Most Points Scored in an NBA Game: The Record and the Closest Nights

The most points scored in an NBA game still belongs to one night in 1962. Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors, and no one has matched the total.

Bam Adebayo reached 83 points for the Miami Heat on March 10, 2026. Kobe Bryant reached 81 for the Los Angeles Lakers on January 22, 2006. Those are the only other games in the 80s.

The total is the first number to write down, and the free-throw line is the second. Adebayo made 36 free throws in his 83, while Bryant made 28 field goals in his 81. Below is every 70-point game, the players who have reached 60 more than once, and the playoff record, which the league keeps off the regular-season list.

Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-Point Game

On March 2, 1962, at Hershey Sports Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Chamberlain scored 100 in a 169 to 147 win over the New York Knicks. You can match that night against the league’s single-game scoring list, which still opens with him and then jumps to the 80s.

He played all 48 minutes. The building drew 4,124 people, and the game was not televised, so there is no full broadcast to rewind. Philadelphia statistician Harvey Pollack wrote “100” on a sheet of paper in the locker room and had Chamberlain hold it for the photographers.

The shot line was 36 of 63 from the field and 28 of 32 at the free-throw line, plus 25 rebounds and two assists. He was a career 51.1 percent free-throw shooter, so the 28 makes were as far out of character as the point total. Teammates spent the night looking for him, and he said afterward, “The team made all the difference. It would have been impossible to score this many if they hadn’t kept feeding me.”

The quarters ran 23, then 41 at halftime, 28 in the third, and 31 in the fourth. That fourth-quarter burst was a league record for a quarter at the time. The second half produced 59 points, which is still the NBA record for points in a half.

The 100 also closed a four-game streak of 60 points or more. You can follow that stretch on Chamberlain’s 1961-62 game log, the season he averaged 50.4 points and scored 4,029.

The Only Other Games in the 80s

For more than 60 years the list under 100 had one modern entry. On March 10, 2026, a second name moved into that slot, and Bryant’s 81 dropped to third. The league’s highlight cut puts the two nights next to each other.

Bam Adebayo’s 83 Points Against Washington

Adebayo scored 83 in a 150 to 129 Heat win over the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center. He finished 20 of 43 from the field and 7 of 22 from three, with 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks in 42 minutes.

The line that rewrote a record was 36 free throws on 43 attempts. That broke the old mark of 28 made free throws, shared by Chamberlain in the 100-point game and by Adrian Dantley. He also made more free throws than the entire Wizards team, which shot 22 of 29.

The quarters were 31, 12, 19, and 21. The 31 in the first quarter was a Heat record for a quarter, and by halftime he had 43, past a previous career high of 41. With 1:16 left he made two free throws to reach 83, then left to a standing ovation. He put the order in six words afterward: “Wilt, me, then Kobe.”

Kobe Bryant’s 81 Points Against Toronto

Bryant scored 81 on January 22, 2006, and the Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors 122 to 104. He shot 28 of 46 from the field, 7 of 13 from three, and 18 of 20 at the line, in 42 minutes. The makes, the misses, and the minutes are on the Lakers box score from that night.

• The deficit: Los Angeles trailed by 18 before Bryant took over the second half.
• The half: He scored 55 points after halftime and outscored Toronto 55 to 41 in that half.
• The fourth: He scored 28 of the Lakers’ 31 points in the fourth quarter, and he had a stretch of 19 straight Laker points bridging the third.

Eighteen of his 81 points came at the line, which is half the free-throw haul on Adebayo’s night. The comeback is why this game still gets argued as the harder 80, even though it no longer ranks second.

Every 70-Point Game in NBA History

Eleven players have reached 70, across 16 games, and the league publishes every 70-point game on record with the field goals and free throws attached. Chamberlain is the only player on the list more than once. He is on it six times. Six of the eleven names were still active when the 2025-26 season ended: Adebayo, Dončić, Embiid, Booker, Lillard, and Mitchell.

Elgin Baylor’s 71 on November 15, 1960, was the first 70-point game. Five of the 16 games were losses, and the highest total in a defeat is Chamberlain’s 78, with 43 rebounds, in that triple-overtime loss to the Lakers on December 8, 1961.

The cleanest shooting line on the list belongs to Dončić, who made 25 of 33, including 8 of 13 threes, and added 10 rebounds in 45 minutes. Lillard’s 71 came with 13 made threes on 22 attempts, a perfect 14 of 14 at the line, and only 39 minutes. Embiid’s 70 came in 37 minutes, on the same calendar date as Bryant’s 81, eighteen years later.

Two of the 70s were last-day bids for a scoring title. Thompson’s 73 was a loss at Detroit on April 9, 1978, and the same night George Gervin scored 63 for San Antonio, with 33 in the second quarter, and won the scoring title by 0.07 points. Robinson’s 71 on April 24, 1994, the last day of that regular season, won the scoring title over Shaquille O’Neal.

How to Read a 60-Point Box Score

Once the 70-point list is in front of you, any new “greatest night” claim can be checked with three lines from the box score. The point total alone will not tell you which night was the harder one.

CHECK THREE LINES

• Free throws: Count the makes, because each make is one of the points in the total.
• Minutes: A 70 in the mid-30s is a different load from a total built across a triple overtime.
• The result: Five 70-point games were losses, so a giant line does not mean the team won.

Strip the free throws out of the top three totals and the order changes. The 100-point game still leads that cut, because 72 of those points came on field goals. Bryant’s 81 leaves 63 points from the field, and Adebayo’s 83 leaves 47.

Giannis Antetokounmpo took the other side of that argument after the Heat game. He said the figure people keep is the point total, the way 100 and 81 are what lasted from the older nights, not the free-throw column. Both readings use the same box score. One ranks the memory, and the other ranks how the points were made.

Players With More Than One 60-Point Game

The 60-point mark has been reached 93 times in the regular season. Only 10 players have done it more than once.

• Wilt Chamberlain: 32 games, spread across the Warriors, the 76ers, and the Lakers, with the last one on January 26, 1969.
• Kobe Bryant: 6 games, from the 81-point night through a 60-point finale.
• Damian Lillard: 5 games, including the 71-point night against Houston.
• Michael Jordan: 4 regular-season games. His playoff high is a separate list.
• James Harden: 4 games, two of them in 2019.
• Elgin Baylor: 3 games, led by the first 70-point night in league history.
• Luka Dončić: 3 games, the 73 with Dallas and two 60s.
• Karl-Anthony Towns: 2 games.
• Devin Booker: 2 games, led by the 70 in Boston.
• Stephen Curry: 2 games, a 62 in 2021 and a 60 on February 3, 2024.

Booker’s 70 came at 20 years and 145 days old, which is the youngest age for a regular-season 60-point game, and the Suns lost that night in Boston, 120 to 130. Bryant’s oldest 60 was his last game, April 13, 2016, at 37 years and 234 days, a 101 to 96 win over Utah in which he shot 22 of 50. Curry’s 60 in 2024 is the other 60-point game after a player had turned 35.

Dončić’s third 60 came on March 19, 2026, nine days after Adebayo’s 83. He scored 60 for the Lakers in a 134 to 126 win over the Heat, on 18 of 30 shooting with 9 threes, in 38 minutes.

The NBA Playoff Scoring Record

Playoff points do not join the regular-season list, even when the total would rank among the famous nights. Only two players have scored more than 60 in a playoff game, and both did it against the Boston Celtics.

Michael Jordan scored 63 on April 20, 1986, in Game 2 of the first round, a double-overtime loss in Boston. That broke a mark that had stood for 24 years. Larry Bird’s line on the performance is the one the league still quotes: “God disguised as Michael Jordan.”

Elgin Baylor had scored 61 on April 14, 1962, in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and the Lakers won that game in Boston. Jordan’s regular-season high is 69, not 63, so a list that drops the playoff game into the regular-season order is mixing two records.

Nights Just Short of 70 Points

A lot of the nights people ask about sit between 60 and 69. They are part of the same 93-game list, and a few of them carry a record that the 70-point table does not show.

Michael Jordan’s 69-Point Regular-Season High

Jordan’s 69 came on March 28, 1990, in a 117 to 113 overtime win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. He shot 23 of 37 from the field and 21 of 23 at the line in 50 minutes, with 8 of the points in overtime, and he grabbed 18 rebounds, a career high.

That 69 is the number to use when someone asks for his best regular-season scoring game. The 63 belongs on the playoff line above, in a series the Bulls lost.

Nikola Jokić and the Highest-Scoring Triple-Double

On April 1, 2025, Jokić scored 61 with 10 rebounds and 10 assists in 53 minutes, and Denver lost 139 to 140 to Minnesota in double overtime. Twelve of the points came in the two extra periods. It is the highest-scoring triple-double on record.

Harden had the first 60-point triple-double on January 30, 2018, with 60 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists. Dončić tied that points mark for a triple-double on December 27, 2022, with 60, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists in an overtime win over the Knicks. Jokić moved the points mark to 61.

Sixty Points With a Quarter Left to Sit

A few 60-point games ended early because the player sat the fourth quarter. The minutes are the check, not a footnote.

• Kobe Bryant, 62: On December 20, 2005, he scored 62 in 33 minutes, sat the fourth, and had outscored Dallas by himself through three quarters, 62 to 61, in a 112 to 90 Laker win.
• Klay Thompson, 60: On December 5, 2016, he scored 60 in 29 minutes on 21 of 33 shooting and sat the fourth in a 142 to 106 win over Indiana.
• James Harden, 60: On November 30, 2019, he scored 60 in 31 minutes and sat the fourth in a 158 to 111 win over Atlanta.

Thompson’s other famous scoring night is not on the 60-point list at all. On January 23, 2015, he scored 37 in the third quarter against Sacramento, the single-quarter record, and finished with 52. A quarter record and a game record are different lines, and only one of them belongs to Chamberlain.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the NBA Record for Points in a Quarter?

Klay Thompson holds it, with 37 points in the third quarter for the Golden State Warriors against the Sacramento Kings on January 23, 2015. He made all 13 shots in that quarter, nine of them threes, plus both free throws, and he finished with 52 points in a 126 to 101 win. Chamberlain’s 31 in the fourth quarter of the 100-point game was a record then, and it is not the record now.

Is There Video of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-Point Game?

No full game film exists, because the night was not televised and the arena was not set up for a television broadcast. A radio call of the game survives, which is why the points, the makes, and the final score can be checked even though you cannot watch the baskets. Clips that look like game film were built later from that call and from pictures of other games.

Do Overtime Points Count in the Single-Game Total?

Yes. The single-game total counts every point in that game, including overtime, which is why a triple-overtime loss can sit near the top of the list and why an overtime win can push a player onto it. If you are comparing two nights, check the result line for an overtime mark before you treat the minutes as a normal 48.

Has Anyone Scored 100 Points More Than Once?

No. Chamberlain did it once, and no other player has reached that number. Every later argument about second place is an argument about a total that still sits well below the record.

If a friend names a total, ask for the opponent, the minutes, and the free-throw line before you rank the night. No regular-season total between 84 and 99 is on the list, and the nights under 100 only sort themselves once you see where the points came from.