Basketball Mix Trivia Quiz

Answer: Shaquille O'Neal

On June 9th, 2000 in the NBA finals, Shaq attempted a stunning 39 free throws against the Indiana Pacers. Not only did he shatter the NBA record for free throw attempts in one game, he also broke the records for most free throw attempts in a half and in a quarter. Even more shocking, he broke the record for most free throws *made* in one half in a playoff game with 13.

Not so shocking, he only made 18 of his 39 total free throws attempted. Despite the rather successful Hack-a-Shaq strategy, O'Neal still scored 40 points and the Lakers defeated the Pacers 111-104.

Answer: True

In a stunning performance on March 2, 1962 against the Knicks, Wilt Chamberlain hit a surprising 88% of his free throw attempts (28-32) on his way to a 100 point night (he made 36 shots out of 63 attempts from the field). His total free throws made in the game, 28, was a record that stood unbroken and untied until 1984 when Utah's Adrian Dantley made 28 of 29 free throws to take his place alongside Wilt in the record book.

Answer: Lloyd Free

It makes sense if you put it together...World B. Free! Free was an upper echelon scorer for the 76ers, Clippers, Warriors, Cavaliers and Rockets during his 13-year career. He averaged 20.3 points per game and remained one of the top 50 NBA career scorers through the 2003-4 season.

Answer: Cornbread

Cedric Maxwell played for the Celtics for most of his career (he also played for the Clippers and Rockets). He was the MVP of the 1981 NBA finals, and scored 24 points and had eight rebounds and eight assists in the concluding game of the 1984 finals.

His number is retired for the Celtics. Maxwell's nickname 'Cornbread' is derived from the 1975 film 'Cornbread, Earl and Me', which starred Jamal Wilkes as Nathaniel 'Cornbread' Hamilton. Apparently, Maxwell's buddies thought that he resembled Wilkes.

Answer: False

Kareem did not appear in the 1973 Bruce Lee flick 'Enter the Dragon', but rather portrayed one of Lee's opponents in the 1973 film 'Game of Death' (as Hakim). Kareem also made a notable film appearance in the 1980 movie 'Airplane!' alongside Leslie Nielson, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves and others. Kareem also appeared in a number of films as himself, for example 'Forget Paris', 'D2: The Mighty Ducks' and 'Fletch'. Perhaps his greatest acting performance was as the teacher Mr. Wilkes in the 1970s-80s television show 'Diff'rent Strokes'.

Answer: 56

The Spurs were an atrocious 20-62 during the 1996-97 season, which may be partially explained by center David Robinson's notable absence from a large number of games due to injury. Despite Robinson's ailments, some NBA conspiracy theorists believe that the Spurs tanked a number of games on purpose in order to gain the #1 pick in the draft.

Indeed, the Spurs did receive the top lottery pick, and proceeded to select Tim Duncan from Wake Forest. In his first season with the Spurs, alongside a healthy David Robinson, the team went 56-26, the biggest one-season turnaround in NBA history.

Answer: Moses Malone

Moses Malone won the league MVP for the 1981-82 season with Houston, and won the following season (1982-83) with Philadelphia. Other repeat award winners include: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Steve Nash, and Tim Duncan.

Answer: Philadelphia 76ers

The league record prior to the 1971-72 Lakers, who recorded 69 wins versus 13 losses, was established during the 1966-67 season by the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers won 68 games that season against 13 losses. That year, the 76ers had Wilt Chamberlain on board alongside Hal Greer, Chet Walker and Billy Cunningham. Chamberlain was also on the 1971-72 Laker team.

Answer: Dallas

The Rockets played three games in San Antonio, going 1-2 there (losing to the Pistons and Bulls and defeating the Sonics). They recorded a 1-1 record at Waco, including a rare win over the Los Angeles Lakers (see previous question). At El Paso, the Rockets were 1-0, defeating the Cincinnati Royals.

The Rockets played that season at three different arenas in Houston: Hofheinz Pavilion, Astrohall and the Astrodome. They also played the Golden State Warriors in San Diego (twice), Seattle in Portland and Portland in Seattle (no, that isn't a typo!)

Answer: False

Not quite. Alaa Abdelnaby's name comes before Kareem's alphabetically. Abdelnaby, a native of Egypt, played for Portland, Boston and Sacramento during his five year career (1990-95).

I hope you enjoyed this quiz, thank you for playing (and please try the other quizzes in this series).