clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

JaVale McGee's Triple Double And 12 Blocks Put Him In Elite, But Not Exclusive Company

As you may know by know, JaVale McGee posted a triple-double against the Chicago Bulls, posting 11 points, 12 rebounds and 12 blocks. The latter stat is probably what jumps out at you, as it should. Twelve blocks, even for someone like McGee who tries to get 20 blocks every game at the expense of getting in good help position, is still a major accomplishment that hasn't been done much recently.

But how rare is McGee's feat? A quick perspective below the jump.

The NBA record for most blocks in a game is 17, by Elmore Smith. The franchise record for blocks in a game is 15, by Manute Bol in 1987. So McGee didn't top any records with his performance. But he still was placed in some pretty exclusive company. According to Basketball-Reference, only 11 players since 1987 have posted 12 or more blocks in a game. Those 11 players?

  • Bol (six times)
  • Mark Eaton (twice)
  • Hakeem Olajuwon (twice)
  • Shawn Bradley (twice)
  • Shaquille O'Neal
  • Keon Clark (the last one to do it, in 2001)
  • Vlade Divac (bet you didn't expect that)
  • Dikembe Mutumbo
  • David Robinson
  • Wayne Cooper
But wait, there's more! Of those 18 times it happened, only nine of them involved the player getting a triple-double, most recently in 1998, when Bradley had 22 points, 22 rebounds and 13 blocks in a game against the Blazers (chew on that for a second). So that puts McGee in even rarer company.

It almost makes hanging on the rim in a 20-point blowout because he got his triple-double worth it.