NBA History: Top 5 players with most 50-point games ever

Scoring in bunches is a skill that demands elite consistency and focus throughout the 48 minutes of play. One of the precise markers of the aforementioned quality is seen vividly across a 50-point performance.

Though scoring almost half a team's total score might entail a considerable bit of ball-hogging, it does exhibit the player's unparalleled supremacy on offense. All the names mentioned in this list are bound to be go-to players for their respective teams at some stage in their careers, if not always.

While the rules, scoring options, defensive schemes and more or less everything about the game has gone through a transitional period over time, measuring those players against their stack of 50-point games does provide an insight when viewed solely from a statistical viewpoint. With that being said, let's take a look at the five points who hold the largest heaps of 50-point games in NBA history:

#5 James Harden - 18

James Harden averaged a blazing 36.1 ppg this past season

Despite missing out on the MVP trophy to the Greek Freak, James Harden had a season to remember. Averaging a career-high 36.1 points on 44% shooting from the floor (37% from deep), he achieved that alongside 7.5 assists and 6.5 boards per game for the Rockets.

What's even more insane is he topped the 50-point mark in less than 40 minutes on four occasions this past campaign, ending up stacking a mammoth total of nine fairly impressive 50-point games during the regular season.

With this milestone he joined the Hall of Fame club of Wilt Chamberlain (5x), Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as the only players with at least seven 50-point games in a season. In addition, The Beard had five consecutive months with at least one 50-point game, joining Chamberlain as the only other NBA player to accomplish this in their career.

#4 Elgin Baylor - 18

One of Baylor's 50-point games included a 71-point total against the Knicks.

In his first two seasons with the Lakers, Baylor averaged 34.8 ppg and 38.3 ppg - eventually proving to be career-best scoring marks. Four of his 18 career 50-point games held scores upwards of 60 points, with one of them being a 71-point belter against the New York Knicks.

"When I saw Elgin Baylor, that was an eye-opener," wrote Hall-of-Famer Julius "Dr. J" Erving, in the book "Basketball: A Love Story." "Even till this day, Elgin's game was probably the most influential—strong, rebounding the ball, handling in transition, making plays around the hoop, up and under, left hand, right hand, body control, hang time. Elgin, he was like a guy from another planet."

In retrospect, maybe if Baylor had won even a single championship through the course of his illustrious career, he'd be included in the GOAT conversation alongside Jordan, LeBron and the rest besides. Nevertheless, he was the the first pick in the 1958 NBA draft who ended up being an 11-time All-Star blazing the trail for many that followed.

#3 Kobe Bryant - 26

Kobe shot 54% from the field during his 4-game 50-point streak

Kobe Bryant's stack of 26 50-point games is as impressive as it could be. But none of them was more commendable than the 81-point beatdown he laid on the Toronto Raptors back in January 2006.

For a career which spanned 19 memorable seasons, the 18-time All-Star averaged 25 points on 45% shooting from the floor. Bryant's famous four-game streak with over 50 points cemented his NBA legacy as one of just two players to do so - the other being Wilt Chamberlain.

"I've always said Wilt's a human video game,” Bryant said. “For me to be in the same breath with him, even if it's a short little breath, is pretty cool."

As was expected, Kobe used his 50-point runs not in a way to crash the record books but rather as a teaching moment for younger basketball fans.

"It's a tremendous honour for me to be in the same (category) with those guys," Bryant said. "The coolest thing about it is this younger generation gets a chance to learn about Elgin Baylor, gets a chance to learn about Wilt Chamberlain and some of the things that they've accomplished so the legacy will continue to live on."

#2 Michael Jordan - 39

MJ had five 60+ point games spread across his indelible career.

Michael Jordan was the third overall pick in the 1984 draft and ended up playing the majority of his career for the team who drafted him, the Chicago Bulls. As a highlight reminder, Jordan dropped 63 points against the Celtics in the 1986 Playoffs, which is one of just two 60+ point-performances in NBA Playoff history.

This was one of his total tally of eight 50+ point playoff games, while his career-high 64 total came much later - 1993 against the Orlando Magic. He was certainly the league's most prolific scorer since Wilt Chamberlain and we have ample proof to support that argument.

He won the regular season MVP award five times, lifted the title six times, a 10-time NBA scoring champion and was a 14-time All-Star by the time he decided he was done playing professional ball. Widely regarded as the league's best player of all-time, Jordan continued to flourish even after two retirements ('93-94 and '99-01), during an illustrious 14-year career.

#1 Wilt Chamberlain - 122

Wilt is someone you can call a legitimate Basketball cheat code.

To put things into perspective, making it to the top of this list is a cakewalk for someone who once averaged over 50 points per game for an entire season. The most profusely talented scorer and rebounder the NBA has ever seen, Wilt Chamberlain has to his name a monumental heap of 122 50-point games, which belittles all previously mentioned numbers.

With one of these being a novel 100-point game, there was certainly no ceiling to what this man could achieve or actually did achieve had the record books been more reliable during his era of dominance.

Wilt 'the Stilt' has his number 13 jersey retired by three franchises - Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers as well as Golden State Warriors. The 1960 Rookie of the Year redefined the boundaries of this game as his career progressed but could only lift the title twice.