Starting 5 Daily Newsletter

NBA Starting 5, Oct. 18: Wait, This Has Only Happened 4 Times?

The 1st quadruple-double. Boston 3 party. Early impressions of CP3/Poole. 5 players on All-Star cusp. WNBA Finals Game 4.

October 18, 2023 1:22 PM

Want to get the Starting 5 delivered to you each day? Tap here.

What’s Inside?

A Boston ‘3’ Party 🔥
CP3 & Poole with new squads 🏀
Potential 1st-time All-Stars ⭐
W Finals: Game 4 preview ♦️ 🆚🗽
49 Years Ago: 1st Quad-Double 🔟✖ 4️⃣

This Day In History

A trio of NBA 75 Anniversary Team members made their NBA debuts on Oct. 18, while another made his ABA debut.

🏀 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1969
🏀 Earl Monroe, 1967
🏀 Bill Walton, 1974
🏀 Moses Malone, 1974 (ABA)

A BOSTON ‘3’ PARTY 🔥

It was raining 3s inside TD Garden in Boston on Tuesday as the Celtics handled the Knicks 123-100 to improve to 3-1 on the preseason.

Boston made 16 3s in the 1st half, 2nd-most in a preseason half since 2000 (17 by Houston in 2018)
The C’s finished the night 23-of-52 (44.2%) with 7 different players knocking down multiple 3s
Jayson Tatum stuffed the stat sheet with 28 PTS, 8 REB, 5 3PM, 4 AST, 3 STL, 1 BLK
NY’s Quentin Grimes still finished with the most 3s on the night as he knocked down 7 of the Knicks’ 19

5 More Games From Tuesday

Pelicans 104, Magic 92: Zion Williamson made the most of his 16 minutes, finishing with 16 points and 5 steals. First, he picked Paolo Banchero’s pocket to set up an alley-oop dunk. Next, he broke up a pass to Banchero and took it all the way for the throwdown 💥
Raptors 106, Bulls 102: Scottie Barnes had 22 points, 6 boards, 4 blocks and 3 assists (this pass to himself did not count), while Pascal Siakam added 22 of his own. For Chicago the trio of Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and DeMar DeRozan combined for 60 in the loss 🦖
Thunder 124, Bucks 101: Josh Giddey had 19 points, 7 boards and 5 assists (including this feed to Chet Holmgren as the big man slipped the screen for an open dunk). Chet posted 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting and a block on Damian Lillard, who had just 5 points in his 2nd game with the Bucks ⚡️
Timberwolves 138, Maccabi Ra’anana 111: With the Wolves sitting their regular starters, reserves like Luka Garza made the most of their extra minutes, as he finished with 30 points, including this And-1 in the paint 💪
Clippers 116, Nuggets 103: Paul George needed only 18 1st half minutes to put up 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting and 5 boards in the Clippers win as Denver sat its regular starters. And don’t miss this set of moves and finish by LA’s Bones Hyland against his former team 🌪

TONIGHT: BOTH SIDES OF A SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER 🔀

In a summer filled with marquee players on the move, one of the most intriguing was Chris Paul being traded to Golden State for Jordan Poole.

Longtime playoff adversaries became teammates with a common goal in mind: the Larry O’Brien Trophy – a 5th for the Warriors core and the 1st for Paul.

But the acquisition brought questions:

How would CP3 fit next to Steph and Klay?
Would Paul start or come off the bench?
Would his pick-and-roll game slow down the offense?
Would the personalities involved be able to mesh?

Wednesday gives us another chance to see how things look when Paul and the Warriors take on the Kings (10 pm ET, NBA TV).

Paul has started both of his preseason games, posting a total of 12 points and 9 assists in 33 minutes

While the Warriors moved on from Poole, one of their young players, Jonathan Kuminga, is tied with Tyler Herro as the NBA’s preseason leading scorer (26 ppg)

Meanwhile, Poole gets a fresh start in DC, joining a team that moved its 2 biggest stars – Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis – to build a young core around Kyle Kuzma, Poole and No. 7 overall pick Bilal Coulialy.

Poole brings a new energy and championship experience as he was a key contributor to the Warriors’ 2022 title team

Through 2 preseason games, Poole is averaging 14.5 points, 3.0 3-pointers on 37.5% shooting. He’ll look to bounce back from a rough shooting night (2-13) against Charlotte when the Wizards face the Knicks (7:30 pm ET, League Pass)

More games to keep an eye on Wednesday night:

Nets at Heat (7:30 pm ET, NBA TV): Of the 178 players that have attempted 10+ 3s this preseason, 3 of the top 4 players in 3P% are in this game: Miami’s Jamal Cain (70%), Brooklyn’s Spencer Dinwiddie (64.3%) and Cam Thomas (61.5%)

Rockets at Spurs (8 pm ET, League Pass): After missing Monday’s game against the Rockets, Victor Wembanyama is expected to play when the teams meet in San Antonio. This should deliver a fun matchup with Jabari Smith Jr. (15 PPG, 8.3 RPG this preseason)

WNBA Finals, Game 4 (8 pm ET, ESPN): The Liberty look to push the series to a winner-take-all Game 5. See Section 4 for a full preview ⬇️

Reminder: Lineups change quickly in the preseason. Stay up to date at the NBA App.

WHO COULD BE 1ST-TIME ALL-STARS? ⭐️

If recent seasons are any indication, expect to see some new faces at NBA All-Star when the festivities come to Indy in February.

A total of 13 players made their 1st All-Star appearance in either 2022 or 2023:

2022 (7 players): Jarrett Allen, LaMelo Ball, Darius Garland, Ja Morant, Dejounte Murray, Fred VanVleet, Andrew Wiggins

2023 (6 players): Anthony Edwards, De’Aaron Fox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Lauri Markkanen

NBA.com’s Michael C. Wright breaks down 5 notable players who haven’t been selected for an All-Star Game yet, but may have their best chance this year.

W FINALS: CAN LIBERTY SEND IT TO 5? 🏆

After keeping their season alive with a Game 3 win on Sunday, the New York Liberty need to defend their home court one more time if they hope to send the WNBA Finals back to Las Vegas for a winner-take-all Game 5 on Friday.

Here are 4 things you need to know going into tonight’s Game 4 (8 pm ET, ESPN)

No Gray or Stokes for Las Vegas: Aces coach Becky Hammon announced the team will be without 2 starters for Game 4 with PG Chelsea Gray and C Kiah Stokesboth out with foot injuries. Both would be questionable in a potential Game 5
Has the momentum shifted to NY?: The Liberty played their game for the first time in the series: 28 assists on 33 made baskets, 13 made 3s on 43% shooting, a combined 47 PTS and 20 REB from their 2 MVPs Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones. Now they just need to do it 2 more times.
Aces remain 1 win away: Despite the challenge of playing short-handed, the Aces still have 2 chances to get 1 win to become the 1st team in 21 years to win back-to-back WNBA titles.
Can Candace Parker go?: Hammon did not close the door on 2-time MVP and 2-time WNBA champ Candace Parker being available for the rest of the series. Parker has been out since July 7 with a foot injury.

5. 49 YEARS AGO. AND JUST 3 TIMES SINCE 🔟✖4️⃣

On Oct. 18, 1974, Nate Thurmond recorded the NBA’s first quadruple-double with 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocks in Chicago’s 120-115 overtime win over Atlanta.

It remains one of just four quadruple-doubles recorded in league history, as he was joined by Alvin Robertson (1986), Hakeem Olajuwon (1990) and David Robinson (1994).

A near 3-decade drought: While there has been a huge spike in triple-doubles over the past few seasons in the NBA, a quadruple-double has not been seen in 29 years

One important caveat: Steals and blocks were not officially tracked by the NBA until the 1973-74 season, which means recording a quadruple-double was impossible for the first 27 seasons of the league. That means no Wilt Chamberlain (78 career triple-doubles, countless off-the-charts statistical performances) and Oscar Robertson (181 career triple-doubles)

Exactly how rare is a quadruple-double? From the 1973-74 season until today, there have been a total of 54,037 NBA regular season games played. If we do the math [4 / 54037] we see that a quadruple-double has been recorded in 0.0074% of NBA games. Let’s see how that compares to other long odds: