For fans of historic matches, at 70 points, the current era is a golden period. Joel Embiid's performance against the Spurs is in fact the third at this height in a year and twenty days! On January 2 and February 26, 2023, Donovan Mitchell then Damian Lillard scored 71 points.
These three huge performances, even close together, remain rare because the Sixers pivot is only the ninth player in history to reach this mark. And this is only the 14th game in NBA history that ends with a player scoring 70 or more points.
Wilt Chamberlain reaches the 70-point mark six times
The first dates from November 15, 1960, with Elgin Baylor and his 71 points at Madison Square Garden. This is then the record for points in an NBA game. A record that does not hold due to Hurricane Wilt Chamberlain. “The Stilt” strings together six 70-point matches in less than fifteen months! Between December 8, 1961 and March 10, 1963 exactly, with obviously his masterpiece: 100 points, March 2, 1962. Record still to be beaten, almost 62 years later…
Then, matches of this magnitude become exceptions. For example, we have to wait sixteen years after Wilt Chamberlain's last to see one again, with David Thompson, on April 9, 1978. That evening, he fought a long-distance duel for the title of top scorer in the league with George Gervin . The Spurs player, with his 63 points, will finish as the top scorer of the regular season, but with 73 points, the Nuggets player will achieve the most prolific performance.
The fourth 70-point game in seven years
Same scenario in 1994, with Shaquille O'Neal and David Robinson. The first is beaten down to the wire by the second who scores 71 points against the Clippers. Twelve years later, on January 22, 2006, Kobe Bryant entered the legend with his 81 points against the Raptors. Finally, in March 2017, Devin Booker, then 20 years old, scored 70 points in Boston, after a sometimes caricatured but nevertheless impressively talented performance.
The math is simple: these four performances – from Thompson to Booker – took place in 39 years, or once a decade on average. This means if the recent outings of Donovan Mitchell against the Bulls, then of Damian Lillard against the Rockets, each author of feverish outbreaks at 71 points, and that of Joel Embiid, 70 against Victor Wembanyama's Spurs, in less than thirteen months, are exceptional.
We will note one notable absentee from this list: Michael Jordan, whose points record is… 69 points. Paradoxically, this mark is much less known than his 63 points in the playoffs, in a defeat against the Celtics.
THE LIST OF MATCHES WITH MORE THAN 70 POINTS
Wilt Chamberlain : 100 points, March 2, 1962
Kobe Bryant : 81 points, January 22, 2006
Wilt Chamberlain : 78 points, December 8, 1961
Wilt Chamberlain : 73 points, January 13, 1962
Wilt Chamberlain : 73 points, November 16, 1962
David Thompson : 73 points, April 9, 1978
Wilt Chamberlain : 72 points, November 3, 1962
Elgin Baylor : 71 points, November 15, 1960
David Robinson : 71 points, April 24, 1994
Damian Lillard : 71 points, February 26, 2023
Donovan Mitchell : 71 points, January 2, 2023
Devin Booker : 70 points, March 24, 2017
Wilt Chamberlain : 70 points, March 10, 1963
Joel Embiid : 70 points, January 22, 2024
