The stories behind the scores: basketball quiz

3 October 2026 · Ten stories where the score is only half the tale, from a Finals MVP playing with a fever to a baseball player in Celtics green.

Quiz questions

1. In the 2011 Finals the Dallas Mavericks beat Miami's new trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in six games. The Finals MVP played Game 4 with a fever. Who was he?

   • Jason Kidd
   • Dirk Nowitzki
   • Jason Terry
   • Tyson Chandler
   Answer

   Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 points in Game 4 despite a fever and a sinus infection, including the go-ahead basket late on. It was the first title in Mavericks history.

2. Real Madrid have won the EuroLeague with several different coaches. Three of these men lifted the trophy with Real. The fourth won the Spanish league and the ULEB Cup with them, but never the EuroLeague. Who is he?

   • Željko Obradović
   • Pablo Laso
   • Chus Mateo
   • Joan Plaza
   Answer

   Joan Plaza led Real to the 2007 Spanish title and the ULEB Cup, beating Lietuvos Rytas 87-75 in the final in Charleroi. Obradović won the EuroLeague with Real in 1995, Laso in 2015 and 2018, and Chus Mateo in 2023.

3. Belgrade, EuroBasket 2005 semi-final. France lead Greece 62-55 with 47 seconds to go. Greece claw their way back, and with three seconds left a Panathinaikos guard hits a three for a 67-66 win. Who took the shot?

   • Dimitris Diamantidis
   • Theodoros Papaloukas
   • Vassilis Spanoulis
   • Nikos Zisis
   Answer

   Nikos Zisis made the pass to Dimitris Diamantidis. In the final Greece beat Germany 78-62 for their first European title since 1987.

4. All four of these players scored more than 31,000 points in NBA regular seasons. Which of them finished with the most?

   • Michael Jordan
   • Dirk Nowitzki
   • Kobe Bryant
   • Wilt Chamberlain
   Answer

   Kobe finished with 33,643 points, Jordan with 32,292, Nowitzki with 31,560 and Chamberlain with 31,419. Jordan has the best scoring average ever, but he played 274 fewer games than Kobe.

5. Name the player from his clubs. His road started and almost ended in the same city, and the last stop was Istanbul.

   • Allen Iverson
   • Stephon Marbury
   • Steve Francis
   • Baron Davis
   Answer

   Allen Iverson, the 2001 MVP, played only a handful of games for Beşiktaş in 2010-11 before a leg injury ended his season. Stephon Marbury finished his career in China and became a star in Beijing.

6. Which club is this? It won the ULEB Cup in 2003 and the EuroCup in 2010, 2014 and 2019. Its first Spanish league title only came in 2017. In 2025 the team moved into a brand-new arena with more than 15,000 seats.

   • Unicaja Málaga
   • Gran Canaria
   • Valencia Basket
   • Joventut Badalona
   Answer

   Valencia Basket is backed by Mercadona owner Juan Roig, and in 2025 the team left La Fonteta for the Roig Arena. Gran Canaria is a fair guess: they won the EuroCup too, in 2023.

7. One season, one player. The NBA had not seen a rebounding average like this in 20 years, and he went on to lead the league in rebounding for seven straight seasons. Who is he?

   • Kevin Willis
   • Dennis Rodman
   • Dikembe Mutombo
   • Charles Oakley
   Answer

   Dennis Rodman averaged 18.7 rebounds for Detroit in 1991-92, the most since Wilt Chamberlain's 19.2 in 1971-72. He scored fewer than 10 points a game, yet he was an All-Star that season.

8. Before he won two titles with Larry Bird's Celtics, this guard spent parts of three seasons in Major League Baseball, as an infielder for the Toronto Blue Jays. Who is he?

   • Dennis Johnson
   • Gerald Henderson
   • Chris Ford
   • Danny Ainge
   Answer

   Danny Ainge played for the Blue Jays from 1979 to 1981 while still in college, then chose basketball and won titles with Boston in 1984 and 1986. Later, running the Celtics, he built the 2008 champions.

9. Three of these NBA greats won Olympic gold with the USA before turning pro. Which one never played at the Olympics?

   • Oscar Robertson
   • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
   • Jerry West
   • Jerry Lucas
   Answer

   Kareem, then still at UCLA, chose not to play at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, in protest at racial injustice in the United States. Robertson, West and Lucas won gold together in Rome in 1960.

10. Fenerbahçe won their first EuroLeague in 2017, at a Final Four in their own city. The Final Four MVP was a defensive big man who had once been the sixth pick in the NBA draft, and that summer he went back to the NBA. Who was he?

    • Ekpe Udoh
    • Jan Veselý
    • Bogdan Bogdanović
    • Nikola Kalinić
    Answer

    Ekpe Udoh, the sixth pick by Golden State in 2010, was MVP as Fenerbahçe beat Olympiacos 80-64 in the final, with a title-game record five blocks. Jan Veselý, another former sixth pick, was on that team too.

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