AP – Kyrie Irving’s 60-point barrage at Orlando was the seventh 50-point effort in the league so far this month – with half of March remaining.
His career-best performance came one night after Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns also scored a career-high 60, a number nobody in the league had reached this season until this week.
Even Kevin Durant – one of the most elite scorers ever, someone who had 53 in Brooklyn’s win over New York last Sunday – is marveling at what’s happening right now.
March’s seven 50-point games have come in a span of 11 days. LeBron James started it on March 5 by scoring 56 for the Los Angeles Lakers against Golden State. Jayson Tatum had 54 points for Boston one day later against Brooklyn.
With that, the madness was off and running. Irving had 50 on March 8 at Charlotte. James had 50 again last Friday against Washington.
Durant had his 53 last Sunday, Towns answered that with 60 on Monday and Irving then had a 60-point night of his own.
It matches the highest number of 50-point games in the same calendar month in the NBA in the last 60 years.
August 2020 also had seven 50-point efforts, four of those being playoff games at the restart bubble inside Walt Disney World. There were also seven such games in March 2019.
The last month with more 50-point games in the NBA was decades ago – all the way back to December 1962. There were nine of them that month, six by Wilt Chamberlain of the San Francisco Warriors. He had eight all by himself that October. He made 50-point nights look ordinary in those days.
