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Happy Birthday Karl Malone, celebrate his 52 with his best games against all 30 NBA Teams!

Karl Malone has hurt every team he played against. Here are some of his best games!

By AllThatAmar
Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Today is Utah Jazz legend, Hall of Famer power forward Karl Malone's 52nd birthday. He's hurt every team in the league. Here is his *best* game against each team in the league. Now, it's not his most influential games, or most all-around game. There are a number of triple doubles, or near misses of them, that you don't see here. This is straight up the games with the biggest numbers for BARPS (Blocks + Assists + Rebounds + Points + Steals). I've also included the dates and his approximate age for the event of devastation. Karl Malone is awesome. Every team knows it. And well, he's really wrecked a lot of teams. It's ridiculous. This was one of the most fun posts to do. Check out the results:

vs. Eastern Conference

Conf Division Game Date Min PTS REB AST STL BLK AGE BARPS /min
1 E Atlantic @ Sixers DEC 20 2000 43 41 13 3 2 4 37.41 63 1.47
2 E Atlantic vs Celtics FEB 20 1997 40 34 16 8 2 0 33.58 60 1.50
3 E Atlantic vs Raptors FEB 27 1997 41 32 13 10 3 1 33.60 59 1.44
4 E Atlantic vs Nets FEB 28 2000 44 35 12 9 0 2 36.60 58 1.32
5 E Atlantic @ Knicks MAR 9 1991 44 34 18 1 1 3 27.62 57 1.30
1 E Central vs Bucks JAN 27 1990 33 61 18 2 3 0 26.51 84 2.55
2 E Central vs Bulls FEB 2 1992 57 34 21 5 2 1 28.53 63 1.11
3 E Central vs Pacers DEC 15 1990 41 33 22 4 0 4 27.39 63 1.54
4 E Central vs Pistons JAN 20 1988 43 39 13 3 4 0 24.49 59 1.37
5 E Central vs Cavaliers JAN 25 1998 39 36 12 4 3 1 24.51 56 1.44
1 E South East @ Hornets DEC 22 1989 43 52 17 3 2 0 26.41 74 1.72
2 E South East @ Magic MAR 12 2003 42 40 9 7 4 0 39.63 60 1.43
3 E South East @ Heat DEC 19 1996 44 35 16 6 1 0 33.41 58 1.32
4 E South East vs Hawks JAN 16 1992 40 37 14 3 2 1 28.48 57 1.43
5 E South East vs Wizards DEC 3 1990 36 38 15 0 1 2 27.36 56 1.56

we all know about the game against the Bucks, but man, Karl has pretty much owned the East and their smallish bigmen.

vs. Western Conference

Conf Division Game Date Min PTS REB AST STL BLK AGE BARPS /min
1 W Northwest @ Nuggets JAN 6 1990 47 48 14 3 2 1 26.45 68 1.45
2 W Northwest @ Trail Blazers FEB 4 1988 43 41 19 7 0 1 24.53 68 1.58
3 W Northwest vs Thunder APR 22 2000 43 50 12 0 3 1 36.75 66 1.53
4 W Northwest vs Timberwolves APR 14 1998 36 44 14 6 0 2 34.72 66 1.83
5 W Northwest @ Jazz * MAR 28 2004 34 19 13 1 2 1 40.68 36 1.06
1 W Pacific @ Warriors APR 7 1998 42 56 9 2 1 4 34.70 72 1.71
2 W Pacific @ Clippers NOV 29 1997 41 42 18 0 2 2 34.35 64 1.56
3 W Pacific vs Suns MAR 22 1988 46 28 21 6 6 3 24.66 64 1.39
4 W Pacific @ Kings FEB 29 1988 41 41 15 3 0 2 24.60 61 1.49
5 W Pacific vs Lakers APR 12 1990 44 45 11 1 1 1 26.72 59 1.34
1 W South West vs Rockets APR 19 1995 45 45 17 5 1 1 31.74 69 1.53
2 W South West @ Spurs MAR 19 1988 44 34 20 5 3 0 24.65 62 1.41
3 W South West @ Mavericks APR 17 1990 40 39 17 3 1 1 26.73 61 1.53
4 W South West @ Grizzlies JAN 20 2000 41 32 12 5 2 1 36.49 52 1.27
5 W South West vs Pelicans DEC 12 2002 40 18 13 7 2 0 39.39 40 1.00

Karl had monster games as a young man in the West. Yikes.

A few notes, this includes both playoff and regular season game -- Karl's 50 against the "Thunder" came in the playoffs. Also, for ease of indexing, the current names of teams were used here, the game against the "Thunder" was against the Seattle Supersonics. The game against the Pelicans was when they were called the Hornets. And the one against the Hornets is against the Bobcats franchise, a team he never played against, so it's actually the old Hornets, before they moved. And yes, Derrick Favors tax.

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