Blake Griffin recorded his 19th consecutive double-double in Monday night’s 100-99 win over the Kings in Sacramento by posting 24 points and adding fourteen rebounds. Griffin has notched a total of twenty-five double-doubles on the year already and is entering extremely rare territory in this always essential category - if he posts one more game with at least ten points and ten boards he’ll become the only rookie since 1986 to have a twenty-game double-double streak.
And he’s proving himself to be quite the reliable 20/10 machine.
That’s exactly what Blake has become, by the way, as he has posted 20 or more points in fifteen of the games on his current run.
I know I’ve been on a Blake Griffin kick this year (who hasn’t) but the historical nature of his rookie season cannot be denied and I won’t stop posting updates on his accomplishments for the sake of monotony.
Although nothing about Blake’s game is monotonous.
Now, just how rare is this double-double streak by Griffin in the scope of NBA history?
Before I go on, I’m basing my research off the tools available at Basketball-Reference.com so I only have access to streaks beginning in 1986. I realize that Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elvin Hayes, among others surely have Griffin’s number but for now we’re going to focus on the time frame between 1986-2010.
So let’s begin with this statistical nugget: Blake is one of just two rookies since the 1986-87 season to record ninteen or more double-doubles in a season and he’s still going strong. The other is Emeka Okafor, who accomplished this feat in 2004.
Dwight Howard never accomplished this. Neither did Tim Duncan. Or Shaq, for that matter.
So he’s already about to enter a class by himself when it comes to the modern era.
Now, how about streaks by non-rookies? Take a look at the table below:
DOUBLE-DOUBLE STREAKS OF 19 OR MORE GAMES SINCE 1986-87
** **
SEASON(S)
PLAYER
STREAK
2006
Kevin Garnett
37
1986-87
Charles Barkley
26
1991
Hakeem Olajuwon
26
2009
David Lee
24
1991
Charles Barkley
23
1991
Kevin Willis
21
2010
Dwight Howard
20
1986-87
Michael Cage
19
1991
Kevin Willis
19
2010
Blake Griffin
19
1996
Charles Barkley
19
2003
Kevin Garnett
19
2004
Kevin Garnett
19
2004
Kevin Garnett
19
2008
Paul Millsap
19
2004
Emeka Okafor
19
Kevin Love is also about to enter this list if he can record a double-double tonight against the Nuggets. He’s having a fantastic season as well, if you haven’t noticed.
As I mentioned in a previous article that you can READ HERE Griffin is already on pace to join Wilt, Kareem, Shaq, and a select few others by averaging over twenty points and twelve rebounds in his rookie campaign.
Now, with this double-double streak intact, he continues to blaze his own unique trail of excellence in NBA history.
Congrats, Blake.
Now the NBA needs to do us all a favor and invite the man to this year’s dunk contest!
UPDATE: Griffin posted 30 points and 12 rebounds last night to record his twentieth-consecutive double-double and set the record. Now he’s just seventeen away from Kevin Garnett’s post-1986 mark. Go for it, Blake!
**Also, Kevin Love recorded his 19th consecutive double-double last night as well. Huge season for the Wolves forward so far! **