The NBA doesn’t see many 50-point games, and that was especially the case this season. After getting 22 in the 2018-19 season and 23 in the shortened season last year, the NBA has so far seen only 10 50-point games this season. If you keep that in mind, it’s extremely rare to get more than 50 point games on the same night. Yet it happened for the second time this season. On February 6, Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic reached 50. And tonight? Jayson Tatum and Zach LaVine both got there, and for both of them it was a career high in the score.
LaVine’s first half was perhaps the most impressive we’ve seen all season. He dropped a staggering 39 points on the Atlanta Hawks in the first two quarters, including 25 in a row. But then the Hawks came back for the second half with a more aggressive game plan. They started doubling LaVine more often and kept him at 11 in the last two quarters. It still took him to a career-best 50 points in total, but the Hawks scored with a 120-108 (goals) victory.
The Minnesota Timberwolves inflicted almost the same fate on Tatum’s Celtics. Boston trailed by 17 points and needed overtime to secure a 145-136 (goals) victory, behind Tatum’s remarkable 53-point drive. Tatum hit the release line an astonishing 16 times, converting 15 of them to go from behind the arc with a 6-of-10 shooting night.
Before the last few seasons, several 50-point games on the same day were extremely rare. It happened once last season, but it hasn’t happened since December 23, 2005, when Vince Carter and Allen Iverson both came in at 50. is becoming more and more frequent. Was it first one surprise for one point on one night? Now we get several outings the same evening.