Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard Matches 58-Year-Old Historic Record Held by NBA Legend

Today, teams like the Los Angeles Lakers are struggling to reach 100 points in most games due to a dwindling offense. It’s tough to imagine how an individual can have a 60+ points in a game, but we have some exceptions. Only recently, Damian Lillard broke the barrier by posting a game-winning 61 against the strong Dallas Mavericks. Portland Trail Blazers won 134-131.

We have 19 players who have done this magic exactly once in their career. The list is huge, but some notable mentions would be David Thompson (73), Rick Barry (64), Carmelo Anthony (62), Karl Malone (61), Shaquille O’Neal (61), LeBron James (61), Larry Bird (60), Kemba Walker (60), Klay Thompson (60), and Devin Booker (70). These were ones-and-dones, but we have some who just did not stop.

The NBA kings sitting on the throne of 60+ points, including Damian Lillard

Let’s first discuss the most recent addition to this list of legends. We strongly believe that if there ever releases an NBA 2K60 game, which we willfully hope, it must have Damian Lillard on its cover. The man literally pulled out the Blazers from elimination chances as they now eye a 2020 playoffs spot. His 61 points came just in time. 

Three 60+ in just one season. Phew! He added 5 rebounds and 8 assists too. It was a totally all-round performance which came in just 41 minutes playtime for him. And here it is, the 30-YO point guard being compared with the greatest Wilt Chamberlain.

His regular-season average is just shy of 30 points per game, with 8 assists in every game. We believe he will continue to progress and give us many such memories with his improving capability.

A dig at the history of the NBA, when others pulled this!

Wilt Chamberlain, hands down, had a 100 point game for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks in 1962. His side obviously won 169-147. The legend did this 60+ performance on 32 occasions. Class apart! 

Elgin Baylor, who appeared 8 NBA finals in his career, did this thrice. We have James Harden and Michael Jordan, who could do this four times each. Next comes the man who almost broke the Wilt Chamberlain record. Kobe Bryant put a 60+ show on 6 occasions but he also had an 81-point game that was just phenomenal. 

Most notably, Michael Jordan and Elgin are the only two players in the NBA history who could do this in a playoff game. So Damian Lillard has all the possibilities to break in and become the third to do this, given his side books a place in the playoffs this year.

Sources: StatMuse – Twitter, Portland Trail Blazers – Twitter, StatMuse.com