NBA Records: The Quadruple Double

A quadruple-double is the pinnacle of the NBA records. It has only been performed five time in the history of the NBA. A quadruple, specifically, is having four different statistical categories being filled with at least ten of that statistic. In other words, a player must have at least ten points in four of the five following categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks.

The quadruple was stemmed off of the commonly occurring double-double. The definition of a double-double is having double digits in two categories. Therefore, a triple-double occurs when a player records double digits in three categories. The quadruple, because of the high amount of statistics needed to pull off, it rarely ever occurs. Here are the first five times it has occurred. Amazingly, the team on the road had the player that recorded this amazing feat.

The first time a quadruple occurred was a game between Chicago and Atlanta, where Nate Thurmond lit up the box score. The date was October 18, 1974. He had twenty-two points, fourteen rebounds, thirteen assists, and twelve blocks. This was the only quadruple to have more than ten in all four categories.

The next time it happened was twelve years later, occurring on February 18, 1986. Alvin Robertson was able to get a quadruple when the Spurs faced the Phoenix Suns. He was able to record twenty points, eleven rebounds, ten assists, and ten steals. It is the only quadruple double that was recorded with double digit steals and not blocks.

The third quadruple occurred on March 3, 1990 by Hakeem Olajuwon. His 29 points, eighteen points, ten assists, and eleven blocks helped his Houston Rockets beat Golden State. This helped the Houston Rockets beat them by twenty-six points.

Then, just twenty-six days later, the quadruple happened again. The most amazing part was it was done by...Hakeem Olajuwon. Although he didn't get better statistics, he did record eighteen points, sixteen rebounds, ten assists and ten blocks to record his second quadruple in one month. This was certainly one of the most impressive feats done in the history of the game. They were playing the Milwaukee Bucks and beat them by twenty points.

The final quadruple that occurred was done by David Robinson. Playing against Detroit, David Robinson was able to lead his Spurs to a twenty point win over Detroit. Including in the win, he was able to score thirty-four points, ten rebounds, ten assists, and ten blocks.

Wikipedia, Quadruple-Double