Every NBA team’s greatest enforcer of all time
By Luke Anton
Houston Rockets — Vernon Maxwell
Vernon Maxwell earned his Mad Max nickname by being vicious and loco. At 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds, he was an instigator who loved to jaw at and clobber opponents. One time in Portland back in 1995, he walked up into the stands and walloped a heckling fan. Then he walked back down to the court and sat on the bench like nothing happened. (He did get ejected, fined $20K and suspended for 10 games.) Another time in Seattle, Maxwell was supposedly spitting on the floor out of frustration. Seeing the spitting as disrespectful, his teammate, the great Hakeem Olajuwon, slapped him across the face. Back in the locker room at halftime, it is said that Maxwell tried to stab Olajuwon with a broken bottle!
Max Max brought more to the table than just his unstable hot-headedness. Usually, it was his 3-point shooting, but Maxwell actually led the 1993-94 Rockets in assists per game. That 1994 Rockets team won the Finals and repeated in 1995, bringing in Houston’s “Clutch City” mantra. (Although Maxwell left the team during the 1995 playoffs after losing the first game to the Jazz in which he only played 16 minutes.) Mad Max is currently one of only nine players in NBA history to ever score 30 or more points in one quarter, exploding for 30 points in the fourth quarter of a 1991 game against the Cavs that saw him score 51 points in all. But as is usually the case with enforcers: you are remembered more for your exploits, especially when they keep going. Maxwell is known nowadays for trolling the Jazz on Twitter. A Mad Max Tweet from this Valentine’s Day reads: “Show me a Utah fan and I’ll show you an idiot.”