The Stat Sheet: Opening the Season - basketball - Brief Article

Basketball Digest, Nov, 2001

5

Number of former first-round draft picks exchanged on Nov. 30, 1995, when the New Jersey Nets sent forward Derrick Coleman (No. 1 overall in 1990), guard Rex Walters (No. 16 in 1993), and forward Sean Higgins (No. 54 in 1990) to the Philadelphia 76ers for center Shawn Bradley (No. 2 in 1993), forward Tim Perry (No. 7 in 1988), and guard Greg Graham (No. 17 in 1993).

10

The Seattle SuperSonics started the 1993-94 season 10-0 and remain the only team to start a season with 10 or more consecutive wins and not go on to win a single playoff series at the end of the regular season.

15

Most consecutive wins to start a season, held by the 1948-49 Washington Capitols, who lost in the NBA Finals, and 1993-94 Houston Rockets, who went on to win the first of back-to-back NBA titles.

19

Winning point total on Nov. 22, 1950, when the Fort Wayne Pistons defeated the Minneapolis Lakers, 19-18, in the lowest-scoring game in NBA history. George Mikan of the Lakers led all scorers, notching 15 of Minneapolis's 18 points.

37

Most consecutive home wins to start a season, a record held by Phil Jackson's 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

1,059.2

Average number of NBA games played by a seldom-used Toronto Raptors lineup in November 2000, consisting of 38-year-old Kevin Willis, Charles Oakley (36), Tyrone Corbin (37), Mark Jackson (35), and Dell Curry (36)--one of the oldest lineups in NBA history. The coach? None other than 63-year-old Lenny Wilkens. Said analyst Mike Gminski, "You can almost smell the liniment out on the court."