In the 76-year history of the NBA, 164 different players have recorded a 50-point game.
Wilt Chamberlain, with 118, is laps ahead of Michael Jordan's 31, who is second in half-century mark efforts. To the surprise of some, Damian Lillard has totaled 15, more than LeBron James, Allen Iverson, and Kevin Durant. It also might surprise you that Ray Allen, one of the league's premier snipers, had only one such performance in his career.
But for every Wilt and MJ, for every legend, there are the most arbitrary of efforts - the career nights that such a player will never replicate again.
Three years ago as a rookie with the Toronto Raptors, Malachi Flynn averaged 7.5 points on 37.4 percent shooting in a shade under 20 minutes (19.7) per game. Three years later, and the points and minutes remain a career-high for him.
It's what makes Flynn's latest performance rather mind-blowing.
Last night in Atlanta, coming off the bench no less, Flynn went beserk, pouring in 50 points as Flynn's team, the Detroit Pistons, fell to the Atlanta Hawks on the road 121-113. The Pistons, not strangers to losing this season, now sport a 13-63 record.
But the story of the night was Flynn, a 25-year-old Tacoma, WA native who is listed at 6 feet, 1 inch, and 185 pounds. Prototypically, he doesn't fit the mold of either a point guard or off guard. He did it off the bench, playing 34 minutes. 18-for-25 from the field, 5-for-9 from three-point range, and 9-for-12 from the line. Go figure.
Flynn's outburst joins the likes of Corey Brewer (51 vs. the Houston Rockets in 2014), and Tony Delk (53 vs. the Sacramento Kings in 2001) as some of the most unlikely 50-point scorers. Even still, Delk averaged double-digits in scoring three times in his career (9.1 lifetime average) and Brewer averaged 8.7. Flynn, meanwhile prior to yesterday, was at a 5.2 lifetime average. It is the lowest average of any 50-point game scorer.
To makes things even crazier, this is Flynn's third team this year (he was a throw in in the OG Anunoby deal to the Knicks and the Bojan Bogdanovic trade).
With his performance, Flynn joined Nick Anderson (50 vs. the New Jersey Nets in 1993) with the second most points off the bench in a game in league history. Holding the distinction as the one with the highest point total off the bench is Jamal Crawford, who scored 51 points as a member of the Phoenix Suns in 2019 against the Dallas Mavericks. It was Crawford's final NBA game.
Who knows if this will lead to more opportunities (Cade Cunningham is day-to-day with a knee, hence the minutes for Flynn), but at least he put himself in the history books with a performance he will never forget.
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