What’s the Lowest Scoring NBA Game? Knicks–76ers Latest 73–79 Scoreline on the Wrong Side of History

A neck-to-neck game is always a treat for the fans, but is it always or the teams involved? The Philadelphia 76ers secured a hard-fought 79-73 victory against the New York Knicks. The game has come close to being recorded as one of the historical moments, but not a desirable one for the Knicks as it’s been recorded as the lowest-scoring game this season so far. And, unless any other team ends up with even a lower score, this game will go into record books of the NBA as the lowest-scoring game of season 2023-24. It is worth mentioning that the key player who led the Sixers to victory emerged to be Kelly Oubre Jr.

He scored 18 points for his team with 10 rebounds and 3 assists. Additionally, Kelly got the required support off the bench. Buddy Hield went on to score 16 points against the Knicks. The only sign of relief with this low score for the Knicks’ roster can be that it doesn’t even come close to the lowest-scoring games in the last two decades.

What’s the Lowest Scoring NBA Game?

The lowest-scoring NBA game happened on November 22, 1950, as the Fort Wayne Pistons managed to defeat the then reigning champions, Minneapolis Lakers 19-18. Both teams’ scores combined, the total turned out to be 37. At the time, the Minneapolis Lakers were too strong for the Fort Wayne Pistons. Coach Murray Mendenhall devised the perfect strategy to combat this situation wherein Minneapolis did not even get a chance to hold the ball.

Here are some other lowest-scoring matches ever in NBA history.

While this was the list of all the lowest-scoring matches, when it came to the 90s, you’d be shocked to see the pattern continued.

Lowest-scoring NBA matches of the 90s & 00s era

The match between the Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat in the 1998-1999 season holds the record for the lowest-scoring game since the 1990s, concluding with a score of 49-82. The Bulls faced a devastating defeat against the Heat. This also is the Bulls’ lowest-scoring game ever. It is worth mentioning that they had won the NBA championship the previous season, but what followed was the end of the championship era.

Indiana Pacers vs San Antonio Spurs is the second game on this list. The game where the Spurs could put up just 55 points against the Pacers. The Pacers won the game with a scoreline of 55-74. What follows is yet another low-scoring game of the 90s, Utah Jazz vs San Antonio Spurs. The Utah Jazz recorded their lowest score ever in this game at 56 points. The Spurs emerged victorious in the game, scoring 71 points against the Jazz.

However, the 2000s era witnessed its lowest-scoring game when the Denver Nuggets faced the Detroit Pistons in 2002. Nuggets could barely manage to put up 53 points against the Pistons’ 74 points. The team that followed the Nuggets’ lowest score in this decade was the Miami Heat in its 2008 match against the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors emerged victorious in the match with a score of 54-96. These low-scoring games came after the implementation of the shot clock in 1954. Before the shot clock, the games had witnessed even lower scores. This happened because the teams controlled the pace of the game whenever they wanted to by holding the ball for a longer duration of time and not attempting shots.

What do you make of today’s game between the Knicks and the 76ers? Will we see more games like this one, or was this an anomaly because of injuries plaguing both teams?

Read More: “I Played Like Dog S**t”: Jalen Brunson Takes Embarrassing Knicks-76ers Game Personal