Devin Booker joins the exclusive list of 70
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker has joined the exclusive list that includes Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant when he dropped 70 points against the Boston Celtics on Friday, making him only the sixth NBA player in history to achieve that feat.
He added eight rebounds, six assists and three steals, but his efforts were not enough to lift the Suns to a win.
The rest of the Suns players accounted for 50 points as the Celtics still earned a 130-120 victory.
Booker has been very good this season, averaging more than 20.9 points per game entering Friday, but no-one could have foreseen this.
Booker’s stats were prolific across the board.
He hit 21 of 40 shots from the field, four of 11 from behind the arc, and 24 of 26 from the line.
Every made bucket from Devin Booker’s CAREER NIGHT 70 POINTS!#WeArePHX pic.twitter.com/pmhn2yKgSJ
— NBA (@NBA) March 25, 2017
Only five other players have ever scored 70 or more points in an NBA game, and the feat had only been performed a total of 10 times before Friday.
Wilt Chamberlain holds the all-time single-season scoring record with 100 points in a 1962 game, and he eclipsed 70 points four other times.
Kobe Bryant had the second-highest scoring game, with 81 points in 2006.
David Thompson scored 73 in a 1978 game. David Robinson and Elgin Baylor each scored 71 in a game.
