Ranking the Most Incredible Individual Scoring Performances from 2014-15 Season
James Harden is all about the points.
Let's follow his lead.
Thursday night saw Harden torch the Denver Nuggets for 50 points in the Houston Rockets' 118-108 victory. It's the sixth time an NBA player has poured in 50 points this season, and Harden is the fifth player overall to climb that mountaintop, with Kyrie Irving reaching the apex twice.
Where does his offensive detonation rank among the best this season?
Good thing you asked, because we're here to rank.
Each of the league's 50-point outings will be included, along with one 49-point onslaught that was just too juicy to ignore. Placement is not solely determined by point totals here, folks. The entire body of work matters—the efficiency, opponent, surrounding circumstances. All of it.
Roll all that criteria together, and you have a comprehensive list of individual offensive outbreaks worthy of infinite blank stares and shock-induced stupors.
7. March 19: James Harden Drops 50
1 of 7We start with the most recent offensive explosion.
Fifty points marked a new career high for Harden, so that's pretty cool. This all-world effort also came with Houston's championship squads of 1994 and 1995 on hand, giving way to nostalgic feel goodz. And, finally, this was the first time a Rockets player eclipsed the 50-point plateau since Hakeem Olajuwon did so in 1996, according to Bleacher Report's Jonathan Feigen.
As for why it's last on this list, that's complicated.
It's last because Harden shot 12-of-27 from the floor, including 4-of-12 from three-point range. Nearly half of his points came at the foul line, where he shot a "What the heck?!?!?" 22-of-25. He also exploited a Nuggets defense that exists only in theory, kind of like the boogeyman. Or a healthy Dwight Howard.
None of which completely takes away from Harden's onslaught. Fifty points is 50 points, and getting there wasn't easy. Even his last shot was clearly forced, with Trevor Ariza shoving the ball into Harden's hands, despite a waiting double-team.
Of course, Harden nailed it, because that's what he does: make tough shots—provided flinging himself into a human scrap heap in an attempt to secure a trip to the foul line isn't an option.
6. March 14: Russell Westbrook Tosses in 49
2 of 7There is only one wholly, completely and truly bad man on the Oklahoma City Thunder. It is not Kevin Durant.
It's Russell Westbrook.
Never before has this been more evident. His 49-point outburst in Oklahoma City's 123-118 overtime victory over the Philadelphia 76ers is particularly convincing evidence of his alien-ness.
A mask-clad Westbrook pushed his Bane button, picking apart Philadelphia's defense one light-speed drive at a time, all while showing no signs of understanding that, despite what he believes, he is actually human.
Now, I know what you're thinking: The Sixers? In overtime? What's the big deal? Westbrook didn't do anything Alexey Shved couldn't.
Similar dismissals could not be more crooked. The Sixers own a top-12 defense, and only two of Westbrook's teammates (Dion Waiters and D.J. Augustin) decided to make any shots that night.
Besides, Westbrook added 15 rebounds, 10 assists and three steals to go along with his 49 points. That's largely irrelevant when looking at his scoring, but dating back to 1985, no other player has done the same. This was also his fourth consecutive triple-double, making him the first player since Michael Jordan to maintain such a streak.
Thus, I repeat: Russell Westbrook is a bad man.
5. Jan. 13: Mo Williams Goes for 52
3 of 7Five different players have topped 50 points this season. That number may increase by season's end, or it may not.
Whatever happens, just remember one important, life-defining thing: Mo Williams was first.
While with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Williams torched a typically formidable Indiana Pacers defense for 52 points on 19-of-33 shooting, including an absurd 6-of-11 clip from downtown. Indiana had no answer for him, because there was none. Not when he's putting in one-legged, off-balance, 28-foot heaves like the one captured above.
The Timberwolves needed every one of Williams' 52 points too. They trailed the Pacers by six through three quarters, before exploding for 41 in the game-grabbing fourth and winning 110-101.
Twenty-one of those points came from Williams. He shot 4-of-7 from deep and 7-of-7 from the charity stripe in the final period. That's in addition to the four assists he doled out, which means he accounted for more than 70 percent of the Timberwolves' points that quarter.
More importantly, this night ensured Minnesota wouldn't soon forget Williams—not even after dealing him to the Charlotte Hornets.
After all, he now owns the franchise's single-game scoring record.
4. Feb. 4: Stephen Curry's 51-Point Eruption
4 of 7Sometimes, Stephen Curry happens. And when Stephen Curry happens, you can only look on in awe—or in the case of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, dismay.
On Feb. 4, in the Golden State Warriors' 128-114 win over Dallas, Stephen Curry happened in a big way. He pumped in 51 points on just 26 shots, of which he buried 16. Ten of his makes came from long range because, well, he's Stephen Curry.
Over the last 30 years, only one other player—more on him later—has dropped at least 50 points on fewer than 26 shots while also drilling eight or more treys. That's how a rare a shooting display like this remains.
That's what happens when Stephen Curry decides he wants to shoot an unconscious 60-plus percent from the floor with hands in his face and bodies in his way.
This, folks, is what happens when you are Stephen Curry.
3. Jan. 28: Kyrie Irving's Double-Nickel
5 of 7No LeBron James? No problem.
Well, usually it is a problem, hence the significance of Kyrie Irving's 55 points in the Cleveland Cavaliers' 99-94 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Cavaliers are 2-9 without James this season. If not for Irving's offensive salvo on Jan. 28, they would be staring 1-10 in the face. He shot 17-of-36 from the floor, including 11-of-19 from beyond the arc, as Cleveland's offensive focal point.
One of those three-pointers included the above game-winner. With plenty of time left on the shot clock, Irving gave it the ol' heave-ho, swishing it through the bottom of the net, as if saying "Yes, this is what it looks like when a deity catches fire."
At the time, this 55-point performance was a career best. He exceeded his previous mark by 11 (44) in four fewer minutes.
But, you know, things change...
2. March 12: Kyrie Irving Pumps in 57
6 of 7Hey, look, things changed.
Less than two months after dropping 55 points against Portland, Irving dismantled the San Antonio Spurs, scoring a career-high and franchise-best 57 points in Cleveland's 128-125 overtime win.
To say he had it going would be a totally uncalled for insult. And to say San Antonio failed in any way would be equally unjust. Irving may have gone 20-of-32 from the field, including a perfect 7-of-7 from outside, but the Spurs were all over him. Literally.
"What was most amazing was that 30 of Irving's 32 shots were contested, and of those 30 contested shots, he dropped 19," wrote CBS Sports' Matt Moore. "It was an incredible scoring performance, better even than the season-high 55 he scored versus the Blazers earlier this season."
Most of Irving's attempts and makes resembled the situation above.
Hands were in his face. His vision was obstructed. San Antonio did everything it could.
“Kyrie Irving, he was unstoppable,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said afterward, per the San Antonio Express-News' Dan McCarney. “I don’t know how to guard that. We all know how talented he is, but he went to a new level tonight.”
New level indeed.
Per ESPN Stats & Information, Irving now owns the record for most points scored by an opposing player in San Antonio, and he's the first player since Kobe Bryant in 2006-07 to top 55 points more than once in the same season.
Forget a new level. Irving was clearly functioning within a whole other dimension.
Jan. 23: Klay Thomspon "?!#$%" His Way to 52
7 of 7It had nothing to do with the 52 points, or shooting 16-of-25 from the floor (11-of-15 from deep), or the Warriors demolishing the Sacramento Kings 126-101. No, it had everything to do with him recording a 37-point third quarter on a perfect 13-of-13 shooting (9-of-9 from long range).
Not game. Not half. Quarter. That's an NBA record, because of course it's an NBA record.
Single frames aren't meant to hold such greatness, making this feat unbelievable, even for those who watched it. As Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal wrote at the time:
"I watched 37 unfold, and I can't believe it. I saw each shot leave his hand, arc perfectly toward the basket and then squeeze through the bottom of the twine, and I can't believe it. I've written that he scored 37 points in a quarter, and I'm still pinching myself, wondering if I just dreamed up the best 12-minute scoring burst anyone in the world has ever seen and then decided to write about it before waking up.
"
Nothing this season even comes close to matching Thompson's night of record-wrecking.
And, so long as we're being honest, there's a chance nothing and no one ever will.
*Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com and are accurate heading into March 20's games.
