There have been many players in the history of the NBA who have given us epic moments, massive records, and unforgettable games. In this article, we will look at the players who scored the most points in a single NBA game. One name you will see a number of times in this article is the legendary Wilt Chamberlain. He was an exceptional player who scored the most points in a number of games for his team and set several records.
Wilt Chamberlain – 70 points
Match score: 148-163 (San Francisco Warriors vs. Syracuse Nationals)
Wilt played with the Warriors’ team in 1960, and the squad wasn’t that good compared to the others in the league. If “The Big Dipper” wasn’t present on the court for them, the team would have finished at the bottom in every season he played with them. In the 1963 match against the Syracuse Nationals, Wilt’s team lost the match by 148-163, but it could have been a huge loss for the Warriors if it weren’t for the outstanding play of their Goliath and the most influential player. Syracuse found ways to put the ball in the hoop with better frequency than the Warriors, but Wilt carried the match till the very end by scoring 71 points.
David Robinson – 71 points
Match Score: 112-97 (San Antonio Spurs vs. Los Angeles Clippers)
The 1993–94 NBA season saw an ongoing individual battle for the scoring title between prime David Robinson and young Shaquille O’Neal. In the final game of the season, Robinson was trailing Shaq by an average of 0.6 points per game and needed a huge scoring effort to take the crown. In the match against the LA Clippers in 1994, Spurs Coach John Lucas had the team feed Robinson the ball even when he was double- and triple-teamed for most of the time to help him score 71 points. None of the teammates took more than 10 shots, and “The Admiral” scored 71 points and was able to surpass Shaq’s total points as well.
Elgin Baylor – 71 points
Match Score: 123-108 (Los Angeles Lakers vs. New York Knicks)
Elgin Baylor was an exceptional player in his time, and in fact, he was the first one to use mid-range as a bread-and-butter range, and several players copied his moves later, including Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as well. His miserable finals record of 0-8 marks him as the greatest player to never win an NBA championship.
Elgin has been a star since he entered the league, but in his third year, he set some phenomenal scoring records. “Mr. Inside” scored 71 points in the match against the New York Knicks. In this specific game, Baylor put on a real performance for the audience and gave an all-round effort that included 25 rebounds as well.
Wilt Chamberlain – 72 points
Match Score: 115-127 (San Francisco Warriors vs. Los Angeles Lakers)
The Warriors led this game with a 5-1 record, but despite a particularly stellar performance from their star player, who scored 72 points, they squandered the halftime lead and went on to lose the game by 12 points. Jerry West and Baylor jointly scored 79 points and 27 rebounds. It took a strong third quarter burst from West for the Lakers to pull ahead, and they consolidated an eight-point lead with the final quarter run of 40 points at the end.
Wilt Chamberlain – 73 points
Match Score: 135-117 (Philadelphia Warriors vs. Chicago Packers)
The Chicago Packers are the same franchise known today as the Washington Wizards. In 1962, Wilt scored 73 points in the match against the Packers. During this match, he was given some assistance by Paul Arizzin, who scored 26 points. The Warriors outscored their opponents in every quarter to seal an 18-point victory.
Wilt Chamberlain – 73 points
Match Score: 127-115 (San Francisco Warriors vs. New York Knicks)
On November 16, 1962, in the match against the Knicks, the Warriors were trailing by three points at halftime, but they fought back to an 8-point lead at the end of the third quarter and finished the match with an additional eight-point margin during the fourth quarter. Chamberlain scored 73 points in this match.
David Thompson – 73 points
Match Score: 137-139 (Denver Nuggets vs. Detroit Pistons)
In 1978, when the Nuggets went against the Pistons, David started off with a record total for a single player in a single quarter—32 points in the first half. He had the third-highest single-half total of any player with 53 points by halftime. His impact waned later in the game as the rest of the roster was unable to find any kind of rhythm. After leading the game throughout the fourth quarter, the Nuggets handed the win to the Pistons, who were bolstered by a team effort as four of their players scored 20 or more points.
Wilt Chamberlain – 78 points
Match Score: 147-151 (Philadelphia Warriors vs. Los Angeles Lakers)
The Big Dipper attempted 62 shots in this game and missed 31 of them. Much of this could be shrugged off, as the game went into triple overtime and eventually the Lakers won by four points. Wilt played 63 minutes in this game and may have felt a pinch after this tough loss. None of his teammates shot higher. Elgin, on the other hand, got assistance from Jerry West, who scored 32 points. Baylor himself finished with 63 points.
Kobe Bryant – 81 points
Match Score: 122-104 (Los Angeles Lakers vs. Toronto Raptors)
This was one of the most entertaining matches as Kobe led the Lakers to victory in a game in which they were trailing by double digits at halftime. Despite his 26 points, the team was trailing by 63-49, and Kobe had to put in extra effort; as a result, he single-handedly outscored the Raptors in both quarters. The Black Mamba scored 55 points in the second half and turned the game in his team’s favor.
Wilt Chamberlain – 100 points
Match Score: 169-147 (Philadelphia Warriors vs. New York Knicks)
The Legend Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50 points and 25 rebounds per game. He was towering over the rest of the NBA in his prime and put on a perfect display of his dominance on March 2, 1962, in the game against the New York Knicks.
Wilt started off amazingly by scoring 23 points in the first quarter. At halftime, he scored 41 points, and opposing center Imhoff was benched during that time due to a foul. By the end of the third quarter, he had reached 69 points and was close to peaking at his highest score of 78. The Knicks began intentionally fouling other Warriors to prevent Chamberlain from reaching 100 points after his total reached 89 and more than half of the fourth quarter was still left. That’s when the Warriors began adopting this strategy to keep time on the shot clock to give Wilt enough time to reach the tally, and he did it with 40 seconds remaining in the game, creating a big record.
Also Read:- 10 Fascinating and strange facts about Stephen Curry
