Thursday 18 June 2020 11:34, UK
Thanks to the achievements of the players who wore them, certain NBA jersey numbers have become synonymous with championship wins, MVP victories and spectacular scoring feats.
With the 2019-20 NBA season on hold until July 30, it is an opportune moment to explore a selection of the NBA's most iconic numbers.
In the latest feature in our series, we take a look at two of the NBA's most iconic players who wore No 13.
Wilt Chamberlain was basketball's unstoppable force, the most awesome offensive force the game has ever seen. Dominating the game as few players in any sport ever have, Chamberlain seemed capable of scoring and rebounding at will, despite the double- and triple-teams and constant fouling tactics that opposing teams used to try to shut him down.
As Oscar Robertson put it in the Philadelphia Daily News when asked whether Chamberlain was the best ever: "The books don't lie".
The record books are heavy with Chamberlain's accomplishments. He was the only NBA player to score 4,000 points in a season. He set NBA single-game records for most points (100), most consecutive field goals (18) and most rebounds (55). Perhaps his most mind-boggling stat was the 50.4 points per game he averaged during the 1961-62 season - and if not that, then perhaps the 48.5 minutes per game he averaged that same year.
He retired as the all-time leader in career points with 31,419, which was later surpassed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki. He is tops in rebounds with 23,924. He led the NBA in scoring seven years in a row. He was the league's top rebounder in 11 of his 14 seasons. And as if to prove that he was not a selfish player, he had the NBA's highest assist total in 1967-68.
But the most outstanding figures are his scoring records: most games with 50+ points (118); most consecutive games with 40+ points (14); most consecutive games with 30+ points (65); most consecutive games with 20+ points (126); highest rookie scoring average (37.6 points per game); highest field goal percentage in a season (72.7 per cent).
Chamberlain's name appears so often in the scoring record books that his name could be the default response any time a question arises concerning a scoring record in the NBA.
During his career, his dominance precipitated many rules changes. These rules changed included widening the lane, instituting offensive goaltending and revising rules governing inbounding the ball and shooting free throws (Chamberlain would leap with the ball from behind the foul line to deposit the ball in the basket).
After starring at the University of Kansas and playing for the Harlem Globetrotters for a season, Chamberlain made his NBA debut for the Philadelphia Warriors at the start of the 1959-60 season. In a sensational rookie year, Chamberlain averaged 37.6 points and 27.0 rebounds and was named NBA Rookie of the Year, All-Star Game Most Valuable Player and NBA Most Valuable Player as well as being selected to the All-NBA first team.
In the playoffs, the Warriors were ousted by the Boston Celtics. It was Chamberlain's first postseason confrontation with Bill Russell, a match-up that would grow into the greatest individual rivalry in the NBA. During the next decade, the pair would square off in the playoffs eight times. Chamberlain came away as the victor only once.
On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain set a record that will likely stand forever. In a game against the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania, he scored 100 points to help the Warriors win 169-147.
Later that year, Chamberlain moved with the Warriors to San Francisco and he led the league in scoring in both 1962-63 and 1963-64. The Warriors lost to Russell's Celtics in the 1964 Finals in five games.
In 1965, Chamberlain headed back to Philadelphia in a trade to join the 76ers, formerly the Syracuse Nationals. The following year, the Sixers posted the best record in the league only to lose, once again to Russell's Celtics, in the Eastern Division Finals.
In 1967, after years of frustration, Chamberlain finally got by his arch-rival Russell as Philadelphia raced by Boston in five games, ending the Celtics' eight-year stranglehold on the NBA title. Playing the Warriors in the 1967 Finals, the Sixers came away with the championship, winning the series in six games.
Chamberlain spent his final five campaigns in Los Angeles and helped the Lakers to the NBA Finals four times in those five seasons. The most notable season was 1971-72, in which he scored only 14.8 points per game. But his contributions came in other forms. At age 35, he managed to grab 19.2 rebounds per contest and was selected to the NBA All-Defensive first team.
The 1971-72 Lakers set an NBA record by winning 33 games in a row then stormed to the championship with a five-game triumph against New York in the 1972 NBA Finals.
Retiring from the NBA at the end of the 1972-73 season, Chamberlain was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 1996-97 he was selected to the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. On October 12, 1999, Chamberlain passed away at the age of 63 due to heart failure at his home.
Not many, if any, two-time MVPs were booed on the night they were drafted, yet that was Steve Nash's experience when the Phoenix Suns selected him 15th overall in the 1996 Draft.
"I don't look like I'm going to be a tremendous basketball player on appearance," the 6ft 3in Canadian point guard said good-naturedly after the draft. "I probably would have booed myself too, but I am going to be a really good player and I am going to help the team a lot."
Nash made good on those words, but it didn't happen straight away. After two years on the Suns bench playing behind Kevin Johnson, Sam Cassell and Jason Kidd, Nash left Phoenix for a fresh start with the Dallas Mavericks where, over six seasons alongside Dirk Nowitzki, he first established himself as a starter and then an All-Star.
That wasn't enough for Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to offer Nash a contract extension in the summer of 2004 that he felt matched his production. The Suns made it clear the wanted Nash back and, after Dallas remained conservative with their offer, he headed back to Phoenix.
Over the next eight years, Nash and the Suns would change the NBA. Under coach Mike D'Antoni, Nash led the Suns 'Seven Seconds or Less' offense as they blew teams off the court with their lightning pace of play. With Nash at the controls, Phoenix were at or near the top of the league rankings every season in pace, three-point shooting and offensive rating.
In the 2004-05 season, Nash led the Suns to 62 wins, posting averages of 15.5 points and 11.5 points per game and winning the Most Valuable Player award. The Suns raced to the Western Conference Finals where, after an eye injury to sharpshooter Joe Johnson, they fell to the San Antonio Spurs in five games.
Nash was even better the following season, scoring 18.8 points and handing out 10.5 assists per game while shooting better than 50 per cent from the field, over 40 per cent from three-point range and above 90 per cent from the free throw line. Nash was awarded his second MVP but, in the playoffs, the Suns fell agonisingly short of the Finals again, losing 4-2 to Nowitzki and the Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals.
In the 2009-10 season, Nash led the league in assists per game and free throw percentage and Phoenix led the league in scoring for the fifth successive season. A third trip to the Conference Finals followed but the Suns were once again denied, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
Nash earned his eighth and final All-Star selection in 2012 before signing with the Lakers for the 2012-13 season. His tenure in Los Angeles was ruined by a back injury and he retired from the NBA in March 2015.
Nash averaged 14.3 points and 8.5 assists per game for his career and was one of the best three-pointer shooters in NBA history, making 42.8 per cent of his threes (the ninth-best all-time). He also shot 49 per cent from the field and 90.4 per cent on three throws, coming ever-so-close to the hallowed 50-40-90 mark. He led the league in assists per game in five separate seasons and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.
Sky Sports NBA analyst Mike Tuck reflected on Nash's career and acknowledged the quality of his 'run and gun' Suns teams.
"Nash had the ability to see the floor and his understanding of the game was huge. His basketball IQ seemed much higher than the other players on the floor. He could pick apart a defense with ease," he said. "His ability to use the pick-and-roll offense was superb. When you saw him and Amare Stoudemire working together, you were watching the best pick-and-roll combo of the decade.
"Nash was a really efficient shooter, too. The Suns shot threes but nothing like the volume we see today. I have seen interviews where Nash said his biggest regret was not shooting more three-pointers. Imagine the damage he would have done in today's game.
"Nash's Suns are one of the best teams not to win the title. The Lakers, the Mavericks and the Spurs all denied them in Western Conference Finals. They were such fun to watch, they had the athleticism and they had Steve Nash, the leader of the team."
