StaTuesday: Bucks' Terry in HOF company after logging 36 minutes
Jason Terry has been getting a lot more playing time recently for the Milwaukee Bucks -- and one game in particular was historic.
On Feb. 23, Terry played a then-season high 26:20, which was just the third time this season he topped 20 minutes in a game and first since Dec. 2.
After hovering around 18 minutes in each of Milwaukee's next three contests, Terry has played over 20 minutes in the Bucks' last three games.
But it was his appearance on March 2 against Indiana that stands out. In that game, the 40-year-old guard was on the court for 36:26.
It marked the first time a player in his 40s played at least 35 minutes in a game since Jason Kidd did so for the Knicks on April 11, 2013. Kidd played 36:48 in his 1,387th career game; Terry's was in his 1,390th. In fact, Terry just passed Kidd for 11th place on the NBA's all-time games played list after Monday's game in Indiana.
Unlike Terry, who hit a couple of 3-pointers in his 36-minutes game, Kidd was scoreless in his. Terry was the first 40-year-old to play 35+ minutes and score in nearly nine years (Dikembe Mutombo, April 10, 2009) and the first guard to do it since Michael Jordan in 2003.
As we've noted in a previous StaTuesday, playing into your 40s is rare in the NBA and getting quality minutes even more so.
Counting Terry, in NBA history only eight players in their 40s have recorded 35 or more minutes in a game. Six of those are in the Hall of Fame and another (Kidd) is a finalist this year.
| PLAYER | SEASON | NO. |
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 1986-87 | 1 |
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 1987-88 | 12 |
| Robert Parish | 1993-94 | 12 |
| Robert Parish | 1995-96 | 3 |
| John Stockton | 2001-02 | 5 |
| John Stockton | 2002-03 | 3 |
| Michael Jordan | 2002-03 | 26 |
| Karl Malone | 2003-04 | 18 |
| Dikembe Mutombo | 2006-07 | 7 |
| Dikembe Mutombo | 2008-09 | 1 |
| Jason Kidd | 2012-13 | 1 |
| Jason Terry | 2017-18 | 1 |
Terry might not end up in the Hall like the others, but no other player in his 40s can say they made more 3-pointers in a game while playing 35+ minutes than the two "The Jet" sank (John Stockton also had two, doing it on two occasions). Terry is also one of two guards to post three or more blocks while playing 35+ minutes -- Jordan (who did it once) the other. Amazingly, those three blocks tied a career high for Terry, who also did it Jan. 10, 2010 for the Mavericks, when he was a spry 32-year-old.
By the way, if you want to make the criteria 30 minutes, Terry is still in select company among guards, with only Jordan (27), Kidd (4), Stockton (46), Vince Carter (11) and John Long (1) having played that much in their 40s -- and that's if you consider Carter a guard (in his 40s, Carter is listed as a small forward by basketball-reference.com while playing for Memphis and Sacramento).
So, yes, what you witnessed this past Friday was historic -- and something we might not see for a while. Or at least until Terry does it again.
