vince carter has scored the most points in one game in nba history.
who has scored the most points in one game in nba history?
vince carter
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
on november 1, 2016, carter played in his 1,278th nba game, tying him with a. c. green for 25th on the nba's career list. he also became the 24th player in nba history to surpass 24,000 career points. on november 8, he scored 20 points against the denver nuggets and became the oldest player in the nba to post a 20-point game since michael jordan scored 25 for the washington wizards in april 2003, at age 40. it was also carter's first 20-point game since april 30, 2014. on november 12, carter made seven field goals against the milwaukee bucks to pass gary payton (8,708) for 21st in nba history. carter also passed charles oakley for 24th on the nba's career games played list with 1,283. on november 14, in a win over the utah jazz, carter had his second 20-point game of the season, joining michael jordan and patrick ewing as the only players in nba history to put up 20 points and 5+ rebounds off the bench at the age of 39, with carter being the oldest at 39 years and 287 days. carter missed seven games in early december with a right hip flexor strain. on january 11, carter hit his 1,989th career three-pointer to move ahead of jason kidd and into fifth on the all-time list. on february 1, in a game against the denver nuggets, carter hit his 2,000th career three-pointer, making him only the fifth player to ever reach that mark. on february 6 against san antonio, carter joined karl malone, dikembe mutombo, kareem abdul-jabbar and robert parish as the only 40-year old players to record at least four blocks in a game. on february 15, in a game against the new orleans pelicans, carter passed allen iverson for 23rd on the nba all-time scoring list. on march 13, carter made his first start of the season and made all eight of his shots, including six from beyond the arc, to score a season-high 24 points and lead the grizzlies past the milwaukee bucks 113–93. he became the first 40-year-old in nba history to hit six triples in one game. at 40 years, 46 days old, carter also became the oldest player to start an nba game since juwan howard in april 2013. on march 29 against the indiana pacers, carter passed ray allen for 22nd on the nba all-time scoring list. in the grizzlies' regular-season finale on april 12 against the dallas mavericks, carter played in his 1,347th game and passed kobe bryant for 13th in regular-season games played. on april 22, carter became the first 40-year-old to make three or more 3-pointers in a playoff game during game 4 of the grizzlies' first-round series against the san antonio spurs.
vince carter