Today is the 61st anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game…
…and we’re less than a week away from Damian Lillard scoring 71 against the Rockets. You don’t need a cool video on that, it just happened and it’s all over the internet.
I noticed on the list of all-time 70-point games that Lillard’s was the first in the month of February. Indeed, according to Stathead, the all-time record for the month had been 68 by Pete Maravich in 1977. Naturally, I wanted to find out the rest of the monthly records, so I did, and here they are…
January: Kobe Bryant, 81 (Lakers vs. Raptors, 2006)
February: Lillard, 71 (Trail Blazers vs. Rockets, Sunday)
March: Chamberlain, 100 (Philadelphia Warriors vs. Knicks at Hershey, Pa., 1962)
April: David Thompson, 73 (Nuggets at Pistons, 1978)
May: Charles Barkley, 56 (Suns at Warriors, 1994 Western Conference first round)
June: Michael Jordan, 55 (Bulls vs. Suns, 1993 NBA Finals) and Lillard, 55 (Trail Blazers at Nuggets, 2021 Western Conference first round)
July: Giannis Antetokounmpo, 50 (Bucks vs. Suns, 2021 NBA Finals)
August: Lillard, 61 (Trail Blazers vs. Mavericks at Bay Lake, Fla., 2020)
September: Jamal Murray, 40 (Nuggets vs. Clippers, 2020 Western Conference semifinals)
October: Chamberlain, 59 (San Francisco Warriors vs. Knicks, 1962) and James Harden, 59 (Rockets at Wizards, 2019)
November: Chamberlain, 73 (San Francisco Warriors at Knicks, 1962)
December: Chamberlain, 78 (Philadelphia Warriors vs. Lakers, 1961)
Lillard now owns or shares three of these records, two thanks to the coronavirus pandemic schedules. Chamberlain still holds three of the monthly scoring records that he set in the calendar year of 1962.
There’s a lot more from this rabbit hole to come. Stay tuned! —JS
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