Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James celebrated Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving’s historic 60-point performance against the Orlando Magic.
When NBA fans saw Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyrie Irving join the exclusive 60-point club in the same week, it garnered reactions from across the league.
Most points in a half this season:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 16, 2022
36 — Karl-Anthony Towns yesterday
39 — Kyrie Irving today
There’s still 2 minutes left in the first half. pic.twitter.com/fNXzecml3s
This is the first time NBA players have scored 60 points on back-to-back nights since 1962.
— NBA (@NBA) March 16, 2022
Karl-Anthony Towns: 60 last night
Kyrie Irving: 60 tonight pic.twitter.com/HMBM4oCcXv
One person who appreciated Irving’s game was none other than LeBron James, who jokingly asked him to stop scoring so much.
Ky stop it man!!! Actually don’t 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 16, 2022
https://twitter.com/HilltopNBA/status/1503915686862548997
LeBron James jokes around with Kyrie Irving on historic 60-point game
A little over eight years ago, it was James who saw a career-high 61 points in a 127-104 win over the Charlotte Bobcats.
7 years ago today, a masked LeBron did this to the Charlotte Bobcats!
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) March 3, 2021
61 PTS (career-high)
8 3PT (ties career-high)
37 2nd Half PTS (Heat record)
25 PTS in a Quarter (Heat record)
22 FGS (Heat record)pic.twitter.com/Ewr5cN1AYl
A comprehensive list of every NBA performance of 60 or more points has Wilt Chamberlain dominating the list, including the No. 1 overall ranking. In 1962, Chamberlain set an NBA record that has yet to be broken, scoring 100 points in a commanding defeat of the New York Knicks. Kobe Bryant is the only other player to come close, scoring 81 points in 2006.
The person to score the most points among active NBA players would be Devin Booker, who scored a whopping 70 points against the Boston Celtics on March 24, 2017. Still, the Suns managed to lose 130-120, but Booker’s scoring is now being complimented by Chris Paul on a Phoenix Suns team that leads the Western Conference at a distant No. 1 ranking.
As far as the 60-point club goes, the active player with the most games with 60 or more points is none other than Kyrie’s former teammate James Harden. Over the course of his career, Harden has had four such games, scoring 61 in two games and 60 in the remaining two games. All of these games took place while Harden was with the Houston Rockets.
Even though Wilt Chamberlain managed to do it 32 times, scoring 60 in a game is by no means an easy feat to accomplish. As long as Irving doesn’t score that much on James, it seems The King can appreciate his accomplishment from the opposite coast.