By the numbers: Kyrie's 60-piece continues NBA's electric scoring stretch
Kyrie Irving continued a recent trend of torrid individual displays in the NBA with a 60-point performance Tuesday against the Orlando Magic.
Irving went 20-of-31 in just 35 minutes in the Brooklyn Nets' lopsided 150-108 road victory. The seven-time All-Star set a new franchise record and matched the league high this season, which Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns set just one day ago.
"It was just about the team really, just getting in the flow," Irving said postgame, according to The Associated Press. "That's the true purity of this game, doing it efficiently on both ends of the floor and coming out with a W."
Here are some numbers that highlight the individual offensive outbursts recently seen around the NBA.
3: Orlando has allowed the most 50-plus-point performances in the league this season, with Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid both reaching the plateau in January before Irving dropped his 60-piece Tuesday.
4: Irving becomes the fourth player in the past 25 years to score at least 40 points in a first half, joining Devin Booker, Kobe Bryant, and Klay Thompson.
7: The number of March games in which a player has scored at least 50 points. With Irving's 60 against Orlando and 50 in Charlotte, he joins Towns, Tatum, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James. The latter dropped 50 versus the Washington Wizards and 56 against the Golden State Warriors.
12: The number of active players to reach the 60-point mark. Irving joins Towns, James, Thompson, Tatum, Booker, Stephen Curry, Bradley Beal, Carmelo Anthony, Kemba Walker, Damian Lillard (three times), and James Harden (four).
16: The 16 50-point contests this season have already surpassed the 14 such games from the 2020-21 campaign.
50+: Following Durant's 51-point outing and Irving's 60-point effort, the Nets duo are the first teammates in NBA history to score over 50 points in consecutive games.
56: The previous season high for points in a game, set by James and Trae Young, prior to Towns' display Monday.
57: The Nets' previous individual single-game scoring record, set by Deron Williams in 2012. That number was also Irving's previous career high, which he set in 2015 while with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
1961-62: Irving and Durant are the first teammates to each have multiple 50-point games in a season since Los Angeles Lakers greats Elgin Baylor and Jerry West did so 60 years ago.
1962: The year the NBA last saw 60-point games on back-to-back nights. Wilt Chamberlain was responsible for both.