So it's pretty common knowledge that "The Big O" is the only NBA player to average a triple double over an entire season. That was his second year in the league, where at age 23 he averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists while playing 79 games. What's never talked about is that he came within a hair's breadth of doing it in each of his FIRST FOUR SEASONS: Rookie year: lacked only 20 assists over 71 games. Second year: averaged a triple double Third year: lacked only 42 assists over 80 games. Fourth year: lacked only 7 rebounds over 79 games. After that his rebounding tailed off (though he still averaged 30.4/9.0/11.5 in his fifth year). Still, that's an astounding five-year span, arguably the greatest five years every played by an NBA point guard. Any discussion of the greatest point guards of all time begins and ends with Oscar Robertson. Magic, Isiah, Stockton, Kidd, Nash, Cousy, Payton, Frazier, etc. are all fighting for runner up spots. Had Oscar been surrounded by better talent his first 10 years, the Celtics may not have owned the NBA during the '60s.
This isn't a Fantasy League where stats win. As Jugdish pointed out, pace is a huge factor contributing to those never-to-be-matched-again stats of the '60s. Magic is the best PG by far. Sorry you can't appreciate that.
Oh, and not only was the pace insane (Cincy scored 123 ppg when Oscar got the 3d), but Oscar also played 44.3 mpg. Forget about the Pace multiplier, on a 44.3 mpg basis, Magic had three triple doubles in a row, at age 21, 22 and 23. Comparing 44.3 mpg at never to be achieved again Pace t Magic is like comparing 30 game winners to pitchers of today. The game won't let them play that much anymore.
O was probably the GOAT. My personal favorite PG was and still is Walt Frazier. He got me interested in basketball. I was watching my grandparents' old black and white Zenith when Phil Chenier sucker-punched him, just knocked him out cold for a few seconds. It was a stunning sight on live TV (though not nearly as horrible as the Kermit Washington/Rudy T punch). I couldn't believe my eyes, was screaming at the two oblivious refs. The camera stayed on Clyde, who got up, dusted himself off, and proceeded to put 44 unanswered points on Chenier. Didn't say a word, just went about his business as solemn as an assassin. Clyde always took pride in his lock-down D, but he could score when he wanted to, as he showed that day back in (?) 1969 or 1970.
Oh, and here's another stat, guess who has the most Playoff triple doubles BY FAR. Magic And before you say he played more playoff games, well he did it in 190 games, which is one every 6 games. Oscar did 8 in 86 games. I guess the playoff defenses were tougher than the regular season even back in the '60s Most Career Playoff Triple-Doubles NBA History Code: [FONT="Courier New"]Magic 30 Kidd 11 Bird 11 Wilt 9 Oscar 8 Rondo 7 LeBron 7[/FONT]
Oh, and here's another stat. Guess who has the most triple doubles per games played. Magic In 906 games, he had 168 3Ds recording one every 5.39 games In 1040 games, Oscar got 189 for one every 5.5 games And Oscar averaged 42.2 mpg for his career. Magic averaged 36.7 mpg for his career.
More fun facts: Neither ever won a championship without Kareem Abdul Jabbar starting at Center. First year without Magic, Lakers had a winning record First year without the Big O, Bucks had a losing record even with Lew Alcindor First year without Magic Lakers won 15 less games First year without the Big O, Bucks won 21 less games Magic never played without at least 1 other Hall of Famer on his team and had as many as 3 in other seasons with him. Big O only played with 1 to start his career and 1 the last 3 years of his career.
Jerry Lucas, Wayne Embry, Jack Twyman, Oscar played with multiple hall of famers in Cincinnati, some years 3 of them at the same time. Lucas was good, tough big guy, one of the best shooters ever among bigs. But they didn't even get over .500 in half the years together.
