lebron james scored the most points in a game nba history.
who scored the most points in a game nba history?
lebron james
on july 8, 2017, harden signed a four-year contract extension with the rockets for approximately $160 million, giving him a total six-year deal with $228 million guaranteed—the richest contract in nba history. the deal will keep harden the face of the rockets through the 2022–23 season. on november 5, he scored a career-high 56 points in a 137–110 win over the utah jazz, falling just shy of calvin murphy's 57-point franchise record set in 1978. harden joined wilt chamberlain as the only players in nba history to have at least 10 assists and shoot better than 75 percent from the field in a 50-point performance. on november 16, he had 23 of his 48 points in the second quarter while the rockets scored 90 points in the first half en route to a 142–116 win over the phoenix suns. the rockets made 61 percent of their first-half shots to get the second-most points in a first half in nba history. he went on to become the first player in team history to score at least 20 points in each of the team's first 20 games of a season. harden was named western conference player of the month for games played in october and november, marking the fifth time harden has received the honor, all coming as a rocket. on december 9, he scored 48 points to help the rockets rally from a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat the portland trail blazers 124–117, scoring at least 20 points in each of houston's 24 games, becoming only the second player to accomplish such a feat since the 1990–91 season. on december 20, despite harden's 51 points, the rockets were defeated 122–116 by the los angeles lakers, ending their 14-game winning streak. harden set a franchise record by scoring at least 20 points in his 30th straight game. the previous record was held by malone, who did it in 29 straight games in the 1981–82 season. two days later, harden had a second straight 51-point performance in a 128–118 loss to the los angeles clippers. it was harden's third 50-point game of the season and he became the first player in franchise history to have two straight 50-point games. he also became the first nba player to score 50 or more in consecutive games since kobe bryant did so in four straight in march 2007. on december 31 against the lakers, harden scored 40 points before leaving with a hamstring injury late in the fourth quarter. without harden, the rockets won 148–142 in double overtime. the following day, he was ruled out for two weeks with a grade 2 hamstring strain. he missed seven games as a result. on january 26, he had 23 points and 11 assists in a 115–113 loss to the new orleans pelicans. harden moved into second in rockets history in assists with 3,347, passing allen leavell's 3,339. on january 30, in a 114–107 win over the orlando magic, harden became the first player in nba history to score 60 points as part of a triple-double, finishing with 10 rebounds and 11 assists for his third triple-double of the season. harden scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to eclipse the 57 points calvin murphy scored in 1978 to break houston's single-game scoring record. it was his fourth 50-point game of the season and bested his previous career high of 56 points set in november against utah. on march 25, he helped the rockets reach 60 wins in a season for the first time in franchise history, recording a triple-double (fourth of season, 35th of career) with 18 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds in three quarters in a 118–99 win over the atlanta hawks. the rockets finished the regular season as the no. 1 seed for the first time in franchise history, with a franchise-best 65–17 record. harden won his first scoring title, averaging 30.4 points per game, second in franchise history to malone's 31.1 in 1981–82.
james harden
after missing the rockets' next game with an illness and a strained neck, his return game on february 25 saw him score 28 points against the atlanta hawks, snapping his 32-game streak with at least 30. on february 28, he scored 58 points in a 121–118 win over the miami heat. on march 19, he scored 31 points in a win against the hawks and became the first player in nba history to score 30 or more points against all 29 other teams in a single season. on march 20, he scored 57 points in a 126–125 overtime loss to the memphis grizzlies, marking his seventh 50-point game of the season. two days later, he matched his career high with 61 points, including 27 in the first quarter, to lead the rockets to a 111–105 victory over the san antonio spurs. for these performances, he received his fourth western conference player of the week honor of the 2018–19 season. on march 31, harden had 50 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a 119–108 win over the sacramento kings to record his ninth 50-point game of the regular season. it was his fifth career 50-point triple-double, the most of any player in nba history. he also became the ninth player in nba history to make 2,000 3-pointers in their career. after a 135–103 victory against the los angeles clippers on april 3, he became the third person in nba history to record 2,700+ points and 500+ assists in a single season. in a 149–113 blowout win against the phoenix suns on april 7, harden's 30-point, 13-rebound, nine-assist, and two-steal performance matched and broke several records: he tied kobe bryant for the most 30-point games in one season for any nba player in the past 30 years with 56 games; became the second player in nba history (michael jordan, 1989–90) to record 2,700 points, 500 assists, and 500 rebounds in one season; and joined michael jordan as the only player to average at least 30 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals in one season. he finished the season with the largest scoring margin (8.1 ppg) over the second-leading scorer since chamberlain in 1962–63.
james harden