Fun With Box Scores

Last week in “Fun With Box Scores” I took a look at about ten different things that jumped out from the previous week’s box scores.

It was the initial plan to roll out ten more fun little facts that I discovered while rummaging through the box scores this week, but I came across one box score that was so unique that I don’t feel like any other stat line from the week is worthy of being in the same post as this one.

Therefore, this week’s “Fun With Box Scores” is just one box score.

It comes from Wednesday night’s Lakers-Rockets game.

The stat line looks like this:

D. Fisher 35 minutes, 0-5 from the field, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists.

You read that correctly. In 35 minutes of play, Derek Fisher was unable to accumulate a single point, rebound, or assist in the Lakers overtime win over the Rockets.

Surely that has to be some sort of record, right? It’s not possible for a starter to go the entire game and not register any stats, is it?

Well, thanks to the greatest website ever created, www.basketball-reference.com, I was able to find out.

I set the minimum at 25 minutes played, meaning that the player played at least half of the game, thus ruling out anyone who was injured in the early going, and searched to find out if any other player has ever had a 0-0-0 game.

The result: Derek Fisher can rest easy. He’s not the only player to go an entire game without accumulating a point, rebound, or assist.

In fact, this is the fourth such occurrence since the 1986-87 season.

Bruce Bowen, Morris Peterson, and Theo Ratliff have all accumulated 0-0-0 games in at least 25 minutes of play over the past 22 seasons.

Bruce Bowen was able to actually to post a 0-0-0-0-0 game, seeing as how he didn’t register a block or a steal in 25 minutes of play on November 5^th of 2005.

Morris Peterson took the most shots (7) of the four 0-0-0 guys.

Theo Ratliff was the only player to shoot a free throw in his “triple ought” game.

But Derek Fisher gets the last laugh once again. He was the only player to see his team win a game in which someone recorded a 0-0-0 game.

And in typical D Fish style, it was his steal on the final possession of the game that sealed the win for the Lakers.