The most memorable scoring explosions in NBA history

The date was March 2, 1962. The NBA wasn't all that popular, and the game between the Knicks and Chamberlain's Philadelphia Warriors was played in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was sparsely attended, and no video of the action is known to exist. By the fourth quarter, both teams were fouling — the Knicks to keep the ball away from Wilt and the Warriors to get it back. Chamberlain, who ended up averaging 50.4 points per game for the season, only got to triple digits thanks to an uncharacteristic 28-of-32 performance from the free-throw line. 

Bryant had recently scored 62 points in three quarters against the Mavericks, but with the game in hand, declined to play the fourth quarter. In this Jan. 22, 2006 tilt against the Toronto Raptors, the Lakers were trailing by 14 at the half and needed someone to step up. After 26 first-half points, Bryant did just that, going for 27 in the third quarter, when L.A. outscored Toronto by 20, and notching 55 second-half points overall. Bryant was relatively efficient, too, getting his 81 points on 28-of-46 shooting and an 18-of-20 performance from the line.

The 1994 scoring title appeared to belong to Shaquille O'Neal. Orlando's young center averaged just a touch over 29 points on the year, and San Antonio's David Robinson needed a herculean effort on the season's final day to wrest the title away, and that's exactly what he delivered. "The Admiral" dropped 71 points on the Clippers, and though there were complaints about the Spurs' frequent fouling, even in a blowout, their tactics worked. Robinson went 26-of-41 from the floor, including 1-of-2 from three-point range, and 18-of-25 from the line to get to 71.

Before there was Wilt, before there was Kobe, there was Lakers forward Elgin Baylor, who set an NBA record with 71 points in 1960 against the New York Knicks. Baylor went 28-of-48 from the field and 15-of-19 from the line, and he paced the Lakers to a 123-108 win over New York. Baylor's record would stand for only about a year before Wilt Chamberlain broke it with a 78-point effort, which won't be chronicled here lest this becomes a list of Wilt's greatest hits. 

Booker's high point total in the 2016-17 season was 39, save his 70-point eruption on March 24 in Boston. Booker didn't fill it up from behind the arc; he did most of his damage on two-pointers and free throws. Booker went a mere 4-of-11 from three-point range, and he was only 21-of-40 from the floor overall. But he sizzled at the free-throw line, making 24-of-26 from the charity stripe. Somewhat incredibly, Booker's plus-minus for the night was a minus-six, and the Suns lost to the Celtics 130-120.

Whether or not you like Kobe Bryant probably determines how you feel about his final game in the NBA — one that saw him go for 60 points in a win against the Jazz. In a way, it was a fitting swan song for both his defenders and detractors. His defenders got to see him fill it up one last time, but his detractors got to point out that it took him 50 field-goal attempts to get there, that he hoisted a ridiculous 21 threes, making only six, and that the entire spectacle was, well, a spectacle. It's not at all surprising that even Kobe's farewell game caused a rift among hoops fans. Still, 60 points is 60 points.

Michael Jordan was already well established as a rising star when his Bulls qualified for the 1986 playoffs, despite the fact that they finished an atrocious 30-52 on the season — a record mostly attributable to the fact that Jordan missed much of the year due to injury. Though Chicago got swept in the first round by the powerhouse Celtics, Jordan made them work for the second of their three wins. MJ went off for 63 points in front of a hostile Boston crowd, and perhaps most impressively, did so without attempting a single three-pointer. It was a different era, sure, but 63 points without a single trey is an exceptional feat. While it would be a few years before the Bulls broke through as a team, this is the game that established Jordan as a superstar.

Despite being arguably the fourth-most prominent member of the Warriors, Klay Thompson seems to have a penchant for spectacular individual performances. The sharpshooting guard entered the third quarter of a Jan. 23, 2015 tilt with the Kings with 13 points on the evening. When the fourth quarter started, Thompson had 50. He scored an NBA-record 37 points in the third, and went 13-of-13 from the floor, including 9-of-9 from three-point range in the quarter. The nine threes was a record for one quarter, and the 13 field goals tied David Thompson's record for one period.

This one you probably know about, mainly because it just happened. Thompson went off on Oct. 29, scorching the Bulls for an NBA-record 14 three-pointers. He had entered the game shooting a mere 14 percent from long distance on the year but found his stroke in a hurry and never looked back, racking up the record, and 52 points total, in only 27 minutes. Perhaps most incredible about Thompson's night was that he had more made threes than he did dribbles. You're reading that right. Thompson dribbled the ball, in total, less than 14 times all night. Oh, and whose record of 13 threes in one game did he break? Teammate Stephen Curry's, of course.

Eric "Sleepy" Floyd averaged 12.8 points for his career, but in Game 4 of the 1987 Western Conference Semifinals, taking on the eventual champion Lakers, he went off in record-setting fashion. Floyd scored 39 points in the second half, including 29 in the fourth quarter, and notched 12 field goals in the final quarter. All three stats are NBA playoff records, and Floyd's performance helped Golden State turn a 14-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter into a 129-121 win. Floyd finished with 51 points on the night.

What's the best birthday you've ever had? Unless you won the lottery, you probably didn't have as good of a day as Shaquille O'Neal did on his 28th birthday. Shaq went off for a career-high 61 points against the Clippers and needed only 35 field-goal attempts to do so, as he shot 24-of-35 from the floor, 13-of-22 from the line and racked up 23 rebounds on the night, as well. Incredibly, this would be the highlight performance from the only MVP season of O'Neal's illustrious career.

The high-flying Thompson gave it his all in an effort to win the NBA scoring title away from San Antonio's George Gervin in 1978, scoring a then-record 32 first-quarter points en route to 73 for the game. Thompson shot a scorching 28-of-38 on the night and made 17-of-20 free throws in a 139-137 loss against Detroit. It stood to reason that the effort would be enough for Nuggets star to overtake Gervin and win the scoring crown, as it meant that Gervin would need 58 points to take back the title. Guess what happened next?

Did you guess that Gervin, playing later in the day, got to 58 points and kept the title? If so, congratulations, for you are correct. Gervin missed his first five shots but almost got to 58 by halftime. He scored 20 in the first, then broke Thompson's hours-old, single-quarter scoring record by notching 33 points in the second quarter. Gervin secured the record with just over five minutes to spare and finished with 63 points on the day. The Ice Man doesn't get high marks for efficiency, though. While he, like Thompson, went 17-of-20 from the line, he shot a mere 23-of-49 from the floor. Something tells me he was OK with that.

Harden is a polarizing player, with some fans not fond of his method for drawing contact or the questionable legality of some of his dribbling moves and footwork. But there's no denying his talent. On Jan. 30, 2018, he took the Magic to the woodshed, torching them for 60 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Harden shot 19-of-30 from the floor, making only 5-of-14 threes in the process, but as usual did plenty of work from the foul line, shooting 17-of-18 from the stripe. If you'd like to nitpick, you can point out that it took Harden playing nearly all 48 minutes to reach the mark, but that would just be petty.

It was May 31, 2007. The Eastern Conference Finals were tied at two games apiece, and the Pistons and Cavaliers were locked in another tight battle. The game was 79-77 in favor of Cleveland, with 6:05 left in the fourth quarter. LeBron James, to that point, had been pedestrian, with only 19 points. Then he took over. And I do mean, took over. James scored 29 of Cleveland's final 30 points of the night, willing his team to a double-overtime victory over Detroit. LeBron attacked from everywhere, driving and finishing relentlessly at the rim and stepping out for clutch threes when necessary. It was, to that point, the defining performance for a player many feel has gone on to become the greatest of all time.

Michael Jordan was not quite the same player when he returned to the NBA after a flirtation with minor league baseball. His first game back saw him score a pedestrian 19 points, and the Bulls were a mere 2-2 through four games of his comeback. Enter Spike Lee, the Knicks, and a boisterous Madison Square Garden crowd. That combination was all His Airness needed to snap out of it. Jordan erupted for 55 points, eviscerating New York's defense on 21-of-37 shooting, including 3-of-4 from distance and 10-of-11 from the line. He might still have been wearing a No. 45 jersey, but it was clear that vintage MJ was back.

Sometimes the best scoring performances happen in the blink of an eye. So it is with Reggie Miller, who tortured the Knicks and their fans, especially Spike Lee, like few players not named Michael Jordan. Miller's Pacers trailed New York 105-99 with 18.7 seconds left in Game 1 of their 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals series, and that's when Reggie got to work. First, he hit a three off an inbounds play, then he stole the ensuing inbounds pass, hit another three to tie the game and then won the game with two free throws with 7.5 seconds left. He threw the international choking sign at Lee, too, which added to the moment's iconic nature.

The Rockets trailed the Spurs 76-68 with about 40 seconds left when McGrady brought the ball up and drilled a three to pull Houston to 76-71 with 35 seconds left. He would hit three more threes, one of them becoming a preposterous four-point play, and bring the Rockets all the way back for an 81-80 win. Oh, and he capped off his evening by winning the game just before the buzzer with a contested three after a San Antonio turnover. When you consider that McGrady did this while being guarded by Bruce Bowen, widely considered the league's premier perimeter defender, and against the Spurs, widely considered the league's best defensive team at the time, it is an even more impressive feat than Miller's eight points in nine seconds.

There have been great performances on this list — performances that have defied belief or helped teams win playoff games. But no person save Vinnie Johnson can stake a claim to getting hot at the best possible time: the fourth quarter of a championship-clinching game. They called him The Microwave because he could heat up in a hurry, and Johnson, after going 0-of-4 with one point through three quarters of Game 5 of the 1990 NBA Finals, started to sizzle when his team needed him. He scored 15 points in the final quarter, turning a 76-69 deficit with 8:30 remaining into a 92-90 win. Oh, and Johnson delivered the dagger himself, nailing the title-winning jumper with 0.7 seconds remaining. 

Michael Jordan is, at worst, the second-best player in NBA history. He was a dominant scorer like no other perimeter player, not even Kobe or LeBron. One thing Jordan wasn't known for, however, was his three-point stroke. He was a king of slashing, attacking and mid-range ballet. Oh, and he got to the free-throw line a lot. But anyway, back to the threes. They just weren't his calling card. That's what made his performance against the Trail Blazers in Game 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals special. Jordan, who made only 27 percent of his threes that year, went crazy in the first half, making a Finals-record six threes and scoring a Finals-record 35 first-half points. Things got so absurd after the sixth three fell that Jordan turned to Magic Johnson, working courtside as a broadcaster, and simply threw up his hands and shrugged, clearly having surprised even himself.

Jennings is nothing more than a role player at this point in his career, but he electrified the league when, as a rookie playing only his seventh game he went off against the Golden State Warriors, scoring 55 points on a very efficient 21-of-34 shooting performance, including 7-of-8 from three-point range. Jennings' left-handed shooting stroke, while not classically pretty, was nevertheless effective, and nothing the Warriors threw at him slowed him down. His Milwaukee Bucks needed just about all of it, too, as they barely slipped by the Warriors, 129-125. 

I hate East Coast bias as much as the next guy, but I must admit that big-time performances seem more special when they happen at Madison Square Garden. Maybe it's because the Garden hoops crowd is knowledgeable and appreciative, or maybe it's just because it's fun to watch New Yorkers pine over other teams' stars. But whatever the reason, there's a little something extra. Stephen Curry announced himself as a star in the making when he torched the Knicks for 54 points, hitting 11 threes in the process, on Feb. 27, 2013. The Knicks won the game, but Curry was dazzling, scoring 16 of his 54 in the fourth quarter, as he matched Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire shot for shot. The Garden crowd buzzed throughout, the game made headlines, and a star was born.

You didn't think you'd go through a list of explosive scoring performances without seeing at least one Carmelo Anthony contribution, did you? Anthony, who at his peak was one of the league's best volume scorers, went ballistic on Dec. 10, 2008. He had only nine points at the half, but that changed quickly, as he put up 33 in the third quarter to tie George Gervin's then-NBA record and best David Thompson's team mark by one. Anthony went 12-of-15 in the quarter, hitting four threes in the process, and he finished the game with 45 points.

Perhaps no player had a bigger cult following than Allen Iverson, pound for pound perhaps the toughest player in league history, not to mention one of the most talented. Iverson was never a great shooter, and if his Sixers teams had had more offensive talent, he would probably have had the dreaded "gunner" label attached to him. But they didn't, and Iverson taking a ton of shots was usually their best chance at victory. His greatest scoring performance came in 2005, in a 112-99 win over Orlando. Iverson scored 60 points on 17-of-36 shooting but made an incredible 24-of-27 free throws. It was classic Iverson: making less than half of his shots but still being far and away the dominant force on the court.

If Michael Jordan never existed, Dominique Wilkins might have become the NBA's biggest superstar of the 1980s and early '90s. Wilkins got the better of Jordan on Dec. 10, 1986, as he started fast and never looked back, posting 57 points on 19-of-28 shooting and a 19-of-21 performance from the line. Wilkins was relentless, attacking the rim all game long and thoroughly outplaying Jordan, who finished with 41 points on the night. It doesn't make up for the success Jordan went on to have, but it was an electric night in front of an appreciative Atlanta crowd, to be sure.

For sheer frantic excitement and uninterrupted glory, Rogers' performance might top Miller's and McGrady's quick scoring binges. In 1994, Rogers was a rookie out of Wake Forest, and his Nuggets were trailing the Jazz by eight points with 31 seconds left. Rogers promptly hit a three, got the ball after a Denver steal, hit another three, then gathered a loose ball after yet another inbounds pass was stolen and promptly hit a fallaway three from the corner to give Denver a one-point lead. Should you choose to find this sequence on YouTube, the entire thing takes 28 seconds — in real time. It is truly a sight to behold. Just, uh, don't mention the part where the Nuggets ended up losing the game by one.