His 20 seasons and 1,560 games in the NBA are only surpassed by former Celtics center Robert Parish. After being poked in the eye during a preseason game in 1975, Abdul-Jabbar began wearing his distinctive goggles. He wore them for years until giving them up in the 1979 playoffs. He returned to the goggles after hearing that fellow future Hall of Famer Moses Malone had also been injured in a pre-season game. The injury forced Malone to miss the entire season and he, too, wore a protective face mask throughout much of it. When asked about his decision, Jabari said that he wanted to keep playing but also wanted to protect himself from further injuries. He returned for more than one season afterward though, missing just 10 games over two seasons before turning 36. In those 10 games he averaged 35.6 minutes per game which is almost 10 minutes more than he usually played. In 1987-88, he led the Lakers in minutes played for the third time in four seasons. That year he also led the team in scoring for the first time since 1976-77 when he was with the Milwaukee Bucks. Abdul-Jabbar was often criticized for his aggressive on-court style of play which included taking charges and throwing down hard fouls. However, one must remember that back in his day, there were no illegal moves allowed on defense so he was merely doing what others before him had done.