Exiled to Taiwan after his failure to find a franchise in the NBA, Dwight Howard made the buzz right away with an amazing line of stats for his first: 38 points, 25 rebounds, 9 assists and 4 blocks. But by the way, has an NBA player ever managed to reach these totals in the same game? The answer is yes !
A shattering start. Snubbed by the NBA despite his various cries from the heart to find a team, Dwight Howard ended up dropping the case to sign on the side of Taiwan. Welcomed as a true rockstar in Asia, where he is very popular, Superman pulled out all the stops in front of a full house for his very first match. Balance sheet? A line of mind-blowing stats, and highlights that have gone around the world:
Taiwan Dwight Howard different 😂
38 PTS
25 REBs
9 ASTs
4BLK pic.twitter.com/jHKI9Ltdf7— Overtime (@overtime) November 19, 2022
Wilt Chamberlain has already done better… but not only
A question necessarily arises for the curious after such a demonstration: has an NBA player ever succeeded in such a performance, in the face of obviously tenfold competition? In the modern era, no. But in a long time, Wilt Chamberlain has actually signed a few lines of stats of this level, or even far beyond! In fact, the « Big Dipper » has exceeded 38-25-9-4 no less than 9 career times, between 1963 and 1968.
If these figures confirm the incredible phenomenon that was Chamberlain, he is however not the only one to have signed such a feat! If we consider the mythical pivot out of competition, remains a name: that of Elgin Baylor, grandiose winger of the Lakers in his time. Below, the table thus summarizes all the NBA performances superior to that of Howard in Taiwan. Be careful, the numbers are dizzying!
With no disrespect to anyone, it’s no wonder no player has been able to achieve such a feat in almost 55 years. The level in Taiwan is obviously much lower in the NBA, and the opponents crossed by Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor at the time were much less developed, in physical terms in particular, than current athletes. But nothing is impossible, and there is no doubt that a Joel Embiid in a big evening could, for example, tickle this crazy brand.
Dwight Howard may have hit very hard in Taiwan, he could not touch the two great legends of the Lakers that are Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain in the NBA. Maybe in a future performance? In any case, Superman has the green light to feast in his new club. So who knows!
