Moses Malone in 1981-1982 had one of the greatest seasons ever...

[dankok8]

I always knew it was a great season but upon further analysis I think it's on a very short list of the greatest ever. Only Wilt and Kareem in their peak years ever dominated throughout the regular season so thoroughly. Funny thing is Moses started the year a bit slow but the second half of the season he was as dominant as any player ever. He just steamrolled the best centers in the league. For the entire season he averaged 31.1 ppg and 14.7 rpg on 51.9% shooting. He was second in the league in scoring and led in rebounding, PER, and Win Shares.

Month-by-Month:

October (2 games): 39.0 ppg, 10.5 rpg

November (15 games): 25.3 ppg, 13.7 rpg

December (12 games): 28.5 ppg, 15.4 rpg

January (13 games): 28.7 ppg, 13.8 rpg

February (14 games): 38.1 ppg, 17.3 rpg on 55% shooting

March (16 games): 35.0 ppg, 14.1 rpg

April (9 games): 28.1 ppg, 15.6 rpg



During the all-star game on January 31st, Moses had 12 points and 11 rebounds in just 20 minutes played but West coach Pat Riley decided to bench Moses in the 4th quarter in favor of Kareem. The West lost the game and Moses was pissed and this event is rumored to have motivated his tear on the league. For 33 straight games from February 2nd to April 6th, Moses averaged 36.0 ppg and 15.8 rpg.

His game against Sikma and the Supersonics on February 11th is one of the all-time legendary performances. Moses outrebounded the entire Seattle team 32-21, grabbed an NBA record 21 offensive rebounds, and outrebounded center Jack Sikma by a 32-3 margin (and also outscored him 38-16). Sikma was in his prime that season averaging 19.6/12.7 and one of the best defenders and rebounders in the league.


Here are his performances against the best centers in the league.


vs. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (5 games)

Moses: 34.8 ppg, 15.8 rpg

Kareem: 21.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.2 apg on 51.8% shooting

Kareem left one game in the 1st half with an ankle injury but Moses still killed an aging Kareem. Moses had games of 36/10, 37/22, 23/9, 39/17, and 37/21 against the Lakers.

81-82 Season

10/30/1981

Kareem: 33/10/2 (11/25, 11/16)
Moses: 36/10 (18/?, 0/2)

Rockets win 113-112 in double OT. Moses scores a game-winning lay-up with one second remaining.

11/11/1981

Kareem: 21/9/3 (9/21, 3/3)
Moses: 37/22 (15/?, 7/9)

Lakers win 95-93. Kareem had 4 points in the last minute to fuel the Lakers comeback.

11/29/1981

Kareem: 23/3/4 (10/14, 3/5)
Moses: 23/9 (9/?, 5/6)

Lakers win 122-104. Magic had 12/11/11 for LA and Hayes had a 30/12 game for Houston.

3/21/1982

Kareem: 12/6/4 (6/9, 0/1)
Moses: 39/17 (12/?, 15/18)

Lakers win 107-102. Kareem left the first half with an ankle injury and did not return. Moses had 25 points in that half and just 14 in the second. Magic took over late.

4/6/1982

Kareem: 20/3/3 (7/14, 6/8)
Moses: 37/21 (9/?, 19/21)

Lakers win 108-97.

Cumulative Stats

Kareem: 21.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.2 apg on 51.8 %FG/69.7 %FT/55.9 %TS
Moses: 34.4 ppg, 15.8 rpg on 82.1 %FT

Moses just dominated Kareem this year in 3 out of the 5 games. He’s the clear winner here.

vs. Robert Parish (2 games)

Moses: 37.5 ppg, 11.5 rpg

Parish: 11.0 ppg

Moses had games of 37/11 and 38/12 against the Celtics.


vs. Jack Sikma (5 games)

Moses: 31.4 ppg, 16.0 rpg

Sikma: 17.8 rpg

Moses had games of 21/11, 28/15, 24/9, 38/32, and 46/13 against the Sonics.


vs. Mychal Thompson (5 games)

Moses: 36.2 ppg, 13.6 rpg, 1.4 apg on 60.8% shooting

Thompson: 21.4 ppg, 12.4 rpg, 3.4 apg on 59.3% shooting

Moses had games of 28/10, 34/8, 29/20, 49/12, and 41/18 against the Blazers.


vs. Artis Gilmore (2 games)

Moses: 29.0 ppg, 16.0 rpg

Gilmore: 21.5 ppg

Moses had games of 31/16 and 27/? against the Bulls.



Overall in 19 games against the five best centers in the league above, Moses averaged a monstrous 33.8 ppg and 14.8 rpg. He went 17-1-1 in scoring and we don't have rebounds for all games but of course he dominated them pretty badly on the glass.

[Marchesk]

21 offensive rebounds in a game

That would just demoralize a defense. That beats scoring 60 in a game.

[Duggrr]

Month-by-Month:

October (2 games): 39.0 ppg, 10.5 rpg

November (15 games): 25.3 ppg, 13.7 rpg

December (12 games): 28.5 ppg, 15.4 rpg

January (13 games): 28.7 ppg, 13.8 rpg

February (14 games): 38.1 ppg, 17.3 rpg on 55% shooting

March (16 games): 35.0 ppg, 14.1 rpg

April (9 games): 28.1 ppg, 15.6 rpg

[TiagoSimoes]

thats some ridiculous shit over there. sadly, today a big with a 20/10 is amazing, when in the past you had these monsters

[Marchesk]

A 38/32 game is just sick. But didn't Love have a 30 rebound game at some point?

[La Frescobaldi]

A 38/32 game is just sick. But didn't Love have a 30 rebound game at some point?

Against the Knicks tho, and Stoudamire who was pretty much always a deficit on defense.

[dankok8]

Moses' domination against the best in the league was unreal. And that Seattle game is crazy. Outrebounded the whole Seattle team 32-21, outrebounded Sikma 32-3! Remember Sikma averaged 12.7 rpg that season!

[Marchesk]

Moses' domination against the best in the league was unreal. And that Seattle game is crazy. Outrebounded the whole Seattle team 32-21, outrebounded Sikma 32-3! Remember Sikma averaged 12.7 rpg that season!

Moses must have been seriously amped for that game. Getting 21 offensive boards takes a lot of energy!

[B-hoop]

Damn, serious domination! Nice thread OP

[GimmeThat]

thats some ridiculous shit over there. sadly, today a big with a 20/10 is amazing, when in the past you had these monsters

I only got to see Shaq play.

but yea, pretty much

[Pointguard]

Moses was a freight train. Once he got going, opposing centers had this watch the greatness thing going on. It was a bit wild because it all came from a hard hat "I will outwork you" type of approach. Moses never appeared to be much bigger than other centers but a lot of times they weren't in the game after the third quarter.

[Gotterdammerung]

Great thread.

I wonder if anyone will do one about the head to head matchups between Hakeem Olajuwon and Moses Malone? I realize Hakeem was drafted at the end of Moses' prime, but their careers overlapped long enough.

[jlip]

Just a little more info.

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=272312

[Lakers2877]

Hes criminally underrated. He was a bad dude

[Psileas]

Moses' domination against the best in the league was unreal. And that Seattle game is crazy. Outrebounded the whole Seattle team 32-21, outrebounded Sikma 32-3! Remember Sikma averaged 12.7 rpg that season!

I bet his rebounding rate that game was something crazy, as well, and, despite this, it would only be the 3rd-4th most impressive statistical fact of it, after the 32-21 outrebounding (outrebounding a team is freakishly hard, let alone doing it by 11 boards, probably an all-time record) and outrebounding Sikma 32-3, (which may be the biggest rebounding domination a great rebounder might have ever suffered in a game) along with the number of offensive rebounds he got. 5th most impressive thing would be his 38 points.

Some bigs are too size and strength conscious, and this is one of their biggest weaknesses. Wilt often was so, Gilmore was as well, Yao was, Robinson wasn't much into banging bodies, either. Mo Malone, like Shaq, was among the ones who didn't give a crap and would punish you as much as the refs would allow. And his relentlessness was awarded with lots of fouls drawn - and you couldn't hack-a-Mo, another weakness of many bigs that Malone didn't have.

Kind of disappointingly short postseason, though, with those best of 3 series...