Photo from @steventurous
Written By Sam Ekstrom
Records are, as they say, made to be broken. That’s not to be confused with journalists sounding like a broken record when they wrote twice within a nine-month span that a member of the Timberwolves had delivered the most random 50-point performance of all time.
It started with Corey Brewer putting up 51 on April 11, 2014, tying Kevin Love’s franchise record. It ended with Mo Williams one-upping him with 52 on Tuesday, setting the new franchise mark in his first (and likely only) season with the team.
It was about as unexpected as the Vikings blocking two punts for touchdowns in a single game or the Minnesota Twins breaking a big league record for consecutive runs scored via home run.
Somehow, the last two guys to score 50 points in an NBA game have belonged to the team with the longest playoff drought in the league – a league with high-volume scorers like James Harden, Carmelo Anthony, Steph Curry, LeBron James, et cetera.
Of course, this oddity deserves an elaborate comparison. Whose 50-point game was flukier?
The case for Corey Brewer
- The former Wolves first-round pick had obviously never scored 50 points before, but the shocker is this: He had never even scored 30 points in roughly 500 prior games. That made him the most experienced player in history to score 50 points after never having broken 30 — something Williams had accomplished 24 times before.
- Brewer had only attempted double-digit free throws three times in his career leading up to that game. Against Houston that Friday night (in a game the Wolves won 112-110, by the way), Brewer set a career high in free throws attempted (15) and free throws made (11).
- Brewer has never been known for his offense. His career scoring average barely makes double figures at 10.1, and his top regular season average peaked at 13 ppg during his third year in Minnesota. Offense was not the forte of this career 43 percent shooter.
- There was no Kevin Love on this night for Minnesota. While this meant more touches and more offensive responsibility for Brewer, it also meant no double teams going to No. 42 and no apt-passing big man to feed the ball to Brew, who has an affinity for cherry picking to get transition lay-ups. Brewer had to deal with Dante Cunningham and “Always Ready” Robbie Hummel in the starting lineup.
- Usually when a player scores a bunch, it means they were feeling it. Probably raining triples and taking off-balance jumpers. Mo Williams, on his special night, said it was like “shooting in the Pacific.” Not Corey. The only time he chucked up anything resembling a heat check was his 50-foot prayer before halftime, which didn’t even make its way on Brewer’s claustrophobic shot chart (below).
- So basically, Brewer capitalized on a night when the Rockets – ironically, his current team – were so lazy on defense that they let a 6-foot-9, 186-pound string bean beat them at the rim like two dozen times. Pretty random.
The case for Mo Williams
- Mo is 32 years old, making him the seventh-oldest dude to ever score 50-plus. The six above him? Michael Jordan (twice), Wilt Chamberlain (twice), Karl Malone and Rick Barry.
- Williams had 24 previous games of 30 or more, yes, but only three of them had come in the last five years.
- Brewer was an every-day starter who played tons of minutes on a regular basis. Williams wasn’t. Keep in mind, he didn’t start a single game with Portland last year and was never expected to start a game in Minnesota. It just so happens that one of the team’s point guards turned his ankle at a 90-degree angle and the other, well, can’t really play point guard. By necessity, Williams was forced into the role. Even so, the 43 minutes, 48 seconds Williams logged was his first time in 11 starts all season playing over 40 minutes.
- Williams went 6 for 11 from 3-point land against Indiana on Tuesday. He’d shot just 26 percent from downtown in the month of December. Furthermore, he was coming off a 2-for-10 performance from the field against San Antonio; nothing to indicate a possible explosion.
- Finally, um, the Wolves are just awful. The fact that they could possibly generate a 50-point scorer with anybody on their depleted, inexperienced, tank-worthy roster is beyond comprehension. Williams may very well belong to the worst team in history to produce a half-century scoring night. Only 70 players ever have bested Williams’ single-game performance, and on a list packed with the surnames Jordan, Bryant, Wilkins, Iverson, Malone and O’Neal, that bold statement above isn’t hyperbole whatsoever.
Congrats, Mo. You are the randomest 50-point scorer in Timberwolves history.
Sam Ekstrom is a staff writer for Cold Omaha at 105 The Ticket and a play-by-play broadcaster in Burnsville, Minn. Hear him on 105 The Ticket Sunday mornings from 8-10 a.m. on “The Wake Up Call.” Follow him on Twitter @SamEkstrom for further insights.