On This Day (Jan. 6)

Notable events from NBA history that occurred on January 6.

Marathon Game

On this day in 1951, the Indianapolis Olympians outlasted the Rochester Royals 75-73 in six overtimes, the longest game in NBA history. The scoring by period for each team:

• Olympians — 20 / 18 / 19 / 8 / 2 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 4 / 2

• Royals — 10 / 23 / 20 / 12 / 2 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 4 / 0

The Royals’ Arnie Risen led all scorers with 26 points. Ralph Beard and Alex Groza shared scoring honors for the Olympians with 17 points apiece. Red Holzman, who would go on to coach the New York Knicks to the only NBA titles in franchise history, recorded a game-high seven assists for the Royals.

Only 19 personal fouls were called in the game, which works out to one every 4.1 minutes of playing time. The league average that season was one personal foul every 1.8 minutes of action.