P/11R/5A/5B (2009)
Dwyane Wade – 39P/11R/8A/5B (2011)
Anthony Davis – 36P/14R/7A/9B (2015)
Lou Williams scored 35 points, including a game-winning three-pointer with 1.2 seconds to play, in the Clippers’ 113–112 victory over the Wizards on Saturday. It was the fifth time in the last two seasons that Williams came off the bench to score at least 35 points in a game. All other NBA subs have accounted for only four such games, Will Barton (twice), Tim Hardaway Jr. and Ian Clark.
Kyle Lowry scored 15 points, dished out six assists and led all players with 12 rebounds on Sunday. It was the fifth time in 24 games this season that Lowry was the outright leader for both teams in rebounds in a game. Prior to this season, Lowry had more rebounds than any other player did in a game four times in 713 regular-season games. Lowry’s team won eight of the nine games in which he was the game’s outright leader in rebounds.
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