Unknown NBA Block King

On October twenty eighth, nineteen Dangels Lakers are taking on the Portland Trailblazers when their new sinner 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 seteen, putting Elmore Smith in the record books with the record he still holds to this day. Today, we're going to dive into how Elbnor got to this point and how he 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? Elmnor 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 five to eleven and didn't even make the basketball team. But over the next two years he would have a huge growth spurt and go up to seven feet tall as a junior, and at that point the school basically forced him to play as the principal threatened and said, if you don't go out for the basketball team, I'm going to 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 scholarships offers. But at the time, just being seven foot meant you were getting looks from anybody, So he was able to still get three scholarships offers for just being tall, and he took one from Kentucky State, who at the time was in a school. We covered NII 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 nineteen seventy and nineteen seventy one National IA Championships, playing alongside Travis Grant, who would also make it to the NBA. And he still holds the record for the most resounds 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 twenty five point five points and twenty four point two rebounds. These were incredible numbers for anybody, and despite being from this small school, when the NBA draft came around in nineteen seventy one, he was taken third overall by the Buffalo Braves. In his first NBA season, he picked up right where he left off in college, scoring seventeen points and averaging teen point two rebounds, being named to the All Rookie team, and he would continue that in his second season, but in nineteen seventy three, he would be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, which was in an exciting time for him as he originally thought he was going to get to play with the great Wilt Chamberlain, but before the season started, Wilt retired and it turns out Elmore was going to be taking over for Wilt Chamberlain as he was retiring, so Umnor had big shoes to fill that season. And though his numbers dipped this season, averaging twelve points and eleven rebounds, and the Lakers had just come off of a finals appearance winning over sixty games, this season, they only won forty seven games, but still won their division and finished second in the conference as they still had some great players on their teams such as Jerry West and pat Riley, and he would go on to lead the league in block shots with four point nine a game. But none stood out more than when they took on the Portland Trail Blazers on October twenty eighth, nineteen seventy three, as it was still early in the season and the Lakers got off to a good start that season. They were seven to two at the time facing off against the Blazers who were four and four, and the Lakers took an early lead with Umner dominating the competition as they would have a nine point lead at the half would have eleven 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 one eleven to ninety eight, with Gail Goodrich of the Los Angeles Lakers leading the way scoring forty nine points, but his teammate Earl Smith would finish the game with teen blocks, a record that he still holds this day. I would actually finish with seventeen blocks, twelve points, and teen rebounds, giving him a triple double. Now, if you remember in our episode about Nate Thurman, who was the first player to get a quadruphle double. They didn't start recording the block shot until this year in nineteen seventy three, so yes, someone probably blocked more. Honestly, the guy who took over, well Chamberlain probably had you know, twenty plus block shots, but we don't have any record of it, so we can only go back from nineteen seventy three on. But despite this being the first season that they recorded the blocks, it is still the record in just two days earlier. He had actually set the record before where he blocked over fourteen shots, so this one week set him apart. And the second most block shots ever recorded were by Minute Bull who got fifteen twice and Shaquille O'Neal who also got fifteen, and Mark Eaton is the only other player to even get to fourteen blocks in a game since two thousand. The most block shots ever is by Keon Clark, Javelle McGhee and Hassan Whiteside, who each got twelve blocks in a game, and the most blocks ever in a postseason is ten. What's done by three players, Mark Eaton, Nakeem Elijahan, and Andrew Bindam so block shots have become harder and it's likely the seventeen 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 I 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 of this record that will likely never be broken. 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, and he would only play thirty four games for the Bucks before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he would just play a couple more seasons before he was played with knee injuries that required him to have surgery and eventually caused him to retire after playing in the NBA for only eight seasons, 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 in the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame. Often we forget about these players that had great seasons and great moments due to injuries shortening the career something beyond their control. It's definitely possible that if Earle was able to play his entire career without injury, he could have been one of the greats and could have brought us even more block 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. 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. And if you enjoy 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. And did you catch the answer today's trivia question what is the second get most blocked shots in NBA history? And the answer is fifteen done by minute, bowl and Shaquille O'Neill