Listing the 3 highest-scoring games in the NBA playoffs by active players
Playoff performances by a player or team definitely have more weight in terms of praise or criticism than at any other stage during an NBA season. If a team comes together at the right time in the postseason, it will be praised. If a player comes up clutch in vital situations, he will be celebrated as an elite athlete who gets the job done when it matters most.
It has been that way for a long time in the NBA, and that is probably why many mention Michael Jordan as the NBA's GOAT, and also why others are certain LeBron James has taken that nod away from MJ.
Performing in the postseason is the mark of a great player who might also be a perennial winner, and those are qualities that any of the 30 NBA teams would want to have on their respective roster.
3 biggest scoring tallies by active players in a single NBA playoff game
However, it isn't for everyone. Unique individual performances do not yield the desired result for a team and player every time, and it might just be a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as in facing the wrong opponent at the wrong stage.
Many Hall of Famers in the 1990s were not able to surpass Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, while dominant forces like Wilt Chamberlain could not win more than two titles because Bill Russell and his juggernaut Boston Celtics were steamrolling everybody in the NBA Finals.
It isn't easy to win a game in the playoffs, and a championship is a tall task if the roster isn't constructed efficiently. Still, individual performance could have a unique impact during a high-stakes series between closely-matched teams. That's what we'll be looking at in this article.
Here, we will show you the three biggest scoring outbursts seen by current players in a playoff game, and see how much it impacted the team, the outcome in that game or even the series.
Without further ado, let us take a look.
#3 Isaiah Thomas
Isaiah Thomas has the third-biggest tally of points scored in a single NBA playoff game by active players.
Thomas played five games this season after signing a couple of 10-day contracts with the LA Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. Some might not consider him an active player, but he was certainly active with the Boston Celtics in the 2017 playoffs.
Back then, Thomas was an All-Star and averaged 28.9 points per game in the regular season. In the second round of an emotional playoff run for him (his sister sadly died in a car crash before the postseason), Thomas put up a 53-point effort against the Washington Wizards in Game 2, a 129-119 win in overtime.
He converted 18 of his 33 field goals on the night and played 45 minutes.
#2 Damian Lillard | 55
Damian Lillard has had some unbelievable outings in the playoffs throughout his career. Those efforts have yet to deliver an NBA Finals appearance for the Portland Trail Blazers, but Lillard has earned big respect for his scoring outbursts and clutch shooting.
Last season, the Blazers competed against the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the postseason, and the series was highly competitive. In Game 5, with the series tied at two wins apiece, Lillard put up 55 points after making a playoff-record 12 3-pointers, but Portland could not take a road victory in double OT.
Damian Lillard made the game go into a couple of overtime periods as he made two game-tying 3-pointers. One came at the end of regulation and the other in the closing stages of the first OT.
Denver went on to win the series in six games, but Lillard's offensive performances were definitely historic.
#1 Donovan Mitchell | 57
The 2020 playoffs, played at the Orlando bubble due to the Covid-19 pandemic, provided some truly exciting performances and duels. One of the biggest stories seen in that postseason tournament were the Denver Nuggets, who won two series after returning from a 3-1 deficit on both occasions.
The first of those comebacks came in the first round against the Utah Jazz. Donovan Mitchell was a big reason the Jazz looked on pace to reach the second round, including joining Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson as the only players with multiple 50-point games in the same series.
Denver Nuggets' Jamal Murray joined the club too, making that series the only one in history with two players having more than one 50-point effort in the same battle.
In Game 1, Mitchell scored 57 points in a 135-125 loss. That day, he made 19 of his 33 field goals, six of his 15 3-pointers and all of his 13 free throws.
Mitchell's 57-point game is the third-best mark in playoff history, behind Michael Jordan's 63 points against the Boston Celtics in 1986 and Elgin Baylor's 61-point effort in the 1962 NBA Finals against Boston.