Scott Skiles set a single-game NBA mark with 30 assists against the Denver Nuggets 25 years ago. It is a mark that defines Skiles, but not how you think.
There was a perfect storm on the day of December 30, 1990.
The opponent. The player. The moment in history. The teammates.
Somehow it all came together for an incredible night on an otherwise nondescript evening between two teams that would combine to win just 51 games combined (as division rivals! Do not ask why).
Twenty-five years ago, Scott Skiles did something that was then and is now unfathomable. He recorded 30 assists in a NBA game, setting a single game record. A mark that 25 years later has never really been challenged — John Stockton got within two assists just 17 days later and that is about it.
“I’ve seen the video,” Tobias Harris said. “That is a lot of assists. Nobody has broken it yet. It says a lot about him as a player.”
The current Magic players are only vaguely aware of the game or have seen the video on YouTube. It is there if you want to watch it, all 30 assists in their glory:
How this game came to be is as interesting and incredible as the feat itself.
As Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel detailed in his oral history from this weekend, the opponent was perfect for this game to happen. Before possessions and pace became a thing teams measured and the public debated, the Denver Nuggets under Paul Westhead believed in running and scoring as quickly as possible.
Westhead had brought his offense from Loyola Marymount where they ran a similar system. It was all about playing as fast as you can, firing shots up as quickly as possible.
Skiles, already a pretty modest team-first guy, told Robbins there was nothing unordinary about the game and the way he played it. He was moving the ball, shooting when he was open. Against such an unusual opponent, things were coming within the offense for him.
It was a snapshot in time, but not a moment that Skiles would let define his career, even in retrospect. That is just not who Skiles is.
"“It’s not that I don’t enjoy talking about it. It’s that the only time I had an opportunity to be on a really, really high-level team as a player was my rookie year [with the Milwaukee Bucks], and I only played in 13 games. So the rest of my career, I wasn’t able to be [on a great team]. Orlando, rightfully so, moves me so they can tie in Horace Grant. A no-brainer move. And, so, I’ve always been uncomfortable talking about any sort of individual [achievement]. I would much rather talk about some great team I played on. So that’s all. My career’s played and over with, and that’s the one thing that kind of goes with me. I would trade that in a heartbeat to have been on a really good club and play in The Finals or something like that.”"
In fact, Skiles seemed pretty certain in the oral history with Robbins the record would be broken. Especially with the way teams space the floor and play with increased pace in this current era of the NBA.
What is crazier to think is that the game recap from Barry Cooper of the Orlando Sentinel noted not the assist record but trade rumors that Skiles was heading to the Detroit Pistons:
"This morning the NBA can begin clearing space in the record books because, now, Scott Skiles belongs. The Orlando Magic guard, talked about all over town and loving every second of it, racked up an NBA-record 30 assists Sunday night in the Magic’s 155-116 rout of the Denver Nuggets.So what if the incessant trade rumors about Skiles’ going to the Detroit Pistons prove to be false? Skiles, who admits he loves to perform under pressure, is a player forever in search of a stage, and he found a magnificent spotlight Sunday."
Skiles was always the consummate team player. His 30-assist game came to symbolize everything he is about.
It was certainly not the the number one thing Magic fans remembered him for (although it was up there).
Skiles’ grit and selflessness always reigned as the most memorable aspect to him as a player. Not any record or statistic. That has carried over into his coaching career.
There is a sense of nostalgia — the Magic play the Nets on the 25th anniversary, the Magic will probably not have anything special to recognize it because Skiles would not want it that way — about having Skiles as the head coach of this team. No one involved in the hiring wants to play that up — it was a mere convenience, team CEO Alex Martins essentially said at Skiles’ introductory press conference.
Yet, what made Skiles great as a player has been what he has tried to implement to his team wearing the similar uniforms.
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Magic players notice it too. The same kind of things it took to make a 30-assist game are the same kind of things Skiles tries to teach.
It makes the accomplishment all the more impressive and impactful. And, as Tobias Harris among other said, the toughness and selflessness he had as a player comes out in his coaching style.
“But he talks about it always moving the ball, making the right play,” Nikola Vucevic said. “He did that when he was playing. He knows the game. He’s right. I think that’s the way we have to play. It makes the game fun for everyone. When somebody makes a nice pass, it boosts the team’s energy so much to make unselfish plays.”
It is not every day a NBA record gets broken or someone accomplishes what Skiles did. No one has done it since. And even in today’s quickened pace game, it seems unlikely someone will do so again.
Next: Passing has become key for Orlando Magic offense
What happened that night 25 years ago was simply astounding. It was truly a one-of-a-kind performance.