Tony Snell captured the heart of NBA fans worldwide two years ago when he recorded the immortal statline of 18/0/0/0/0. To score so many points, while having so little impact on the rest of the game going on around him, was unprecedented. Now, in the year 2020, Patty Mills has achieved the same glorious feat, but he did it even BETTER, with a 20/0/0/0/0 statline. This day will live in infamy forever. Will the United Nations declare February 11th to be a global day of celebration in recognition of Mills’ accomplishment? Probably. I don’t see why they wouldn’t. And if they don’t, Mills’ homeland of Australia could at least make it a national holiday.
Mills has always been a nominal point guard who is actually more like a shooting guard. His playmaking ability is, as far as I can see, below average even for shooting guards. He’s also too short to reliably get rebounds, especially when he shares the court with bigger guards. Those factors combined mean that it’s not totally crazy that he didn’t end up with any stats other than points. Honestly, somebody like Tony Snell getting zero rebounds is more surprising because that guy is sort of tall. Mills, you can see why he wouldn’t get a rebound.
I would love to attribute Mills’ lack of stats to the anti-statpadding philosophies which he holds closer to his heart than any of his other personal beliefs, but I don’t think that’s the case. It’s not like he has a vendetta against Russell “Statpad” Westbrook or anything of that nature. He just isn’t the kind of player who does things other than score.
Now that I’m looking at the other players who failed to record an assist, rebound, steal, or block in a game, I’m seeing that Bojan Bogdanovic did it just a month ago while scoring 33. So maybe this performance by Patty Mills isn’t as notable as I thought it was. Did the United Nations declare a Patty Mills Day yet? If they did, they should cancel it and instead make January 6 “Bojan Bogdanovic Day”.