Dec 07 2019
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I began this decade as a fifth grader and will exit it as a college junior. When I’m old, I will look back on my childhood and point to right now: the 2010’s. The 2010’s established my sports fandom and will forever shape the way I view the world. I often recall the series finale of The Office when Andy talks about wishing you could know when you’re in the “good old days”. Here’s my attempt to remember the good ol’ days of sports while I’m living in them.

Any player can get hot, catch a few breaks and have an incredible game. Great players break the status quo and etch their place in history, and only a select few can do that on the highest possible stage. Here are the greatest single-game performances of the 2010’s:

Roy Halladay

Game: Philadelphia vs. Cincinnati — Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS

Stats: 9 IP, 0 hits, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk, 104 pitches

In literally the second playoff game of the decade, Halladay turned in the decade’s best performance. It was only the second postseason no-hitter in the history of major league baseball and the first since Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Halladay was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Albert Pujols

Game: St. Louis vs. Texas — Game 3 of the 2011 World Series

Stats: 5-6, 3 home runs, 6 RBI’s, 4 runs scored, 14 total bases

Pujols tied the World Series record with five hits, three home runs, six runs batted in, four runs scored and broke the World Series record with fourteen total bases. To put it simply: this might have been the greatest single game performance in World Series history, let alone this decade.

Colin Kaepernick

Game: San Francisco vs. Green Bay — 2012 NFC Divisional Playoffs

Stats: 17-31 passing, 263 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, 16 carries, 181 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns

In a performance dubbed the tenth greatest performance in NFL history back in 2016, Kaepernick became the second quarterback to pass for 200 yards and rush for 100 yards in a playoff game. Kaepernick’s legacy has gone another direction, but his playoff exploits in 2012 cannot be lost to history.

Geno Smith

Game: West Virginia vs. Baylor — Week 5 of the 2012 season

Stats: 45-51 passing, 656 passing yards, 8 touchdowns

Smith damn near won the Heisman trophy in September with this ridiculous box score. He racked up 656 passing yards and eight touchdowns on 45-51 passing (88%). He threw the ball more than 50 times and still had more touchdowns than incompletions.

Melvin Gordon

Game: Wisconsin vs. Nebraska — Week 12 of the 2014 season

Stats: 25 carries, 408 yards, 4 touchdowns

Gordon’s NCAA single-game rushing record was short-lived as Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine tallied 427 yards and five touchdowns the very next week. The edge goes to Gordon, who had nine fewer carries than Perine and beat a ranked Nebraska team.

Klay Thompson

Game: Golden State vs. Sacramento — January 23, 2015

Stats (third quarter only): 37 points, 13-13 shooting, 9-9 3-pt

In 2016, Thompson tallied 60 points in 29 minutes (and 11 dribbles) and that wasn’t even his best performance this decade. In the third quarter of this game, Thompson arguably turned in the greatest 12 minutes of basketball ever. He broke the NBA record for most points in a quarter with 37 while not missing a single shot. He finished the game with 52 points.

Drew Brees

Game: New Orleans vs. New York — Week 8 of the 2015 NFL season

Stats: 39-50 passing, 505 passing yards, 7 touchdowns

Brees tied the NFL record with seven passing touchdowns while throwing for 505 yards. Yet, the Saints only won by a last-second field goal because Eli Manning threw for six touchdowns and over 350 yards himself. We didn’t know it at the time, but Saints-Giants 2015 was the prequel to Chiefs-Rams in 2018.

Stephen Curry

Game: Golden State vs. Oklahoma City — February 27, 2016

Stats: 46 points, 14-24 (12-16 3-pt) shooting, 6 assists

Curry exploded for 12 threes (one shy of his own NBA record at the time) in a pivotal game against Western Conference rival Oklahoma City. To cap the night, he buried the game-winning shot 38-feet from the hoop in perhaps his signature career highlight. The win proved vital in the Warriors’ quest for an NBA-record 73 wins.

LeBron James

Game: Cleveland vs. Golden State — Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals

Stats: 51 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 19-32 (3-7 3-pt) field goals

LeBron scored 51 points, the fifth-most in Final history, and nearly racked up a triple double against the Kevin Durant-led Warriors while shooting almost 60% from the field. Had J.R. Smith not forgotten the score, LeBron would’ve had an opportunity to hit a buzzer-beater and cement what Bill Simmons and many NBA writers called “the greatest basketball game ever played.”

Carsen Edwards

Game: Purdue vs. Virginia — 2019 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight

Stats: 42 points, 14-25 (10-19 3-pt) field goals

There were only three 40 point games in the NCAA tournament this decade — Edwards had two of them. He morphed into Stephen Curry during the 2019 NCAA tournament. In the Elite Eight against Virginia, Edwards eviscerated the best defensive team in the country. Virginia allowed their opponents to 56 points per game as a team in 2019, including three games of 42 points or less, but Edwards hung 42 himself on the eventual national champions. Purdue lost, but Edwards was named the South region’s Most Outstanding Player.

Honorable Mentions

Cam Newton: 340 passing yards, 5 touchdowns, 100 rushing yards in Week 15 of the 2015 NFL regular season.

Calvin Johnson: 14 catches, 329 yards, 1 touchdown in Week 8 of the 2013 NFL regular season, nearly breaking the single-game record of 336 receiving yards.

Josh Gordon: 10 catches, 261 yards, 2 touchdowns in Week 13 of the 2013 NFL regular season, becoming the first receiver to tally consecutive 200-yard receiving games. (Also, he played for the Browns.)

James Harden: 60 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 steals, 19-30 (5-14 3-pt) field goals against the Magic in 2018, becoming the first (and only) player to tally a 60-point triple-double.

Giannis Antetokounmpo: 50 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists and 0 turnovers against the Jazz in 2019, becoming the first player since Michael Jordan in 1989 with a 50-10-5 slash line with zero turnovers.

Devin Booker: 70 points against the Celtics in 2017, becoming the fifth NBA player to reach the elusive 70-point threshold.

Marcus Howard: 51 points, 14-24 (9-17 3-pt) field goals in 31 minutes against USC in 2019.

Tavon Austin: had separate 200-yard receiving and 300-yard rushing games in single season in 2012 for West Virginia.

Lamar Jackson: 17-23 passing, 286 yards, 8 touchdowns, 119 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns against Charlotte in 2016.

Posted in2010's in Review
Tagsalbert pujols carsen edwards colin kaepernick drew brees geno smith klay thompson lebron james melvin gordon roy halladay stephen curry

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