Despite the Indiana Pacers' five-game winning streak coming to a thunderous halt, history was made by one of the team's big men. Surpassing Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Myles Turner now has the 50th-most blocks in NBA history.
The former Cavalier center had 1,327 shot rejections. The 10-year NBA vet, and currently the longest-tenured playing Pacer, leapfrogged him on Monday night.
With only four active players in the league ahead of Turner, there are still a number of great shot blockers like the top three--Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dikembe Mutombo, and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Unlike those three legends, Turner has played his entire career for just one team. The Pacers have been the big man's only squad in the NBA.
Both Tim Duncan and David Robinson played for one team in their NBA career--the San Antonio Spurs.
In 987 games, "The Admiral" recorded 2,954 blocks. His incumbent, Duncan, is one spot ahead of him on the All-Time list with 3,020 blocks in 1,392 games.
To put things into perspective as we look ahead in Turner's next years to come, eight of the top 10 shot blockers earned Hall of Fame honors. Mark Eaton (3,064 blocks) and Tree Rollins (2,542) are the only two in the top 12 to not make the Hall of Fame.
Turner has yet to play in 600 regular season games. Should he play in both games at Boston this weekend, the former University of Texas Longhorn will clear that mark.
With 1,328 blocks in his career now, the Pacers' starting center is on pace to eclipse Tyson Chandler (1,335). A pair of former Pacers in Erick Dampier and Mark West are near the 1,400 block mark.
At his current pace, Turner will hit that number by the end of this season or in the first part of next season. With the exception of his rookie season, the 6'11'' athlete has recorded at least 118 blocks each year.
Already the franchise's leading shot blocker, the Pacers are fortunate to have his services on their roster. With more than 50 games left to play in their schedule, more spots will be climbed on the all-time list.
Turner was one shy of 200 blocks in the 2018-19 NBA season. In his last five games, he has been credited with at least two blocks or more in a game. Thus far, Thursday night marked his eighth game in the month of December with multiple rejections. It was also his third game logging five blocks in a game this season as he had two such occurrences last month.
It's great to see the Pacers favorite make history. What's even greater is that there is little to nothing blocking Turner from climbing further up the all-time list.