Sacramento Kings Score Only Four Points in Quarter – February 4, 1987

On February 4, 1987 a basketball team scored only four points in the first quarter of a game. Mind you, this wasn’t a middle school girls JV squad. This was an NBA team, the Sacramento Kings. In addition to scoring only four points (all foul shots) here are some of the Kings other dubious achievements that they racked up that quarter.

• They let their opponents, the Los Angeles Lakers, take a 29-0 to nothing lead
• They scored fewer first quarter points than any other team since the introduction of the 24-second clock
• At 3:47 of the first quarter, and with the score 16-0, announcer Chick Hearn declared “This game is in the refrigerator.”
• They let Magic Johnson deliver 15 assists.  (To the Kings credit, Magic got 17 for the game. Then again, he only played 13 minutes during the last three quarters.)
• They were outscored by Byron Scott 17-4.

If this had been on the playground, Shirts vs. Skins, instead of at the Forum, Lakers vs. the Sacramento Kings, they would have picked new teams after the first four minutes Wednesday night.

After the first 12 minutes, the Forum scoreboard read Lakers 40, Kings 4. On the playground, someone would have picked up the ball and gone home. Read more LA Times