NBA History: Top 5 players with most 50-point games ever
Scoring in bunches is a skill that demands elite consistency and focus throughout the 48 minutes of play. One of the precise markers of the aforementioned quality is seen vividly across a 50-point performance.
Though scoring almost half a team's total score might entail a considerable bit of ball-hogging, it does exhibit the player's unparalleled supremacy on offense. All the names mentioned in this list are bound to be go-to players for their respective teams at some stage in their careers, if not always.
While the rules, scoring options, defensive schemes and more or less everything about the game has gone through a transitional period over time, measuring those players against their stack of 50-point games does provide an insight when viewed solely from a statistical viewpoint. With that being said, let's take a look at the five points who hold the largest heaps of 50-point games in NBA history:
#5 James Harden - 18
Despite missing out on the MVP trophy to the Greek Freak, James Harden had a season to remember. Averaging a career-high 36.1 points on 44% shooting from the floor (37% from deep), he achieved that alongside 7.5 assists and 6.5 boards per game for the Rockets.
What's even more insane is he topped the 50-point mark in less than 40 minutes on four occasions this past campaign, ending up stacking a mammoth total of nine fairly impressive 50-point games during the regular season.
With this milestone he joined the Hall of Fame club of Wilt Chamberlain (5x), Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as the only players with at least seven 50-point games in a season. In addition, The Beard had five consecutive months with at least one 50-point game, joining Chamberlain as the only other NBA player to accomplish this in their career.