John Wall had 40 points, 13 assists, three steals and three blocks – a stat line not achieved since at least the NBA adopted a 16-team playoff in 1984 (as far back as Basketball-Reference records go).
And it barely registers today.
That’s because Isaiah Thomas scored 53 points and led the Celtics to a Game 2 victory over the Wizards. That’s the highest-scoring playoff game ever by a point guard.
Thomas’ box score will put him in the record books, also for having the highest-scoring playoff game since Allen Iverson dropped 55 on the New Orleans Hornets in 2003. (That was so long ago, New Orleans was in the East.) But the circumstances for Thomas – the game coming on his late sister’s birthday, his clutch play – make the performance unforgettable.
Here’s every 50-point playoff game in NBA history:
