Carmelo Anthony's single-point outing last night felt pretty unusual, so I waddled over to Basketball Reference to see how often in history his feat had been matched. I defined "his feat" as:
- One point scored (and, therefore, no field goals made)
- Started and played 30+ minutes (Melo played 29:38, so other guys in this club might look down on him, but oh well. Changing it to 29+ minutes a game doesn't add any names and makes me twitch, so we're rounding up.)
- The player's team won the game
- Only one free throw attempted (i.e. No shooting fouls drawn. The only attempt and point was a technical free throw. There's no other way a guy could attempt just a single free throw without hitting any field goals, right?)
That last qualification is the big eliminator, because plenty of folks have done all of the above while taking multiple free throws but only converting one of them. These are guys who started, played starter's minutes, won the game, and scored exactly one point on a technical free throw without even attempting other free throws. Take the jump for the monumentally important list.
The list, from most to least recent:
Carmelo Anthony, New York (2012, 7 field goals attempted)
Jason Kidd, Dallas (2011, 4 FGA)
Damon Stoudamire, Portland (2002, 6 FGA)
Doug Christie, Sacramento (2002, 3 FG)
Bryant Stith, Boston (2001, 5 FGA)
Dennis Rodman, Dallas (2000, 1 FGA)
Damon Stoudamire, Portland (1998, 6 FGA)
Chuck Person, San Antonio (1998, 9 FGA)
Dikembe Mutombo, Denver (1994, 1 FGA)
Chris Dudley, New Jersey (1993, 4 FGA)
John Stockton, Utah (1990, 8 FGA)
That list mostly makes sense. Those are mainly good free throw shooters who, like Melo, would be called upon to shoot a free throw in a technical situation. What Dennis Rodman and Dikembe Mutombo are doing on that list, I have no idea (Update: Check the comments. Good theory.). A couple folks bested Melo's rebounding and assisting numbers during their one-point outings, and a few attempted more shots, and one man (Stoudamire) did it twice, but, to Melo's credit, nobody on that list even comes close to his season's scoring average. I feel comfortable now saying that Carmelo Anthony is the best scorer to ever score one point in a game that he started and played 30 or more minutes of while attempting only a single free throw, or at least he's the best to do it since B-Ref has been keeping data. Congratulations, Melo!