# What is the greatest single-game scoring performance in NBA history?

> One night, one absurd box score. Sixty years separate the oldest of these from the newest, and nobody agrees on which was actually the hardest to do.

*By YPB Team · Published August 7, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-greatest-single-game-scoring-performance-in-nba-history*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Kobe Bryant – 81 points (2006)**
   Kobe outscored Toronto by himself after halftime on 22 January 2006, the second-highest total ever at the time.
2. **Wilt Chamberlain – 100 points (1962)**
   Wilt's 2 March 1962 night in Hershey against the Knicks, the record no one has approached since.
3. **Bam Adebayo – 83 points (2026)**
   Miami's centre hit 36 free throws against Washington on 10 March 2026 to pass Kobe for second all-time.
4. **Wilt Chamberlain – 78 points (1961)**
   A triple-overtime duel with Elgin Baylor's Lakers on 8 December 1961 that briefly stood as the record.
5. **David Thompson – 73 points (1978)**
   Denver's guard poured in 32 in the first quarter of the 1978 season finale chasing the scoring title.
6. **Luka Dončić – 73 points (2024)**
   Dallas beat Atlanta on 26 January 2024 behind the highest total of the three-point era at the time.
7. **Elgin Baylor – 71 points (1960)**
   Baylor's 15 November 1960 night at Madison Square Garden set the record before Wilt rewrote it.
8. **David Robinson – 71 points (1994)**
   The Admiral took the 1994 scoring title from Shaq on the last day of the season against the Clippers.
9. **Donovan Mitchell – 71 points (2023)**
   Cleveland's guard forced overtime against Chicago on 2 January 2023 after a nine-point comeback.
10. **Damian Lillard – 71 points (2023)**
   Lillard needed only three quarters of work to bury Houston on 26 February 2023.
11. **Joel Embiid – 70 points (2024)**
   Philadelphia's MVP centre set a franchise record against San Antonio on 22 January 2024.
12. **Devin Booker – 70 points (2017)**
   A 22-year-old Booker dropped 70 in Boston on 24 March 2017 in a game Phoenix still lost.
13. **Michael Jordan – 69 points (1990)**
   Jordan's career high came in overtime at Cleveland on 28 March 1990, with 18 rebounds attached.
14. **Michael Jordan – 63 points (1986)**
   The double-overtime playoff record against the 1986 Celtics, the night Larry Bird invoked God.
15. **Elgin Baylor – 61 points (1962)**
   Game 5 of the 1962 Finals in Boston, still the highest-scoring Finals game by any player.
16. **Stephen Curry – 62 points (2021)**
   Curry's career high against Portland on 3 January 2021, built on eight threes and free throws.
17. **Klay Thompson – 60 points (2016)**
   Sixty points in 29 minutes against Indiana on 5 December 2016, on only eleven dribbles.

Tags: basketball, nba, performances, all-time, records