Kyrie Irving went wild last night, scoring 57 points in the Cavaliers’ win over the Spurs.
He also dropped 55 in a January win over the Trail Blazers.
That gives Irving the NBA’s two highest-scoring games of the season ahead of Klay Thompson’s 52, Mo Williams’ 52, Stephen Curry’s 51 and everyone else’s outings.
Of course, another player could pass Irving in the season’s final month. But if this holds, the Cavaliers point guard would join Kobe Bryant as the only active players to post a season’s two highest-scoring games.
Gathered through Basketball-Reference.com and this list of 50-point games, I found the top two scoring games for each season back to 1958 – and a little data before that.
Here are the highest scoring games of each season with the years one player held the top two spots outright in green and the years a player did it with a tie in red:
- 2015: Kyrie Irving (57), Kyrie Irving (55)
- 2014: Carmelo Anthony (62), LeBron James (61)
- 2013: Stephen Curry (54), Kevin Durant (52)
- 2012: Deron Williams (57), Kevin Love (51), Kevin Durant (51)
- 2011: LeBron James (51), Carmelo Anthony (50)
- 2010: Brandon Jennings (55), Andre Miller (52)
- 2009: Kobe Bryant (61), Tony Parker (55), Dwyane Wade (55), LeBron James (55)
- 2008: Kobe Bryant (53), Kobe Bryant (52)
- 2007: Kobe Bryant (65), Kobe Bryant (60), Gilbert Arenas (60)
- 2006: Kobe Bryant (81), Kobe Bryant (62)
- 2005: Allen Iverson (60), LeBron James (56)
- 2004: Tracy McGrady (62), Tracy McGrady (51), Tracy McGrady (51)
- 2003: Kobe Bryant (55), Allan Houston (53)
- 2002: Allen Iverson (58), Kobe Bryant (56)
- 2001: Jerry Stackhouse (57), Allen Iverson (54)
- 2000: Shaquille O’Neal (61), Vince Carter (51)
- 1999: Grant Hill (46), Allen Iverson (46), Antonio McDyess (46)
- 1998: Karl Malone (56), Shaquille O’Neal (50), Tracy Murray (50)
- 1997: Michael Jordan (51), Michael Jordan (50), Allen Iverson (50)
- 1996: Michael Jordan (53), Hakeem Olajuwon (51)
- 1995: Glen Rice (56), Michael Jordan (55)
- 1994: David Robinson (71), Shaquille O’Neal (53)
- 1993: Michael Jordan (64), Michael Jordan (57), Reggie Miller (57)
- 1992: Dominique Wilkins (52), Michael Jordan (50)
- 1991: Michael Adams (54), Charles Smith (52), Bernard King (52)
- 1990: Michael Jordan (69), Karl Malone (61)
- 1989: Michael Jordan (53), Michael Jordan (52), Michael Jordan (52), Michael Jordan (52)
- 1988: Michael Jordan (59), Michael Jordan (52), Michael Jordan (52)
- 1987: Michael Jordan (61), Michael Jordan (61)
- 1986: Dominique Wilkins (57), Alex English (54)
- 1985: Bernard King (60), Larry Bird (60)
- 1984: Purvis Short (57), Kiki Vandeweghe (51)
- 1983: Adrian Dantley (57), Kelly Tripucka (56)
- 1982: Adrian Dantley (53), Moses Malone (53)
- 1981: Adrian Dantley (55), Billy Knight (52)
- 1980: George Gervin (55), George Gervin (53)
- 1979: George Gervin (52), Truck Robinson (51)
- 1978: David Thompson (73), George Gervin (63)
- 1977: Pete Maravich (68), Pete Maravich (51), Pete Maravich (51), Phil Smith (51)
- 1976: Bob McAdoo (52), Phil Smith (51)
- 1975: Rick Barry (55), Gail Goodrich (53)
- 1974: Rick Barry (64), Fred Brown (58)
- 1973: Phil Chenier (53), Tiny Archibald (52), Tiny Archibald (52)
- 1972: Chet Walker (56), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (55), Tiny Archibald (55)
- 1971: Dave Bing (54), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (53), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (53)
- 1970: Lou Hudson (57), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (51)
- 1969: Wilt Chamberlain (66), Wilt Chamberlain (60)
- 1968: Wilt Chamberlain (68), Earl Monroe (56)
- 1967: Wilt Chamberlain (58), Rick Barry (57)
- 1966: Wilt Chamberlain (65), Wilt Chamberlain (62)
- 1965: Wilt Chamberlain (63), Wilt Chamberlain (62)
- 1964: Wilt Chamberlain (59), Wilt Chamberlain (59), Wilt Chamberlain (59)
- 1963: Wilt Chamberlain (73), Wilt Chamberlain (72)
- 1962: Wilt Chamberlain (100), Wilt Chamberlain (78)
- 1961: Elgin Baylor (71), Wilt Chamberlain (67)
- 1960: Elgin Baylor (64), Jack Twyman (59)
- 1959: Elgin Baylor (55), Elgin Baylor (52)
- 1958: George Yardley (51), Bob Pettit (51)
- 1957: unknown, unknown
- 1956: unknown, unknown
- 1955: unknown, unknown
- 1954: Neil Johnston (50), unknown
- 1953: unknown, unknown
- 1952: George Mikan (61), unknown
- 1951: unknown, unknown
- 1950: George Mikan (51), unknown
- 1949: Joe Fulks (63), George Mikan (53)
- 1948: unknown, unknown
- 1947: unknown, unknown
