Is It Possible To Score 100 Points In An NBA Game

TL;DR

Scoring 100 NBA points is theoretically possible but requires a near-impossible combination of circumstances that haven't aligned since Wilt's 1962 game.

Key Points

• 1.Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points on March 2, 1962 against the Knicks — he played every minute, his opponent's center was sick, the backup fouled out in 20 minutes, and his entire team deliberately fed him the ball to chase the record.
• 2.The blowout paradox kills most record attempts: the better you score, the bigger your lead, and coaches pull stars early — Harden had 60 in three quarters against the Hawks in 2019 but sat the entire fourth with his team up 54.
• 3.Kobe's 81-point game only happened because the Lakers were barely winning by 6 in the fourth, forcing him to stay in — his 62-point game through three quarters against Dallas was actually on better pace, but a 34-point blowout ended his night early.
• 4.Klay Thompson's 60-point game in just 29 minutes (December 5, 2016) is the closest modern equivalent — he matched Wilt's exact scoring rate of ~2.07 points per minute before Steve Kerr pulled him with 90 seconds left in the third quarter.
• 5.Carl Anthony Towns scored 44 points in the first half on January 22, 2024 — ahead of Wilt's pace — but a 6-minute bench stint in the third quarter killed his momentum entirely.
• 6.The "unwritten rules" of basketball make chasing 100 nearly impossible: teams blowing out opponents must bench stars, and deliberately padding stats in garbage time (like Booker's 70-point game in 2017) earns ridicule rather than respect.
• 7.Victor Wembanyama scored 25 points in just 8 minutes against the Lakers but finished with only 40 in 26 minutes due to a minutes restriction and a blowout — illustrating that even elite talent cannot overcome coaching decisions and game circumstances.