Bump.
Come on guys - you knew second place back when MoPete took over the lead...
I no longer know the answer to this... When Mo Pete went down, the answer was Joe Johnson... But he has since missed games...Is it possible that Andre is the new Iron Man? From the Philadelphia Inquirer...Sixers spokesman Michael Preston said he has received confirmation from the NBA that the consecutive-games streak of point guard Andre Miller is intact.
Miller was traded from Denver to the Sixers on Dec. 19, but he had problems getting to his new team because of snow in the Mile High City. Miller was expected to play Friday at Boston but didn't. It was believed his streak would end at 309 games.
But Preston said the trade wasn't deemed official until 7:48 p.m. Friday, 48 minutes after rosters had to be submitted for the game against the Celtics, meaning Miller's streak continued last night at 312.
Okay, okay, okay... I found where I had an old list with Joe Johnson on top... I'm not sure where everyone is currently at number wise - but none of these guys have missed since Joe Johnson became the Iron Man, so this must be the top three right now...
1) Bruce Bowen2) Andre Miller3) Tayshaun Prince
These were the numbers when MoPete lost his streak, and I posted this question... I don't know what paper this is from...
Tayshaun Prince has moved up one rung on the NBA iron-man charts. On Friday, Prince started his 204th straight game and played in his 261st, both are fourth among active players. He moved up when Raptor Morris Peterson 's streak ended at 371. Atlanta's Joe Johnson tops the games-played list with 367, followed by San Antonio's Bruce Bowen (366) and Denver's Andre Miller (296). Bowen has started 366 straight, Miller 296 and Johnson 234.
From the Orlando Sentinel...Avery Johnson still remembers lying on the training table getting treatment an hour before tipoff one night during the 1995-96 season, his left thigh swollen like a beach ball, telling San Antonio teammate David Robinson that there was way too much pain to play.
He still remembers -- vividly -- Robinson's response. "He asked me if I thought I could walk. I told him yes, I probably still could. He asked me if I thought I could jog lightly, and I told him maybe I could," Johnson recalled. "So he told me, 'then just tape it up real tight and go play.' . . . So I did."
Those conversations don't happen as often anymore in the NBA.
Johnson played all 82 games that season. So did Robinson. And so did 42 other players around the league, which was almost twice as many who played every game 10 years later.
The number of ironmen in the NBA is shrinking.
"It used to be a real badge of honor, a pride thing to play all 82," said former NBA player Greg Anthony, who played every game three times in his career. "I don't think the mentality, the peer pressure, is there anymore."
It's why the Magic were so proud Tuesday night when Dwight Howard set a franchise record by playing in his 207th consecutive game. Since he came into the league as the No. 1 pick of the 2004 draft, Howard has not missed a game.
"I can't help my team if I'm not on the court," Howard said. "One of my goals every season is to be there every night. That's important to me."
Although NBA players are paid to play a full season, so few of them do it anymore. Last season, only 29 NBA players played all 82 regular-season games. Only 25 did it two seasons ago, a dramatic drop from the 58 players who played all 82 in the 1989-90 season, the first for the Magic franchise.
"There's nothing wrong with players today -- I respect them -- but it's just a little different atmosphere," said Johnson, now coach of the Dallas Mavericks. "There are a lot of reasons, but one reason is that the veteran players aren't as pushy about it as they used to be. Part of it is teammates pushing you."
It was that peer pressure, and a coach who reveled in it, that prompted the 1991-92 New York Knicks to set a modern-day record with seven players in all 82 games. By contrast, there were 11 teams last season that didn't have a single player accomplish the feat of 82.
Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, Anthony Mason, Greg Anthony, John Starks, Xavier McDaniel and Gerald Wilkins all incredibly played every game that season for Coach Pat Riley.
"A lot of us played hurt that season," said Anthony, now an ESPN analyst who was a rookie on that 1991-92 Knicks team. "There was a mind-set that we were going to battle together every night. You put the hard-hat on. You didn't even consider sitting out. And no one wanted to let anyone else down."
The Knicks won 51 games that season, often struggling to score, but more often making sure their opponent didn't score, either. They ranked 22nd in scoring that season, but second in points allowed and first in mental toughness.
The sturdy seven played with broken fingers, broken hands, pulled muscles and sprained ankles. They took pain-killing injections. They inflicted pain upon opponents with a bruising style.
They added an extra ice-making machine in the training room that year to accommodate their aching bodies. They used more tape than a hospital emergency room. They were eliminated in the playoffs by the eventual NBA champion Chicago Bulls in seven games, but they didn't go down without a real battle.
"It's kind of sad that you don't see that kind of mental toughness in the game anymore," said Anthony, who earlier at UNLV practiced the day after having his jaw broken in a game. "But it's not all on the players. The coaches, owners, trainers, players all seem to have lost the desire to push the envelope anymore. And that's too bad."
At least 50 players in the league reached the 82-game mark during the 1989-90, 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons. By contrast, 39, 25 and 29 players managed to do it the past three seasons, respectively.
Among active players, Gary Payton of the Miami Heat leads everyone with nine seasons of all 82 games. He also played the full 50 during the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. Cliff Robinson is second with seven seasons of 82.
There are eight active players, including Orlando's Bo Outlaw, who have done it five times. Outlaw even played 83 games the season he was traded from Orlando to Phoenix.
"I can't speak for other guys or why it is like it is, but I took pride in the fact I showed up for my team every night, that the team could count on me being there," Outlaw said. "I just look at it as being durable."
There are various theories on why players don't play as many games anymore. Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy, who once hobbled through a playoff game with a stress fracture heavily taped, said better medical diagnostic equipment is a major reason.
Once an injury is clearly identified, it's easier to justify sitting out. For example, years ago, guys played with a sore foot. Today, that sore foot is identified as plantar fasciitis or a hairline stress fracture, and guys sit.
"It used to be if you could bear the pain, you just played through it," Dunleavy said. "Now the medical people are telling you it's not always a good thing to just shoot it up, mask the pain and play."
Washington's Antawn Jamison said the decline in 82-game players is due to the league taking more younger players whose bodies haven't matured and who just aren't as mentally tough. Jamison is among those active players with five 82-game seasons.
"Back in the day, no matter what the situation, guys found a way to get it done," Jamison said. "There were a lot of games I really didn't feel like playing, games where I was hurting, but I went out there. I took it very personal when I had to miss a game."
Clippers journeyman forward Aaron Williams, who has been with 10 different teams in his career, has played 82 games only twice, but two more times he played 81 and only because of a coach's decision not to play him.
"We get paid a lot of money. You should play every game you possibly can. It bothers me when I'm held out. Days off are for baseball players," Williams said. "With the new rules, where you can't touch guys as much -- where they baby people -- you would think less guys would be sitting out. That's not the case, though."
There was a whopping 83 NBA players who played every game during the 1998-99 season that was shortened to 50 games. Since that season, though, the numbers have dropped.
Former Magic coach Matt Guokas, now a television analyst, said one reason fewer guys play every game is because the organizations don't push for it, believing there might be a benefit to missing games.
"It's not the worst thing in the world to miss a game," Guokas said. "Sometimes it's the wise thing to do. Teams have noticed that sometimes after a guy has sat out a game or two, he comes back better. People don't always understand how much better their body responds to a little time off."
The Magic last season matched Detroit and Philadelphia for the most guys (three) playing all 82 games. Howard was joined by Tony Battie and DeShawn Stevenson.
Traditionally, though, the team with the most 82-game players in the past 20 years has been Utah, coached by old-school veteran Jerry Sloan. During his tenure, the Jazz have had five or more guys play 82 games six times. It helped to have John Stockton, who did it 16 times in his career, and Karl Malone, who did it 10 times.
"When I first came into the league [1986], guys pretty much played no matter what, unless there was a serious injury," Magic Coach Brian Hill said. "I don't know if guys aren't as tough today, but it's just the circumstances. There just isn't the propensity there once was for a guy to go out there and play if he has some type of injury."
A.C. Green played in 1,192 consecutive games from Nov. 19, 1986, to April 18, 2001 -- most notably with the L.A. Lakers.