On episode 24 of Casual Diehard (available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts), we talked a bit about Anthony Davis' habit of putting up big numbers in a loss. A little research on Stathead shows that it's not just a vibes-based narrative, but that Davis is second both among active players, and this season in scoring 25 points, recording a double-double, and still suffering defeat.
This is a statistic that definitely is about quality of teammates, as the Lakers -- especially when LeBron James is out -- need Davis to play a huge role to have a chance on a lot of nights. Earlier in his career, Davis' task was to put the New Orleans Pelicans on his back, and regularly fall short because there wasn't much else there.
The career leader in this, not surprisingly, is Wilt Chamberlain with a combined 275 regular-season and playoff losses when recording 25-point double-double. Then it's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 226, Elgin Baylor at 195, Elvin Hayes 191, and Walt Bellamy 187. Make no mistake, you have to be awesome to regularly put up 25 with a double-double, win or lose.
The problem is, hardly anyone has lost those games like Davis. Of the players who have had at least 100 of these losses, only Bellamy -- whom the Knicks traded to Detroit for Dave DeBusschere as they built their 1970s title teams -- had more losses than wins (138-187). Davis' winning percentage when he has a 25-point double-double is .595 (172-117), which ranks ahead of only Elvin Hayes (264-191, .580), Bob McAdoo (155-139, .527), and Bellamy.
LeBron, meanwhile, is 340-127 when he has a 25-point double-double, a .728 winning percentage in such games bettered by Larry Bird (232-71, .766) and Jerry West (158-44, .782), whose 505 combined such games are barely more than King James' 467. (Still a ways away from the 694 times that Wilt had 25 points and a double-double, though.)
The best news for Davis on this front is that coming up fast is Karl-Anthony Towns, who has an 88-89 career record in his 25-point double-doubles. The question if they wind up squaring off in the playoffs is back down to what makes this stat interesting: a 39-year-old LeBron James on Davis' side, against a 22-year-old Anthony Edwards leading the Timberwolves.
Towns has the distinct disadvantage of being the guy whose game inspired the title of this episode, in which we also reviewed All-Star weekend and talked a bunch about the Knicks and Celtics. Enjoy!