Youtube Historical Sports

[matchesmalone]

Wasn't sure where to put this...

My new addiction and passtime for working night shifts has been watching old sports videos on Youtube. They have complete games for many famous or historical games/events. So far I've watched the Michael Jordan flu game, Kobe's 81 points, Ali-Frazier part I (and will soon watch the rest of the trilogy). Also high on my to-watch list are Allen Iverson's game one of the 2001 (?) Finals, with 48 points and 12 assists,
and a couple more MJ games, and right now I'm about to watch the 2017 U18 hockey gold medal game. Wanna see Vesalainen and Heiskanen playing in their own age group, and 2018 draft eligibles Quinn Hughes, Jesse Ylonen and Oliver Wahlstrom. I actually don't remember who won, so this should be fun, and I'm fully expecting Heiskanen to play 30 minutes.

There doesn't seem to be much for hockey in terms of individual performances. I can go back and watch all the recent medal games from U18 and U20s, which is super cool. But I'm having trouble thinking of or finding games of remarkable individual performances. There is a 5 goal Mario Lemieux game. Obviously basketball is a lot more susceptible to these kinds of individual performances than is hockey, or certainly, remarkable performances show up more clearly on the scoresheet.

As for NBA games, watching the Kobe game was fun, but I think more fun than seeing one player just scoring a ton of points, would be a more all-round game. Does anybody know of any huge double or triple double games? Like 30 or 40 points to go with 20 assists or rebounds or anything like that? Same goes for hockey, but it's tougher to even know what to look for. More telling than the number of points or goals would be the number of high quality scoring chances, and how clutch of a situation it is.

Anybody with any ideas for me?

[matchesmalone]

So I discovered this site, basketball-reference.com and it is awesome. A huge database that can do more than anyone could ever need. You can search for single game performances based on a wide variety of factors. I discovered that in fact no NBA player has ever put up 40 points and 20 assists in on game. The closest was AI once, with 44 and 15. Magic Johnson once put up 32 and 20. But you can break it down to only search playoff games, or even more specifically, Finals games, which is what I do, because they are much more likely to be on Youtube. In pretty typical fashion for a wannabe academic like myself, I probably now spend as much time researching games to watch than I do actually watching them.

I tried watching the Lemieux 5 goal game - it was against the Rangers, their NHL record setting 16th consecutive win. After that, I decided I will mostly stick with basketball, and maybe some boxing, because I'm watching mostly for impressive individual performances, and I mean, even Lemieux only plays probably 20 minutes a game, and so for two thirds of it you're just watching an ordinary, old hockey game. This game was a bit of an exception, because the Pens also had a young Jaromir Jagr, but he often played on a line with Lemieux anyway, and not often you will find two players with dominant performances in one game...

I just finished watching the Suns vs. Nets in a double OT regular season game from 2006. This was during Steve Nash's MVP reign, and Jason Kidd was still more or less at the tail end of his prime. Obviously the stats are a bit skewed cus of 2OT, but Nash put up 42 points and 13 assists for a total of at least 68 points contributed to, and I believe 71 to be exact, as I think I counted three of his assists were on three-pointers. Kidd, not to be outdone, put up 38 points, 14 assists and 14 boards. Wows, what a fun game to watch. It's a lot more fun when there's at least two players (especially one on each side) putting together remarkable performances like that. Of all these old games I've been watching, f I were to recommend one for people to check out, this would be it. The way both of these players just control the game for their teams is pretty amazing. And Steve Nash in his prime - I can't think of many things in the history of sports more fun to watch.

Next up, I think I'm gonna move on from the playmakers and go on a big man kick. In game one of the 2003 Finals, Tim Duncan puts up 32 points, 20 boards, 6 assists and 7 blocks. And then one where Hakeem Olajuwan scores 49 points to go with 25 boards. And then of course Shaq has a ton of monster games, but I think for him, I'll try to find one where him and Kobe both have remarkable performances. In fact, in one of the games I already watched - game one of the 2001 Finals, where Iverson had 48 points - Shaq also had over 40 points and 20 boards.

[matchesmalone]

OK just to try to sell this Suns-Nets game a little more: by the end of the third quarter, Nash and Kidd both already had most of their assists for the game, but only about half of their points. And then suddenly the two of them just simply took over the game between them. And you can pinpoint basically the exact moment it happens. A couple of minutes into the 4th quarter, Nash hits a long three, and then Kidd goes up and scores, and then literally for about two minutes, the two of them just exchange baskets. During this time, neither of them misses a shot and nobody else shoots for either team. Two of the greatest point guards of all time, dialed in, going head to head, shot for shot, and then for the rest of the game they put on a show; hardly anybody else scores, and if they do, Nash or Kidd probably has the assist.

There were 30 lead changes throughout regulation alone. That's not a hyperbole. 30. I think it was 125-125 at the end of regulation and both teams were shooting 50% or better. Oh and Vince Carter and Shawn Marion also both had 30+ points. Just an offensive spectacle, with everything running through the two star point guards. Two of the great offensive performances I've seen, all wrapped up in one game - so good that the fates couldn't jam pack it into a regulation basketball game, but needed two extra periods of five minute OT.

[Josh]

Cool idea.

1952, NHL - Bill Mosienko hat trick in 21 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E70PL_tW6Z0
1962, NBA - Wilt Chamberlain 100 point game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxMeEzhvNRs
1976, NHL - Darryl Sittler 10 point game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GqeFP7ubPs
1990, NFL - Derrick Thomas 7 sacks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXwWTSZXsgg
1993, MLB - Mark Whiten 4HR 12RBI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlZNCjURSWk
1994, CFL - Matt Dunigan throws for 713 yards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cfVqhcU1QE
1994, NBA - David Robinson quadruple-double: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkpT0QdUDIY
1994. NHL - Dominic Hasek's 70 saves in ECF Game 6 OT4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqRyEUj9Ync
2007, NFL - Adrian Peterson (rookie year) rushes for 296 yards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qmw5rLgW9g
2007, NFL - Rob Bironas kicks a record 8 field goals: (can't find video)

2010, NFL - Michael Vick throws for 333 yards, 4 touchdowns, no interceptions and runs for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcWJbXTX1IE
2011, Champions League - Lionel Messi scores 5 goals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPgk7PWOpN4
2012, X Games - Shaun White perfect score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y43FolFlY78
2016, PGA - Jim Furyk breaks 59: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywctGXDNUus
2017, MLB - Anthony Rendon Goes 6-for-6, Blasts 3 Home Runs, 10 RBI vs. Mets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb8Fs--zZ10

Pretty much any perfect game thrown by a pitcher in MLB.

[Josh]

Those are only highlights, but might give you something to look for if you want to find the full associated events.

[matchesmalone]

Haha oh good God. At first I thought they were full games, and when I saw the Hasek 70 save game I got so excited I tried to watch it on the spot, even though I had to be in bed already. I guess lucky for my body it wasn't really there. It made me realize though, my complaint about hokey games - that the star player you're watching the game explicitly for, would only play 20 of 60 minutes, vs. B-ball, where players will play 40+ of 48 mins - would be solved by watching for a goalie performance, as they play the full game and are constantly making plays throughout. Unfortunately, I found almost nothing for Hasek. Also tried J.S. Giguere from the '03 run and Olaf Kolzig from '98 but haven't found much yet.

Also, I discovered there is also a hockey-reference.com, which has the same player game search feature as the b-ball one. Ollie and Jiggy both had at leaat one 60+ save game on those runs.

But then he goalie thing gave me an idea. And guess what I found. Game 4 of the '99 WCSF, Chris Pronger plays 39:54 in a 65 minute game! No points, but lets not forget, this was Pronger's Hart Trophy season. He was only 24. Just entering his prime, but then the next season he was derailed by injuries. After a long recovery, rehab and re-finding his game, here's a guy who led the Oilers, Ducks and Flyers each to a Cup Final in his first year with each. If not for his injuries wasting the best years of his prime, perhaps Lidstrom would only have half the Norris Trophies he does... point being, I'm really excited for this game - despite no points, this is the first Hart season by a defenseman since Orr, and I can't wait to see how he dominates the game defensively. And 40 minutes means he'll almost always be on the ice to watch.

[matchesmalone]

The other thing I thought of: rather than watching a game for one player, only on the ice for a third of the game, if I could find games where multiple players had big games, that would be a bit more fitting for hockey than basketball's individualistic mentality. Then after watching that Nash-Kidd game it occurred to me, what if I find hockey games where two opposing players go head to head with memorable games? And with help from hockey-reference' player game search tool and a bit of luck, I found a few that I'm really excited for.

For my search criteria, I used shots primarily. Things like OT games featuring a player with 5+ shots and 3+ points. I figured in hockey a player could always get some of their points thanks to lucky bounces or breaks, whereas a lot of shots indicates a more sustained offensive performance. Here's what I found (I'll post links as I watch them):

1996 WCSF game 5, Vancouver at Colorado. Joe Sakic and Trevor Linden exchange hat tricks. Sakic with 9 shots and the last one of the game, in overtime. Also featuring a young Peter Forsberg approaching his prime.

1993 round 1 game 3, Vancouver at Winnipeg. A rookie Teemu Selanne with a hat trick on 7 shots vs. a sophomore Pavel Bure with 2 goals on 8 shots. Linden also with 2 goals and featuring Keith Tkachuk and Phil Housely for the Jets.

2010 WCSF game 2, Detroit at San Jose. Joe Pavelski with 2 goals, an assist and 11 shots vs. Pavel Datsyuk with a goal, assist and 7 shots.

Fnally, not a head-to-head type game, but this one will be fun:

1996 ECQF game 4, Pittsburgh at Washington. Quadruple overtime. Jagr with a goal and assist and 12 shots, and Petr Nedved with 2 goals for the Pens, who have to do it without Lemieux - not due to injuries as one may expect, but ejected with a game misconduct in the 2nd period.

Thanks for the ideas to get my brain going Josh!

[Jasmine]

I feel like this thread is missing this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9_Nrt8QQAg