NBA Record Holders: 10 of the most unbreakable NBA records

Bill Russell with his 11 won NBA Championship Rings
Bill Russell - the ultimate champion (Image courtesy: finnland101deviantart.com)

NBA is all about making new records and breaking them too. As this league is getting more complicated, players are setting new records and also breaking some of the most difficult ones. From most points in a game to highest points average in a season, we have witnessed the most astonishing records in the sport's history.

Setting NBA records is all about hard work, dedication, competing for spirit, and making right plays on the court. Some records are easy to break, which were set by players in the past and broken later by the current players. Eg: The most 3-pointers in a regular season by Ray Allen of 285 3-pointers in a season was broken by Stephen Curry several times and made his own record of 402 3-pointers.

But there are some records are are unbreakable, these are:

#10 Scott Skiles - Most Assists in a Game

Scott Skiles
Scott Skiles

Scott Skiles was one of the Point Guards who was a master in getting assists, he made a record for most assists in a single game with 30. Scott wasn't the best Point Guard of his time but his record for the most assists in a game is a tough one to break.

On December 30, 1990, Skiles recorded 30 assists in a win over the Denver Nuggets by 155-116. The player with 2nd most assists in a game is Kevin Porte with 29 assists in the 1977-78 NBA season.

Registering 30 assists in a game is tough right now. Generally, we have to combine at least 2 players' assists in a game to get 30 assists.

#9 Los Angeles Lakers - Longest winning streak in a season (33)

NBA Finals Game 2:  Boston Celtics v Los Angeles Lakers
NBA Finals Game 2: Boston Celtics v Los Angeles Lakers

In the 1971-72 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers went on a winning roll and recorded the longest winning streak in the NBA history with 33 straight game wins.

Elites like Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Pat Riley helped the team in recording the 33-game winning streak. The Streak ended on January 9, 1972, against the Milwaukee Bucks on the back of their superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Lakers ended the regular season with 69 wins and 13 losses and even clinched the eventual NBA Championship.

No team has ever come close to this record and the 2nd longest winning streak is recorded by the Miami Heat in the 2012-13 NBA season with 27 straight wins.

#8 Rasheed Wallace - Technical Fouls per season

Cleveland Cavaliers v Detroit Pistons - Game 5
Cleveland Cavaliers v Detroit Pistons - Game 5

Rasheed Wallace was the 4th overall pick by the Washington Bullets in the 1995 NBA Draft and played for 5 more teams during his 19 year NBA career. Wallace is considered to be the craziest player in NBA history, he holds a record for the most technical fouls in a season with 41 technical fouls in the 2000-01 NBA season while playing for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Why getting more technical fouls than Wallace is not possible now?

In 2006, there came a rule by NBA that once a player gets 16 technical fouls during a season, then he would be suspended for a game without pay if he commits another technical and would be suspended for each additional technical foul, the player would be suspended for a game without a pay. Ouch!

To some extent, it is possible for a player to break Wallace's record of most technical fouls in a season, but no player would like to break the record by keeping his career and money on stake.

#7 Mark Eaton - Average Blocks per Season (5.56)

Utah Jazz
Mark Eaton

Mark Eaton, the 7'4" Giant played for the Utah Jazz for 11 seasons. Eaton was the 72nd overall pick in the 1982 NBA Draft in round 4. Eaton was the master of blocking shots, he has the record for most blocked shots in a season with 456 blocked shots in the 1984-85 NBA season.

Eaton wasn't good at the offensive end, but he had long and quick arms and he decided to honor the shot-blocking job for the team. Before Eaton on the roster in the 1981-82 NBA season, the Utah Jazz had the 4th worst field goal percentage defense (51 percent). After welcoming Eaton, he single-handedly brought the defensive presence in the team and since then the field goal percentage defense went down for the Utah Jazz and they became fairly efficient in defense. Few players in the league were able to defend their team like Eaton and the Utah Jazz gave Eaton a tribute for his unmatched performance by hanging his jersey number (No. 53) at the Delta Center rafter.

#6 Magic Johnson - Highest Career assist average

Calvin Natt (left), Magic Johnson (with the ball)
Calvin Natt (left), Magic Johnson (with the ball)

Magic Johnson was one of the finest players and one of the best Point Guards in the history of NBA.

Magic Johnson played 906 games in 13 seasons and was with the Los Angeles Lakers during his NBA career as a player. He recorded 10,141 career assists by averaging 11.19 assists per game. His amazing court vision and passing abilities made him the best passer in the league of his time.

Johnson's 6'9" height and impeccable handles helped him to see through defenders and also helped in finding the passing lanes. His basketball IQ often confused other players, he would make fake plays to create space for passes, from bounce passes across the court to passing through the tight defense, and there is no pass which Johnson couldn't execute. Averaging 11.19 assists per game is not a simple task, that's why no one stands close to Johnson when we talk about the passing ability Johnson had.

#5 Bill Russell - Most NBA Championships as a Player

President Obama Honors Medal Of Freedom Recipients
Bill Russell

Bill Russell played 13 seasons during his NBA career for the Boston Celtics. Russell has more championship rings than fingers. He was the reason for Boston Celtics' golden era from the late 1950's to the late 1960's. An experience of winning 11 rings has not been felt since then by any other player. Russell's dominant play in the paint changed the way of playing basketball forever.

Russell is the regarded as the greatest champion of all time. The 13-year time span was for the Celtics and that totally changed people's perspective about the game, about the league, and about African American Athletes. Russell was the 1st African American Athlete to get a superstar status in the NBA and he will be considered to be one of the finest Athletes in the sports' history for ages.

#4 Boston Celtics - Consecutive NBA Titles

Boston Celtics' Championship banners
Boston Celtics' Championship banners

Boston Celtics account for the most Championships in the NBA. The Celtics have won 17 NBA championships so far in their 71-year NBA run. Legends like Bill Russell, Larry Bird, and Paul Pierce showed their dedication and love for the Celtics and contributed to the team's success.

The Boston Celtics also hold the record for the consecutive NBA titles with 8 NBA titles in a row starting from 1959-1966. During this time period, the Celtics had clashes with St. Lewis Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers, and San Francisco Warriors.

The Celtics, during their 7 straight NBA titles was driven by the stars like Bill Russell, Bill Sharman, Tom Heinsohn, Bob Cousy, K.C. Jones and more. Building a dynasty like the Celtics is not so easy when we have got so much talent on every team. Currently, we can see the Golden State Warriors building a tough and powerful dynasty, but matching the level of toughness which the Celtics had back then is not is way too difficult for any team right now.

#3 Wilt Chamberlain - Most Career Rebounds

Wilt Chamberlain rebounding the Ball
Wilt Chamberlain rebounding the Ball

Wilt Chamberlain, the basketball legend, and a Hall-of-Famer. Chamberlain holds 72 NBA records and one of the records that are unbreakable is total Career Rebounds recorded by him. He totaled 23,924 rebounds when he finished his NBA career which means he averaged a huge number of rebounds (22.9 rebounds) per game.

Wilt Chamberlain had a long reach and quick hands which assisted him in grabbing maximum possible rebounds in a game. Reaching the level of rebounding skills which Wilt had is obviously far from any player's reach. The player next to Chamberlain in total career rebounds is Bill Russell with 21,620 career rebounds. Current NBA player who is in this race is Dwight Howard who is on the 19th place in terms of total career rebounds with 12,407 rebounds so far in his career.

#2 Wilt Chamberlain - Highest Scoring average in a single Season

Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain

Again Wilt Chamberlain holds another record which is unbreakable. Chamberlain leads in the average of points per game in a season with 50.4 points per game in the 1960-61 NBA season. If we compare Wilt's average with that of current players' average, then we have to add at least 2 players' average to match with Wilt's average, his stats are just out of this world.

He scored the lowest 26 points against the Boston Celtics and highest 100 points (which is also a record) against the New York Knicks in the 1961-62 NBA season. If we look at the numbers he posted on the scoreboard in every game during the 1961-62 NBA season, it looks like one big lie, and every figure looks imaginary. The next 3 spots on the list of NBA All-Time Average Points Leaders per season is also acquired by Wilt Chamberlain and he is all over on the list.

#1 Wilt Chamberlain - Most Points in a single Game

Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points against the New York Knicks
Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points against the New York Knicks

It seems like Wilt Chamberlain has records everywhere possible in the NBA. Leading the team in a game through points in the biggest contribution by a player to his team and Wilt did that uncountable time. In the 1961-62 NBA season, something happened which took the basketball or we can say the whole sporting world by a storm, Chamberlin scored 100 points in a single game against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962. If we have to get a 100-point play in today's games by a player, then not a single player but we have to combine more than 3 players' points of a team in a game in order to sum-up 100 points.

Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game by shooting 36 field goals out of 63 field goal attempts with a percentage of 57.14% of field goals, 28 made free-throws, 28 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 personal fouls on that night. That was a long and historic night for Wilt and for the Philadelphia Warriors, but a tough one for the New York Knicks. The Philadelphia Warriors won that game by 169-147, and Chamberlain contributed more than half of those points, those are so many points on the board by a single player, Wow!

No one has ever reached up to this mark of points in a single game. Kobe Bryant is on No.2 in scoring the most points in a single game with 81 points.

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Edited by Yash Matange