Most NBA Blocks Game: Elmore Smith

Most NBA Blocks Game: Elmore Smith

Explore the historic night when Elmore Smith set the NBA record for the most blocks in a single game on Daily Sports History. Discover how Smith’s incredible defensive performance on October 28, 1973, with 17 blocks, redefined the art of shot-blocking and made basketball history. Learn about the game’s impact, Smith's legacy, and how this record still stands as a symbol of defensive dominance in the NBA.


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[00:00:00] On October 28th, 19 Los Angeles Lakers are taking on the Portland Trail Blazers when their new center decides to make a name for himself after taking over for Wilt Chamberlain as he sets the record for the most blocks in a single game with 17 putting Elmore Smith in the record books the record he still holds to this day. Today we're gonna dive into how Elmore got to this point and how he

[00:00:29] still holds this record on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History I'm Ethan Reese your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day and today's trivia question to listen out for is what is the record for the second most blocks in a game? Now Elmore was born in Georgia and grew up there and he was a late bloomer as when he started as a freshman in high school he was only 5'11 and didn't even make the basketball team but over the next

[00:00:59] two years he would have a huge growth spurt and go up to 7'11 and go up to 7'11 as a junior and at that point the school basically forced him to play as the principal threatened him and said if you don't go out for the basketball team I'm gonna kick you out of school so he did make the basketball team but he actually rarely played in high school and because of that he didn't get a whole lot of scholarship offers but at the time just being 7'11 meant you were getting looks from anybody so he was able to still get 3'11

[00:01:29] and he was able to still get a whole lot of scholarship offers for just being tall and he took one from Kentucky State who at the time was in a school we covered in a previous episode and it's about on the level of Division III college so it's a lower level of competition but they do offer scholarships and helped lead them to the 1970 and 1971 National IA Championships playing alongside Travis Grant who would also make it to the NBA and he still holds the record for the most

[00:01:59] rebounds in a single season and the reason why he was able to lead Kentucky State to the NAI National Championship two straight years is because those final two years he was in school he averaged 25.5 points and 24.2 rebounds these were incredible numbers for anybody and despite being from this small school when the NBA draft came around in 1971 he was taken third overall by the Buffalo

[00:02:28] Buffalo Braves in his first NBA season he picked up right where he left off in college scoring 17 points and averaging 18.2 rebounds being named to the all rookie team and he would continue that in his second season but in 1973 he would be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers which was an exciting time for him as he originally thought he was going to get a play with the great Wilt Chamberlain but before the season started Wilt retired

[00:02:57] and it turns out Elmore was going to be taking over for Wilt Chamberlain as he was retiring so Elmore had big shoes to fill that season and though his numbers dipped this season averaging 12 points and 11 rebounds and the Lakers had just come off of a finals appearance winning over 60 games this season they only won 47 games but still won their division and finished second in the conference

[00:03:23] as they still had some great players such as Jerry West and Pat Riley and he would go on to lead the league in blocked shots with 4.9 a game but none stood out more than when they took on the Portland Trail Blazers on October 28th 1973 as it was still early in the season and the Lakers got off to a good start that season they were 7-2 at the time facing off against the Blazers who were 4-4

[00:03:51] and the Lakers took an early lead with Elmore dominating the competition as they would have a 9 point lead at the half and Elmore would have 11 blocks that first half which is a record for the most blocks in a single half that still stands to this day and though the Blazers would come out the second half and win the third quarter but ultimately lose the game 111-98 with Gail Goodrich of the Los Angeles Lakers leading the way scoring 40-3

[00:04:21] 9 points but his teammate Earl Smith would finish the game with 16 blocks a record that he still holds to this day would actually finish with 17 blocks 12 points and 16 rebounds giving him a triple double now if you remember in our episode about Nate Thurman who was the first player to get a quadruple double they didn't start recording the block shot until this year 1973 so yes someone probably blocked more honestly the guy

[00:04:51] he took over Wilt Chamberlain probably had you know 20 plus block shots but we don't have any record of it so we can only go back from 1973 on but despite this being the first season that they recorded the blocks it is still the record and just two days earlier he had actually set the record before where he blocked over 14 shots so this one week set him apart and the second most blocked shots ever recorded were by Manute Bull who got 15 twice

[00:05:20] and Shaquille O'Neal who also got 15 and Mark Eaton is the only other player to even get to 14 blocks in a game since 2000 the most blocked shots ever is by Keon Clark JaVale McGee and Hasan Whiteside who each got 12 blocks in a game and the most blocks ever in a postseason is 10 which was done by three players Mark Eaton

[00:05:44] Hakeem Olajuwon and Andrew Bynum so block shots have become harder and it's likely the 17 block shots will never be passed again the game is different the game has changed so much with the three point line at the time when Elmner was playing the three point shot was not even in the game and with a three point shot it's a lot harder to get blocks compared to when Elmner played but he still made a huge impact and holds this record that will likely never be broken

[00:06:14] and two seasons later Elmner would actually be traded part of a historic trade for the Lakers as he was one of the players traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for the Lakers to get Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

[00:06:25] and he would only play 34 games for the Bucks before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers where he would just play a couple more seasons before he was plagued with knee injuries that required him to have surgery and eventually caused him to retire after playing in the NBA for only eight seasons

[00:06:43] and due to this he's often forgot about in history but he's in the Kentucky State Athletic Hall of Fame the Georgia Hall of Fame and the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame often we forget about these players that had great seasons and great moments due to injuries shortening their career something beyond their control it's definitely possible that if Earl was able to play his entire career without injury he could have been one of the greats

[00:07:10] and could have brought us even more blocked shot numbers that were crazy but injuries is a part of the game and sadly it's taken a lot of great players from us but it's nice to always remember that moment he had blocking so many shots being a complete rim protector

[00:07:29] and if you want to dive into more Lakers content check out Lakers detailed where hosts Vinna and Raj dive into all the nitty gritty that goes into the Lakers giving you the deep dive you need to continue to grow your Laker fandom

[00:07:45] and if you enjoyed today's episode make sure you like and subscribe wherever you're at so you don't miss an episode because we'll be back tomorrow for more daily sports history

[00:07:56] and did you catch the answer today's trivia question what is the second most blocked shots in NBA history and the answer is 15 done by Manute Boll and Shaquille O'Neal