Generally speaking, we usually talk about historical, extraordinary matches, colossal performances of the best players in the best league in the world … but there is also the other side of the coin. Matches to forget, horrible shooting nights, performances in which nothing comes out … These are, surely, the worst statistical lines that have been seen in the NBA:
Andre Roberson: the ‘game of zero’
Guard Andre Roberson was a defensive expert on the fearsome Thunder of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, the team that I can be champion in 2016. A tremendous bulldog which, however, was extremely limited in attack, without the ability to create and with a horrendous shooting mechanic. Now he tries to regain the pulse of his career (he is 28 years old) after hell that he has suffered a terrible injury to his left knee and that had him stopped for 30 months and more than 900 days. He came back in July, in the Florida bubble. He has never scored more than 6.6 points on average in a season (2016-17). But in the previous one, 2015-16 (that of the mythical final of the West that the Thunder lost 4-3 against the Warriors), Roberson left one of the worst attacking games the NBA has seen. On February 25, 2016, he played 22 minutes against the New Orleans Pelicans. He shot twice to the basket and missed both. He had zero points, zero steals, zero blocks, zero assists, zero rebounds, zero losses and even zero personal fouls. Something almost impossible in 22 minutes, practically half the game.
Reggie Miller and the disaster against the Lakers
Reggie Miller, the legendary guard for the Indiana Pacers, was a five-time all-star and had averages of more than 18 points throughout his career (1987-2005, always with the Pacers). A deadly shooter and highly competitive player, in 2000 he led his extremely tough Pacers to the Finals, where he could do nothing against the Lakers of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, who won the first of their three rings in a row. in a Final resolved in six games (4-2) and in which Shaq averaged 38 points, 16.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks. In the first game, the Lakers won 104-87 (43 + 19 from Shaquille) in a disastrous performance by Miller: 7 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists … and 1/16 in field goals. His only basket came in the third quarter.
Russell Westbrook, completely dry
Westbrook was the NBA MVP in 2017. He has been a nine-time all-star and has accomplished something incredible in the modern era: averaging a triple-double for three straight seasons (2016-19). Those were the years that he stayed like Alfa male for the Thunder after Kevin Durant left, seasons of monster numbers in which he saw his efficiency as a shooter and scorer drop dramatically. Before that, in 2011 (December 28) he had an especially horrible night: 4 points against the Memphis Grizzlies, all from the personnel line. In shots from the field and in almost 40 minutes on the court, he scored a painful 0/13. In addition, he grabbed three rebounds and distributed six assists but also finished with four turnovers.
The decisive game in which Kenyon Martin sank
The Nets, still in New Jersey, played two NBA Finals in a row. In 2002 they had no option (4-0) against the Lakers of Kobe and Shaquille and a year later they became 2-2 against the Spurs but lost two games in a row and the title (4-2). In that Final, power forward Kenyon Martin averaged 14.7 points and 10 rebounds per game. But he stayed at 34% on field goals against Popovich’s terrifying Spurs defense. The sixth game, which ended up being decisive, he watched as Martin was completely sunk: he finished with 8 points but missed 20 field goals: 3/23 total. A total of 13%.
Total zero for Tony Snell and Joel Anthony
Roberson is not alone in subzero games. In February 2017 and with the Milwaukee Bucks, guard Tony Snell played 28 minutes against the Utah Jazz in which he added 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals and 0 blocks. He missed two shots and committed a foul … and that was his entire statistical contribution. However, it was not the record of minutes played with the quintuple zero: in 2011 power forward Joel Anthony, who played for the Miami Heat, He played 28 minutes and 46 seconds against the Blazers and also finished with zero points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.
Richard Hamilton’s Martian Party
Rip Hamilton, the elusive guard of the 2004 Pistons champions, a deadly scorer from middle distance, achieved something surprising in the season following the title season (January 6, 2005): did not score in play and was the top scorer of his team. It was a terrible game (loss 101-79 to the Grizzlies) in which his team fell at 31% in shooting from the field. Hamilton posted a 0/10 shooting but finished with 14 points as he went to an immaculate 14/14 from the personnel line.
The Chicago Bulls collective disaster
After the last dance (1997-98 season) and the second threepeat in eight years (1990-1998), the Bulls went into rebuilding in the 1998-99 season. Almost everyone had gone, Jordan leading the way, and the Illinois team finished with 13 wins and 37 losses. It was a 50-game lockout season and neither Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, nor Dennis Rodman were there. On April 10, 1999, those miserable Bulls hit rock bottom against the Miami Heat: 49 points, the least of a team in an NBA game. By quarters they added 8, 15, 10 and 16. In field goals they signed 18/77 (23.4%). They did not make a triple (0/9) and missed almost half of the free throws (13/24).