An NBA record breakout: 5 games of 43 or more in the same day

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The NBA entered Christmas with a night like no other.

For the first time in NBA history, five players scored at least 43 points on the same day. It happened on Friday, with Dallas’ Luka Doncic leads with 50 points against Houston.

The others: Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid had 44 points against the Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a career-best 44 points against New Orleans, New York’s RJ Barrett had 44 points against Chicago, and Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton had one Career-high 43 points against Miami.

“Luka is Luka,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd. “He’s the best player in the world and he showed that tonight when he took the offensive again.”

As usual, Doncic pushed back the credit.

“My teammates trusted me,” he said after his 17-a-side 30 night, which also included 10 rebounds and eight assists.

The biggest shot of the night in Dallas’ 112-106 win over Houston could have been Doncic, who hit a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to give the Mavericks a five-point lead.

And that wasn’t even the most dramatic 3 the night’s big scorers had.

That honor went to Haliburton, who made 10 3-pointers – the last of them with a lead of 4.3 seconds to give Pacers a 111-108 win over the Heat.

“Tyrese Haliburton is an artist,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle when asked about Haliburton’s exceptional shooting power and allow them to do what they do. His artistry is how he puts the ball in the basket, how he views the game, how he connects with teammates and the special person he is.”

Embiid’s big night came in Philadelphia’s seventh straight win. Barrett and the Knicks eventually fell to the Bullsand Gilgeous-Alexanders 44 came in a Lost overtime to New Orleans — which he almost extended into double overtime, with a 40-foot desperation shot at the end that hit the front edge on the buzzer of a 128-125 final.

“It was close. Not close enough,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, whose great start to the season has established himself as an early frontrunner for the NBA’s Most Improved Player honor — not to mention other postseason and likely accolades a trip to the All-Star Game as well.

There have now been just over 4,400 instances where a player has scored 40 or more points in a regular-season game. Friday marked only the fifth time five of these happened on the same day — and the second in 2022.

On April 10, the last day of the 2021-22 regular season, Obi Toppin had 42 for New York, Jalen Green 41 for Houston, Malik Monk 41 for the Los Angeles Lakers, Klay Thompson 41 for Golden State and Victor Oladipo scored 40 for Miami.

The other three instances of five 40-point scorers:

– February 21, 2003 – Tracy McGrady scored 52 for Orlando, Jamal Mashburn 50 for the New Orleans Hornets, Michael Jordan 43 for Washington, Allen Iverson 41 for Philadelphia and Kobe Bryant 40 for the Lakers.

– February 2, 2001 – Allen Iverson scored 47 for Philadelphia, Bryant 44 for the Lakers, Chris Webber 41 for Sacramento, Paul Pierce 40 for Boston and Jerry Stackhouse 40 for Detroit.

– December 25, 1961 – Wilt Chamberlain scored 59 for the Philadelphia Warriors, Tom Heinsohn 45 for Boston, Elgin Baylor 40 for the Lakers, Richie Guerin 40 for New York and Oscar Robertson 40 for Cincinnati.

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