Highest Scoring NBA Games of All Time: The 5 Highest Scoring Games in League History

While defense wins championships, the modern era signifies a change in how the game is played. Basketball is played a lot quicker, and a plethora of players have helped elevate the standard that has led to incredible, legendary moments. For example, we can’t not mention Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, who has posted over 4000 three-pointers and is widely regarded as one of the best shooters of all time. Nor can we forget LeBron James, who has acquired the most points of all time in both the NBA regular season and postseason, arguably both of which are unlikely to be bettered. 

Basketball is extremely quick and fast-paced now, and SportsBoom has spent time researching the top 5 games in NBA history that have the total combined points scored by both teams in one match. 

Spotlight on the Record Breakers

The highest-scoring NBA game of all time arrived on December 13, 1983, where the Detroit Pistons pipped the Denver Nuggets by a total scoreline of 186-184. This game went through three overtime periods as both teams produced a combined 142 field goals.

More records were broken from a player’s perspective that day, with Denver Nuggets star Kiki VanDeWeghe posting a career-high 51 points in this match. Both he and Alex English scored heavily; the latter posted a 47-point game performance, and both players alone took up almost three digits in scoring. 

On the winning side, the Detroit Pistons’ highest scorer was two-time NBA champion Isiah Thomas, scoring 47 points, and his nearest challenger was John Long, who scored 41 himself. Four 40+ point games are simply unheard of in basketball, to add to the anomaly of this high-scoring game. 42 years on, this game remains the highest-scoring NBA match. 

Second-Highest Scoring Match

Just over two years ago, the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Clippers faced off in an all-Californian matchup and set numerous records. This is the closest highest-scoring game in NBA history, with the losing team scoring 99.43% of the points of the winning team.

This narrow affair in downtown Los Angeles encapsulates the play style of the modern NBA teams. A huge focus is on the athleticism of these athletes, who are quick both in and out of possession, allowing for more shooting attempts. 

Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox scored 45 and 42 points, respectively, the only two players representing the Kings who eclipsed the 40-point barrier. Kawhi Leonard secured 44 points for the Clippers, but their points were more shared, thanks to five of their ten players being utilised eclipsing 15 points earned. 

This matchup saw 9x NBA All-Star Russell Westbrook make his debut for the Clippers, and what better way to start anew with the organization than posting 17 points, 14 assists, and 5 rebounds? 

Third-Highest Scoring Match

At number three, the infamous fixture between the San Antonio Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks took place on March 6th, 1982. What’s remarkable about this game was that the leading two scorers on the Bucks’ roster came off the bench. Brian Winters and Junior Bridgeman stepped up to produce 42 and 31 points apiece.

For the Spurs, their leading two offensive weapons were George Gervin and Mike Mitchell, where the duo posted 50 and 45 points. The 95 points between them accounted for 95 of the 171 total points that day, showing the huge reliance of both players. As the game played three additional overtime periods, both players played 56 and 58 minutes on the court, showing incredible stamina to produce impressive statistics. 

Key Observations 

Our first key observation that we discovered is that two matches took place within the last six years. No matter the era, it shows that events like this can happen, in addition to showing the true picture of how offensive modern NBA matches are. This match has the fewest overtimes played if it goes past regulation time, and it slots itself as the second highest ever. 

In addition, four of the five games with the most points went through multiple overtime periods. The exception arrived between the Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets back on November 2, 1990. This shows you that this game was simply a one-off, where all showed no care for defense and went all-out attack when it was their turn in possession. 

The NBA has been around for multiple decades, but the top five highest-scoring games were all separated by five decades. Incredibly, this shows you that games like this can take place during any era. 1980s basketball wasn’t anywhere near as efficient or organized as it is today.