Defense wins championships, but playing no defense makes coaches lose their minds and whatever hair is left on their head. The biggest winners in the highest-scoring games in NBA history—other than the victorious teams—were the fans who witnessed the epic points eruptions.
The contests had one thing in common: They occurred during periods of free-flowing offense. However, these all-time single-game explosions weren't the product of the same philosophy at scoring the basketball. They represent the league's various eras with differing styles of play.
The Highest Scoring NBA Game of All Time
On Dec. 13, 1983, the Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets raced up and down the McNichols Sports Arena court to produce an all-time scoring fest. The visiting Pistons defeated the Nuggets 186–184 in three overtimes to set multiple NBA records.
The 370 combined points are the most in a single game in league history. Detroit's 186 points and Denver's 184 points rank 1–2 in most points scored by a team in a single contest, eclipsing the 173 points the Boston Celtics dropped on the Minneapolis Lakers on Feb. 17, 1959 (five years after the introduction of the 24-second shot clock). The Nuggets also established a new record for most points allowed in a game.
Head coach Doug Moe's Denver teams were known for up-tempo offenses that got out on the fast break to get easy baskets. In the 1983–84 season, the Nuggets featured two of the NBA's top-four scorers in Kiki Vandeweghe (29.4 points per game, third in the league) and Alex English (26.4, fourth), the eight-time All-Star and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer who won the scoring title the season before at 28.4 points per game.
Against the Pistons, Vandeweghe scored a game-high 51 points and English finished with 47 points. Isiah Thomas, the two-time NBA champion and Hall of Fame point guard, put up 47 points as well to lead Detroit, which also got 41 from John Long. The game remains the only one in league history to feature four scorers of 40 points or more.
Not surprisingly, Detroit and Denver were two of the NBA's worst defensive teams that season. Both ranked in the bottom six in points allowed with the Pistons yielding the sixth-most at 113.5 per game and the Nuggets surrendering the most in the league at 124.8 — over four points more than the second worst defensive club.
On that December night in Denver, the Pistons shot 54.4% from the field (74 for 136) and the Nuggets shot 59.1% (68 of 115) as both clubs relentlessly attacked the basket. As a sign of a much different time, both teams made only one 3-pointer out of just two attempts.
The Most Recent High-Scoring Games in the NBA
Unlike the Pistons-Nuggets track meet in 1983, the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Clippers scored the second most points in an NBA game by seeking shots deemed the most efficient by modern basketball standards — close-range 2-pointers and 3-pointers. They played multiple overtimes in order to rack up a combined 351 points.
On Feb. 24, 2023, the Kings edged the Clippers 176-175 in double OT at Crypto.com Arena. Malik Monk poured in a game-high 45 points to lead Sacramento, which sealed the victory, oddly enough, on a 19-foot mid-range jump shot by De'Aaron Fox (42 points) with 37 seconds remaining. L.A. got big nights from Kawhi Leonard (44 points) and Paul George (34 points).
The 3-point shot was the main weapon. Collectively, the teams attempted 86 3-pointers and made 44 of them to set an NBA record that has since been surpassed. (The new mark is 48 combined 3s by the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors in December 2024.)
The Kings shot 58.6% from the field (65 of 111), including 43.9% on 3s (18 of 41). The Clippers shot even better at 60.7% from the field (59 of 98), including 57.8% from 3 (26 of 45).
“From a fan’s standpoint, I can see how this game would have been a lot of fun to watch,” then-Sacramento head coach Mike Brown told reporters. “There was unbelievable shot making and great defense. There was high-level talent that was on display. Kudos to the players."
Four years before the Kings-Clippers points fest, the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks engaged in a 3-point shootout that lasted four overtimes. The marathon ended with a total of 108 3-point attempts as the Bulls outlasted the Hawks 168-161 in Atlanta on March 1, 2019.
Bulls guard Zach LaVine (47 points, six 3-pointers) and Hawks guard Trae Young (49 points, six 3s) both set career highs. The combined 329 points ranks fourth for most points ever in an NBA game behind the 337 tallied by the San Antonio Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks in triple OT on March 6, 1982.
“That was a fun game to play, probably one of the most fun games I’ve played in my career,” Young told reporters.
High-Scoring Games Broken Down by Era
The highest scoring games in NBA history were all achieved outside the near-quarter century of basketball in which the league's scoring average registered well below 100 points per game from the early 1990s to the mid-2010s.
For 18 consecutive seasons (from 1995–96 to 2012–13), the NBA's team scoring average registered under 101 points with a shot clock era low of 91.6 in 1998–99—22.2 points fewer than the 2024-25 average. Offenses were constructed around dominant big men operating inside and perimeter scorers flourishing outside against physical defenses allowed to hand-check (i.e. place one hand on the offensive player to limit movement).
Of the top five games with the most combined points, three were played between 1982 and 1990 when offenses got out on the break and attacked the basket: Pistons-Nuggets in 1983 (370 total points), Spurs-Bucks in 1982 (337) and Warriors-Nuggets in 1990 (320).
The other top-five high-scoring affairs—Kings-Clippers in 2023 (351) and Bulls-Hawks in 2019 (329)—took place 2019 or later in the middle of the "pace and space" era of efficient scoring with a high tempo and deadly 3-point shooting.
One dynastic team is largely credited with ushering in the current era of high-scoring basketball.
Teams Known for High-Scoring Performances
Before winning four NBA championships in eight seasons, Golden State was the most tortured franchise in the sport with decades of boneheaded front-office decisions. The Warriors' reputation was so toxic that the generational superstar didn't want to be drafted by them.
Once Stephen Curry overcame the ankle injuries that plagued his first three seasons, he and the Dubs changed the sport. The 3-point shooting of Curry and fellow "Splash Brother" Klay Thompson elevated Golden State to new heights in 2015, when the Warriors won their first NBA title in 40 years, and Curry and company became the most entertaining show in basketball as must-see TV.
Now, teams at every level prioritize the 3-point shot in the aforementioned pace and space era. Not surprisingly, two of the highest-scoring games in league history have occurred in the last six years.
With teams shooting more 3s every season—the NBA's 3-point attempts average was an all-time high 37.6 per game in 2024–25—it's just a matter of time before two clubs surpass the 370 total points scored by the Pistons and Nuggets in 1983.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Most Points Ever Scored in NBA Games.
