The History of Scoring Without Field Goals
While not common in the NBA, it is also not unheard of for a player to score double-digit points without ever making a field goal. The Secret? Free throws. Dozens of players of the years have put up 10+ points in an NBA game while making nothing but free throws. Most recently it was Josh Okogie who shot 0-2 from the field but 10-11 from the FT line to help the Wolves win a game 114-112 against the Blazers on March 14th, 2021.
Looking further back in history, the man that might have had the most impressive scoring performance without making a single field goal was Darrick Martin. Back in 1996, Martin was playing with the Los Angeles Clippers and shot an abysmal 0-8 from the field. Despite this, he was able to get to the free throw line at will and shot a perfect 15-15 from the charity stripe. He added 7 assists and 2 steals and helped the Clippers beat the Sacramento Kings 106-94. Darrick Martin remains the leader for most points scored without a made field goal. Despite this, an even weirder performance came over 9 years later, when Richard Hamilton somehow led his team in scoring without making a field goal.
0-10 Shooting, 14-14 FTs, 6 Rebounds, and Leads the Pistons in Scoring
On January 6th, 2005, the defending champions, Detroit Pistons, faced off with the Memphis Grizzlies. The Pistons of this era were known for gritty and lock-down defense and just a passable offense. This mindset allowed them to go to back-to-back NBA finals, and put up some incredibly ugly low scoring playoff games. Even with this in mind, what Richard “Rip” Hamilton did on that night was unthinkable; he scored the most points in the game for Detroit while never making a two-point basket.
Rip Hamilton became a three-time all-star and was a very solid SG throughout his career. On this night however, the shot simply would not go down, as he missed all 10 field goals. Hamilton missed his first shot only 47 seconds into the game on a ’15 jumper. He proceeded to miss another field goal in the 1st, three more in the 2nd, and five more in the 3rd, before sitting nearly all of the 4th quarter.
The Detroit starters as a whole struggled, shooting a measly 11/42 (26.1%) and the Grizzlies crushed the Pistons 101-79. The lone consistent piece of offense that Detroit had that night was actually Rip Hamilton drawing fouls. Going to the line seven different times allowed him to net 14 free throws and in doing so he actually led the Pistons in scoring. Hamilton still stands today as the only player in NBA history to lead his team in scoring while not making a field goal.