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NBA Records: Points, Streaks and Games

NBA records: the most points in a game, the longest streaks, threes, blocks and the strangest numbers.

45 In January 1948 Providence coach Nat Hickey put himself into the lineup, two days before turning 46. He is still the oldest player in league history.

63 In 1949 Joe Fulks scored 63 points in a game, a record that stood for ten years until Elgin Baylor scored 64 in 1959. Fulks was one of the pioneers of the jump shot.

19-18 The lowest-scoring game in NBA history ended 19-18. In November 1950 the Fort Wayne Pistons beat the Minneapolis Lakers by holding the ball for minutes at a time.

75-73 The longest game in NBA history went to six overtimes. In January 1951 the Indianapolis Olympians beat the Rochester Royals 75-73.

30 Bob Cousy scored 50 points in a 1953 playoff game against Syracuse that went to four overtimes. His 30 made free throws, from 32 tries, are still an NBA record.

1960 Only two players have been Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season: Wilt Chamberlain in 1960 and Wes Unseld in 1969.

55 In November 1960 Wilt Chamberlain grabbed 55 rebounds against Boston, still the NBA record. His Warriors lost anyway, 132-129.

48.5 An NBA game lasts 48 minutes, yet in 1961-62 Wilt Chamberlain averaged 48.5 minutes per game, playing almost every second including overtimes.

100 Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors against the Knicks on 2 March 1962 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. No video of the game exists.

61 Elgin Baylor scored 61 points against Boston in Game 5 of the 1962 Finals. More than six decades later, no one has scored more in a Finals game.

1968 In 1967-68 Wilt Chamberlain led the NBA in total assists. He is still the only center ever to do it.

88 Walt Bellamy played 88 games in the 82-game 1968-69 season, still an NBA record. A midseason trade sent him from the Knicks to Detroit, who had more games left.

19 Hal Greer shot his free throws as jump shots. At the 1968 All-Star Game he scored a then-record 19 points in one quarter and was named MVP.

2 In the 1970 Finals Jerry West hit a 60-foot shot at the buzzer to tie the game. The NBA had no three-point line yet, so it counted for two, and the Knicks won in overtime.

33 The 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers won 33 games in a row, still the longest winning streak in NBA history. The Milwaukee Bucks ended it in January 1972.

9 The 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers won only 9 of their 82 games, one of the worst seasons in NBA history.

17 Elmore Smith of the Lakers blocked 17 shots in one game in October 1973, the first season blocks were officially counted. The record still stands.

1974 Nate Thurmond recorded the first official quadruple-double in 1974, in his very first game for the Chicago Bulls. Blocks and steals had only just become official stats.

68 Pete Maravich scored 68 points for the New Orleans Jazz against the Knicks in 1977, before the NBA even had a three-point line.

73 On the last day of the 1977-78 season David Thompson scored 73 points. That evening George Gervin scored 63 and snatched the scoring title by a tiny margin.

2 Darryl Dawkins shattered two backboards with dunks within a month in 1979. The damage helped push the NBA to adopt breakaway rims.

186-184 The highest-scoring game in NBA history: in December 1983 the Detroit Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets 186-184 after three overtimes.

31,420 In April 1984 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar passed Wilt Chamberlain as the NBA's all-time leading scorer. It happened in Las Vegas, where the Utah Jazz played some home games at the time.

56 On 3 March 1985 Kevin McHale scored 56 points, a new Celtics record. Nine days later Larry Bird took the record back with 60 points against Atlanta.

63 Michael Jordan scored 63 points against the Celtics in the 1986 playoffs. Chicago still lost in double overtime, and Larry Bird called him God disguised as Michael Jordan.

1192 A.C. Green played 1,192 NBA games in a row between 1986 and 2001, earning the nickname Iron Man.

170 At 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in), Spud Webb won the 1986 Slam Dunk Contest, beating his Atlanta teammate Dominique Wilkins in the final.

71 cm In 1987-88 the Washington Bullets had the shortest player in NBA history and one of the two tallest. Muggsy Bogues and Manute Bol were 71 cm (28 in) apart.

97 Micheal Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves made 97 free throws in a row in 1993, still the NBA record.

71 On the final day of the 1993-94 season David Robinson scored 71 points against the Clippers and beat Shaquille O'Neal to the scoring title.

8.9 In the 1995 playoffs Reggie Miller scored 8 points in 8.9 seconds at Madison Square Garden, turning a sure loss into an Indiana win over the Knicks.

1 Shaquille O'Neal attempted 22 three-pointers in his NBA career and made exactly one, in February 1996.

4 Vince Carter is the only player to appear in NBA games across four different decades, from 1998 to 2020.

49 In April 1999 the Chicago Bulls scored just 49 points against Miami, the fewest by any team since the shot clock arrived in 1954.

41 Rasheed Wallace of Portland collected 41 technical fouls in the 2000-01 season, the NBA single-season record. That is roughly one every two games.

43 In February 2003, days after turning 40, Michael Jordan scored 43 points for the Washington Wizards. He was the first player aged 40 or older to score 40 in an NBA game.

13 In December 2004 Tracy McGrady scored 13 points in the final 35 seconds, including four threes, to give Houston an 81-80 win over San Antonio.

18 Andrew Bynum is the youngest player in NBA history. He made his Lakers debut in November 2005 aged 18 years and 6 days.

81 Kobe Bryant scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors on 22 January 2006. For twenty years it was the second-highest total in NBA history, behind Chamberlain's 100.

98.1% In 2008-09 José Calderón made 98.1% of his free throws, the best single-season mark in NBA history.

7 The 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats won just 7 of 66 games in a lockout-shortened season. Their winning percentage of .106 is the worst in NBA history.

38 During Linsanity in February 2012, little-known Knicks guard Jeremy Lin outscored Kobe Bryant with 38 points against the Lakers.

39 In January 2012 Golden State fouled Dwight Howard on purpose all night. He took 39 free throws, made 21 and broke Wilt Chamberlain's 1962 record of 34 attempts.

73-9 The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors went 73-9, the best regular-season record in NBA history, one win better than the 1995-96 Bulls.

37 In January 2015 Klay Thompson scored 37 points in a single quarter against Sacramento, making all 13 of his shots from the field.

402 In 2015-16 Stephen Curry made 402 three-pointers. Nobody had made even 300 in a season before.

60 Kobe Bryant scored 60 points in his very last NBA game, against the Utah Jazz in April 2016.

70 In March 2017 Devin Booker, aged 20, scored 70 points in Boston, becoming the youngest player ever to reach 70. His Phoenix Suns still lost.

32 In 2018-19 James Harden scored at least 30 points in 32 straight games. Only Wilt Chamberlain, with 65 in a row, has had a longer streak.

14 min In February 2018 Nikola Jokić completed a triple-double against Milwaukee in 14 minutes and 33 seconds. He broke a record of 17 minutes set by Jim Tucker in 1955.

14 In October 2018 Klay Thompson hit 14 threes against Chicago, an NBA record at the time. He needed just 27 minutes.

60 In January 2018 James Harden recorded the first 60-point triple-double in NBA history.

152-79 The biggest win in NBA history: in December 2021 the Memphis Grizzlies beat Oklahoma City 152-79, a 73-point margin.

21 In December 2022 Luka Dončić had 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists against the Knicks, the first 60-20-10 game in NBA history.

28 In 2023-24 the Detroit Pistons lost 28 games in a row, the longest losing streak within a single season in NBA history.

68,323 In 2023 a Spurs game at the Alamodome drew 68,323 fans, an NBA regular-season record. The old mark of 62,046 came from a 1998 Bulls-Hawks game in Atlanta.

40,000 In March 2024 LeBron James became the first player to score 40,000 regular-season points.

211-186 The 2024 All-Star Game in Indianapolis ended 211-186 to the East, the most points ever scored in an All-Star Game.

73 In January 2024 Luka Dončić scored 73 points against the Atlanta Hawks, the most in an NBA game since Kobe Bryant's 81 in 2006.

70 In January 2024 Joel Embiid scored 70 points against the San Antonio Spurs, whose rookie that season was Victor Wembanyama.

3 In 2024-25 Nikola Jokić averaged a triple-double for the season. Only Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook had done it before him.

4000 In March 2025 Stephen Curry became the first player to make 4,000 three-pointers. James Harden, second on the all-time list, was nearly 900 behind.

1,297 In December 2025 LeBron James's run of 1,297 straight games in double figures ended. He scored 8, but set up Rui Hachimura's game-winning three at the buzzer.

83 On 10 March 2026 Bam Adebayo scored 83 points against the Washington Wizards. Only Wilt Chamberlain has scored more in an NBA game.

45 On 21 October 2026 Ty Jerome scored 45 points for Memphis against the Jazz, 12 more than his previous career high.

7 ft 7 in At 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m), Gheorghe Mureșan and Manute Bol are the tallest players in NBA history.

5 ft 3 in Muggsy Bogues, the shortest player in NBA history at 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m), lasted 14 seasons in the league.

15,806 John Stockton's 15,806 career assists are still the NBA record.

0 Despite his size and physical style, Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out of an NBA game in his 14-season career.

3830 Hakeem Olajuwon blocked 3,830 shots in his NBA career, the most in history. Growing up in Lagos he played football and handball, and only took up basketball as a teenager.

2086 Manute Bol blocked 2,086 shots but scored only 1,599 points in his NBA career, a rare case of more blocks than points.

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