The Numbers: Clyde Drexler & Hakeem Olajuwon Go for 40
On May 5, 1995, Clyde Drexler (41) and Hakeem Olajuwon (40), both grilled up 40 burgers in beating the Utah Jazz during Game 4 of their first-round series.
It was just the third time in NBA history that teammates went for 40 in a playoff game.
Drexler added six assists and nine rebounds; Hakeem added three and eight respectively.
The site, All About Basketball has a nifty list of every instance in both the regular and postseason:
- Elgin Baylor scored 45 points and Jerry West added 41 against Detroit on March 29, 1962.
- Sleepy Floyd and Hakeem Olajuwon put together 83 points, 42 and 41 respectively for the Houston Rockets on April 30, 1988.
- Reggie Miller and Jalen Rose scored 40 points each on May 6, 2000.
None of those pairs won the championship, however, except the Drexler-Olajuowon duo.
It also lists 11 times that the feat was accomplished during the regular season.
Notably, West and Baylor both had 43 on Feb. 11, 1970, making them the only pair to accomplish that feat in both the regular and postseason.
On Dec 13, 1983, the Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets played the highest-scoring game in NBA history, and both teams had two players top 40: Kiki Vandeweghe (51) and Alex English (47) for the Nuggets, plus Isiah Thomas (47) and John Long (41) for Detroit.
The last two times it was done? That was by the same pair of players in the same season!
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant accomplished the feat for the Oklahoma City Thunder on February 19 and March 23 of 2012.
Kelly is a TBW co-Founder and frequent contributor. He spent 4.5 years in the USAF before attending University of Minnesota, Bible college in Anaheim and 15 years in youth ministry. Basketball blogger-turned-NBA Featured Columnist with Bleacher Report, BBallBreakdown, Fansided, The Step Back, Hoops Habit, SportsNet, Vantage Sports, Dime and FanRag, among others, his work has been read over 25 million times. The former NBA Assistant Editor at FanRag (2016-18), he is an NBA Twitter staple who is well-connected and respected among today’s finest basketball writers.
