KUALA LUMPUR (Mageshwaran’s AsiaScope) - Search engines for a major part of mid last week buzzed with one name: Mohammad El Akkari! And why not!

It is not every day that one comes across an instance, some might term it incident, of a player scoring more than the magical, and more often than not, incredible, three-figure mark in a single game.

There have been as many plaudits flowing in for the 27-year-old guard of the Tripoli-based Al Moutahed as there have been incredulous questions raised about the feat.

Now, Akkari’s feat must be seen in the perspective of the monumental numbers that was achieved and nothing more, or less. There’s nothing more to read than those numbers, but then those numbers are not as less as to be ignored.

Most of the questions raised, circle around one word: defense, or the lack of adequate effort in this department on the opponents’ part. My point here is simple, straight and short: It wasn’t Akkari’s mistake that there was no defense, or not enough of it trying to stop him.

To me that is a realistic way of looking at the accomplishment, even if not achievement, instead of working our brains out on other nitty-gritty of the sport. It is not wrong to wonder how a player ever managed to score so many points, but to take it beyond that and analyze using the routine indices is stretching the issue unnecessarily. The point here is you can choose to either stand up and applaud it or sit down and dissect it, but you cannot – and should not – ignore it.

No matter in which league, no matter at what level or no matter in which country a single player scoring more than 100 points in a single game is a momentous occasion in the life of that player. If nothing else, or more, it is certainly a tribute to his energy to physically take that many attempts and remain focused mentally to find success on more attempts than not.
The reality is not lost on Akkari.

“I must thank my coach and the teammates for this achievement,” he said.
“First of all my coach allowed me to shoot so many times. And my teammates kept passing the ball to me,” he said.

I don’t think any coach, not even Ahmad Fadel the coach in this context, will think of something like this again and allow any single player to take as many attempts. But the point is that when it happened, it did happen.
The realistic approach however did not take away his excitement and the euphoria surrounding it.

“This, for sure is the biggest moment of my basketball life,” Akkari said.
“It is like all the nine years of practice came out to fruition in one single boom. This is not an ordinary day in my life,” he said.

In a manner of speaking, Akkari was not surprised by what he accomplished.
“The percentage of success was normal by my standards. It is the number of attempts that is mind boggling,” he said after converting 32 of these 59 three-pointer attempts for a 54% conversion rate. (He went to the foul-line once and converted the free-throw and had an 8/10 on his attempts inside the arc for his other points on this momentous night.)

Not far from truth if you look at this conversion rate in the ongoing WABA League, where he ranks as the top three-point shooter with a 53.1% conversation in the six games he played. A 4/6 in the attempts from behind the arc against fellow Lebanese team Champville, who are known for their tight defense, in one of those games does throw some light on his ability to shoot – with or without defense!

Comparisons have been drawn between Akkari and some of the greats of the game. To me all comparisons, unless they are simultaneous, have always been odious.

I don’t, for even an iota of a moment, suggest that Akkari is, or can be, in the same league as Wilt ‘the Stilt’ Chamberlain or a personal favorite Drazen Petrovic. Just that Akkari’s feat on his day in the sun is as much a reality as their indelible places in the pantheons of greats!

Now, I don’t know how many players wouldn’t have liked to be in Akkari’s shoes on that day! At least for that, don’t grudge him!

So long…

S Mageshwaran

FIBA Asia

FIBA’s columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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Watch all of Mohammad Akkari's 113 points here: