What are the most points scored in a half in the NBA by a single player?
As offenses continue to revolutionize in the NBA, scoring outrageous amounts of points for players is seemingly looking easier every year. In the 2022-23 season, the league saw Damian Lillard and Donovan Mitchell go off for 70 points. In the 2023-24 NBA season, Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns dropped a 70 and 60 ball on the same night (Jan. 22, 2024).
Dame Lillard in the first half:
41 PTS | 8 3PM | 13/19 FG
This heat check was INSANE https://t.co/Fopok9MPga
Towns broke Kobe Bryant's long-standing record of scoring a whopping 42 points in the first half alone, which the late Lakers legend scored exactly 18 years ago en route to his 81-point night. Towns scored 43 in the first half of the game.
Meanwhile, Embiid didn't break a first-half record, but he had 34 points as well, which is not an easy feat.
What are the most points scored in a half in the NBA by a single player?
With stellar scoring efforts from players in the NBA since the 2020s, fans are wondering the most points scored in a half by an NBA player. We have the answer to that.
The legendary Wilt Chamberlain holds the record for most points scored in a single half. Chamberlain scored 59 points in the second half of his record-breaking 100-point game against the New York Knicks as a member of the Philadelphia Warriors on March 2, 1962. Wilt shot 57.1% from the field on 63 attempts in that game.
The 100 points he scored in that game is a record that's unlikely to ever be broken. The late Kobe Bryant came closest to breaking it in 2006 when dropped 81 points against the Toronto Raptors in a 122-104 win for the LA Lakers.
9 players have scored 70 points in a game
The NBA has had nine players in history score at least 70 points. Joel Embiid became the latest to achieve the feat on Jan. 22, 2024. Karl-Anthony Towns missed that milestone by only eight points. Three of these 70-point efforts have come in one year between 2022 and 2023. Damian Lillard and Donovan Mitchell were the other two players who got there before Embiid recently.
Also read: What is the highest-scoring game in NBA history? Looking at its box score, top scorers, and more stats
Also read: How many points did LeBron James score vs Golden State Warriors? Did he break his streak of 37 games with 20 or more points?