Tiny Archibald: Leading the League in Scoring and Assists

On March twenty fourth, nineteen seventy three, the Kansas City, Omaha Kings, Nate tiny Archibald becomes the very first NBA player to lead the NBA in both scoring and assist in the same season, defying the odds, standing at just sixty one amongst giants in the sports. Coming from poverty to NBA glory, Chinese journey is a testament of skill, perseverance, and never giving up on his dream of being the best. Join us today as we dive into this incredible story that shows even the smallest players can have the biggest impact on daily sports history. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge. As today we dive into tiny Archibald and It's incredible nineteen seventy three season, and today's trivia question to listen out for is how many forty point games did tiny Archibold have in his nineteen seventy three season. Listen throughout the episode to hear the answer, and if you miss it, I'll give it to you at the very end. So Nathaniel tiny Archibald was born in nineteen forty eight in the South Bronx of New York City and was the second of six kids, and he had to struggle for everything throughout his childhood, and by the age of fourteen, his father had left the family, leaving him the head of the household. Growing up in one of America's highest crime neighborhoods, he had to avoid gangs, drugs, violence, and he immersed himself in the game he loved of basketball. Though he ever grew to be very big. He showed that he had great quickness and handle for the ball and could drive to the basket with eaves. But despite the skill, he was actually cut from his high school basketball team as a sophomore, and though many kids would have given up, he stuck with it and by his junior year he made the team, but was only a benchwarmer. But he never gave up working on his craft, and by his senior year he became the starting point guard and the team captain, averaging double digits, was a team's second leading scorer, and earned all City honors for his performance, leading his high school to a city championship. But because he didn't start until his senior year and he was a smaller guard at six feet one inch, although many think that he was probably closer to five ten five eleven. Many colleges did not come knocking, and he struggled in the classroom as well, so he had to actually spend a year at Arizona Western College, a two year junior college, and this is where he really blossomed. He averaged an impressive twenty nine points over twenty seven games, proving he was dominant at a higher level of competition, and then one legendary coach came stepping in in Don Haskins from Texas Western University, and offered him an opportunity. Now, we covered Texas Western in a previous episode when they were the first team to start five African American players in a championship game, and one and three players from that championship team came from New York. So this gave Archibald the opportunity he was looking for and he was able to transfer over to Texas Western, where he got a new nickname called Nate the Skate for his electrifying way that he could just flow through the offense. In his three years at Texas Western, which later became UTEP, he averaged over twenty points a game, but the team didn't have extreme success like they had had in the past. They were just a good team, but he still caught the eye of NBA scouts and in nineteen seventy he would be selected in the second round nineteenth overall by the NATI Royals, and he was also selected by the ABA, but chose to join the more established NBA, and he made his debut, recording seventeen points in a loss to the New York Knicks, and he would come in and make an impact immediately in his rookie year, averaging sixteen points, five assists, and three rebounds, and he would continue his success the following year, averaging twenty eight points, nine assists, and three rebounds, showing that he was one of the better players in the NBA. But the Cincinnati Royals were struggling and had to relocate to Kansas City. But this was an unusual system because Kansas City and Omaha wanted to share the team so they could play half games Kansas City half games in Omaha. But Kansas City already had a team called the Royals and they didn't want that confused, so they changed their name to the Kings, so they became the Kansas City Omaha Kings in nineteen seventy two, in his third season in the NBA, would be one of the greatest seasons in NBA history. He would average thirty four points a game, leading the league and setting a record for the most points by a guard at that time. At that time, the league was led by sinners and big men, and this came from how efficient he was. He shot almost forty nine percent from the field and eighty five percent from the free throw line, and in eighteen games that season he would score over forty points, three of which he scored over fifty. But that wasn't the only thing. He also averaged eleven point four assisted game, leading the league in total assists, breaking the record for most assists in a season, and recorded three twenty plus assist games. He accounted for over thirty percent of the team's total points. But despite how successful he was, the team struggled and they ended up with a record of thirty six and forty six and did not qualify for the playoffs. But this was a change in my mind. You gotta remember this was the nineteen seventies and the previous decade was dominated by big men, with Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain taking over the league. Everyone thought you needed a big man to have success, and this guy that was barely six foot tall was running around everybody, scoring and passing, making the league take notice of what he was doing. But unfortunately, the following season he injured his achilles and gotta remember this was the nineteen seventies. Medical was not what it is today. Lots of times we see now that players struggle to come back from an achilles injury to what they were before, let alone over fifty years ago. But you see, he was still able to play thirty five games that year, averaged seventeen points and almost seven assists. Though it was a decline from the previous year that was record setting, it's still impressive for a guy that had an achilles injury. But he would come back the next season strong and play eighty two games that season, leading the team to their first winning season since he had joined the team, and he averaged twenty six points and almost seven assists, earning another All NBA selection, although in the playoffs against the Chicago Bulls he struggled, only averaging twenty points in five assists, and they would lose in the Western Conference semi finals. Due to his decline. He was actually traded to the New York Nets the following season nineteen seventy six, where he would average twenty points in just thirty four games before sustaining a severe foot injury that took him out for the next season, and again he would get traded to the Buffalo Braves, where he tore his achilles again before the nineteen seventy seven season and would not play a single game for the Buffalo Braves. Then, in nineteen seventy eight, he would join the Boston Celtics as part of a seven player trade. As he struggled battling back from his injury, he also adjusted his playthinking because the Boston Celtics didn't need him to score thirty points a game, they needed him to facilitate the offense, so he adjusted his game and in three years this would lead him to his first championship alongside NBA great Larry Bird, but only averaged thirteen points a game with almost eight assist a game, focusing on facilitating the offense and taking the step back from his previous starring role, but he had enough success that season that he would be named an NBA All Star and would be named the MVP of that game, showing he had come back from where he was from his injuries to show his resiliency to win a championship. He would play with Boston for a couple more years before playing with the Milwaukee Bucks in his last season, the nineteen eighty three to eighty four season, where he would average just seven points and three assist before he retired after fourteen seasons in the NBA. He ended up being a seventh time All Star in an MVP and in nineteen ninety one, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and he changed the game for smaller players to have success in the NBA. He was a true inspiration for players like Alan Iverson and Chris Paul, both of which had major success in scoring and assist and it was included in the NBA's Top fifty Players of all time in nineteen ninety six and top seventy five in twenty twenty one. He finished his career with over sixteen thousand points and over six thousand assists, and his season of thirty four points a game and eleven point four assists is arguably still one of the top five seasons by any player of all time. My question is do you think it's the best. I want to thank you for listening to Today's Daily Sports History. If you liked this episode, please follow us on our socials Daily Sports History on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, blue Sky, macedon, threads, LinkedIn, wherever you like to socialize. Were there, join us so you can see pictures and videos of my episodes and come back tomorrow for more Daily Sports History. And did you catch the answer to today's trivia question? How many forty point games did Tiny Archibald have in his nineteen seventy three season? And the answer is a total of eighteen games, which also included three fifty point games during this incredible, legendary season.