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The introduction of the shot clock is up there alongside the introduction of the 3-point line among the most impactful rule changes in NBA history. Without the shot clock, the league often had to endure drab dull, boring games with low scores such as 19-18, which is why the 1954 rule change served to open up the game.
However, this rule change prompted a lot of run-and-gun offenses, and teams from the late 50s and the 60s played at an average pace that far outstrips the pace at which the fastest team plays today. This consequently led to an opening of the scoring floodgates, as the likes of Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor put on scoring exhibitions alongside teams that force-fed the ball to their star offensive players early on in the shot clock, to either manufacture a shot for themselves, or to dish out to open teammates.
Here's a countdown of the top 10 highest scoring games in the history of the NBA:
#10 Boston Celtics 173-139 Minneapolis Lakers, February 27 1959
The Boston Celtics were on the verge of putting together the greatest dynastic run in NBA history at this point. They faced archrivals Minneapolis Lakers in the Finals in 1958, and lost a really close Finals series 4-3 to them. In the Lakers' final season in the city of Minneapolis, they were stuttering during their regular season campaign, eventually finishing with a 33-39 record - although they made it back to the Finals once again.
The game back then was played at an ultra-frantic pace, which explains how the Celtics were able to rack up 173 points in a blowout win, despite playing in second gear for much of the game. The 3 top scorers in this game were Celtics Tommy Heinsohn with 43 points, Bob Cousy with 31 and Bill Sharman with 29, while the Lakers' top scorer was Elgin Baylor with 28.
#9 San Antonio Spurs 161-153 Denver Nuggets, 7th November 1990
The Denver Nuggets from the 80s and early 90s are going to be a prominent feature in this article, given their high-paced style of play in that era. They set several records for pace at the time, which haven't been surpassed ever since. Alex English had walked as a free agent before the start of the season, and the Nuggets had gotten off to a 0-3 start to the season.
Most onlookers fancied the San Antonio Spurs, who had gotten a historic rookie season out of David 'The Admiral' Robinson in '89-90 and improved on their record from the previous season by over 30 wins. Robinson had a game-high 43 points, despite playing only 34 minutes. Orlando Woolridge top-scored for the Nuggets with 37 points, while their second top scorer Todd Davis had 32 of his own in a game that was past them by the end of a 3rd quarter scoring barrage by the Spurs.
#6 (tied) Phoenix Suns 173-143 Denver Nuggets, November 10 1990
On barely the third day after being involved in a game with a total of 314 points scored by both teams combined, the Nuggets topped it against the Phoenix Suns. Except this time, they got blown off the floor by a margin of 30 points in Arizona, losing in a game whose final score of 173-143 could have been a little wider if the Suns had cared about running their totals up.
The game's top scorer was Orlando Woolridge of the Nuggets with 40 points on 24 field goal attempts, 14 of which were successful. The Suns' sixth man Cedric Ceballos was their top scorer, converting 12 of his 15 field goal attempts and 8 out of 12 free throws to total 32 points in just 23 minutes of game time.
#6 (tied) Cincinnati Royals 165-151 San Diego Rockets, March 12th 1970
The Royals had never had much postseason success despite having the most dynamic guard in the game on their team in Oscar Robertson. They often posted good regular season campaigns, but failed to carry that momentum into the playoffs. The 1969-70 season was the last one played by Oscar for the franchise, and this was the worst record posted by the Royals due to a sub-par supporting cast around the franchise player. They finished 6 wins below the Knicks, and out of the playoff berths.
By the time this game had tipped off, both teams knew they had no chance of making the playoffs. They concentrated, instead, on playing fast basketball and revving up everyone's scoring statistics by a couple of decimal points at the end of the season. As a result, all 5 starters on the Royals ended up scoring over 20 points, with Tom van Ardale and Connie Dierking leading the team with 36 and 34 points each. By the end of the 3rd quarter, the Royals held an 18-point lead over the Rockets, which meant the contest had effectively ended. Hayes top-scored for the game with 40 points of his own.
#6 (tied) Philadelphia Warriors 169-147 New York Knicks, March 2 1962
A big part of Wilt Chamberlain's legend is his 1961-62 season, when he averaged a frankly outrageous 50 points and 25 rebounds per game while playing 48.5 MINUTES PER GAME.
This man, who towered above the rest of the NBA at his peak, turned in a perfect demonstration of his dominance at Hershey Sports Arena on the 2nd of March, 1962.
In the three games he played before this one, he'd already scored 67, 65 and 61 points. He started off extremely hot, making his first five shots and getting 23 points through the first quarter, including nine made free throws.
By halftime, he had 41 points and opposition center Imhoff had been benched due to foul trouble. Guy Rodgers, a teammate, said "Let's get the ball to Dip. Let's see how many he can get." Wilt showed them just how many, reaching a total of 69 points by the end of the third. He was close to topping his highest score of 78, and he just decided to go for it from that point on, despite the Warriors holding a 126-105 lead.
The Knicks began intentionally fouling other Warriors in order to prevent Chamberlain from reaching 100 points after he reached a total of 89 with over half of the fourth quarter remaining.
The Warriors began to reciprocate this tactic to keep time on the shot clock in order to allow Chamberlain enough time to reach the magic number, and he duly did so with 40 seconds remaining in the game.
#4(tied) New Jersey Nets 157 - 161 Phoenix Suns, December 7 2006
The Suns were coming off 2 relatively successful campaigns in the 2006-07 season, having made 2 consecutive Western Conference Finals appearances. It was up to the roster to take the next, logical step, and they started off strong this season around as well.
While Mike D'Antoni was still loath to play Amar'e for big minutes after his comeback from an injury sustained the previous season, the rest of the Suns stepped up to the plate as scorers. In this game, Nash quit being primarily a playmaker, and racked up a game-high 42 points over the course of 4 quarters and the 2 overtime periods played. Shawn Marion had 33, Raja Bell had 24 and Amar'e had 23 points, while sixth man Leandro Barbosa scored 16 of his own.
Jason Kidd had a triple-double of 38 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists, while Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter piled on the scoring with 25 and 31 points respectively.
#4 (tied) Denver Nuggets 163-155 San Antonio Spurs, January 11 1984
The Nuggets, as mentioned earlier, played at a breakneck pace through the 80s and 90s. With a couple of games from those days still to come higher up the list, we'll suffice it to say this: Denver led the league in pace with 110.5 possessions per game, with the Spurs coming in at second place a full 4.0 possessions per game lower.
Consequently, this game had a lot of possessions to go around. Buoyed by the likes of Kiki Vandeweghe (who top-scored with 50 points in this game) and Alex English (25 points), the Nuggets were able to outlast the Spurs, who had George 'Iceman' Gervin (38 points, 9 assists) and John Lucas (23 points, 18 assists) turn in big performances.
Even without going to overtime, this game ranks fourth overall in total points scored, and second amongst games with no overtime periods, all-time.
#3 Denver Nuggets 158-162 Golden State Warriors, November 2 1990
The Warriors went through some dark times for much of their journey since their 1975 NBA championship. Better times seemed to be ahead, however, as 'Run TMC' took flight for the Warriors during the early 90s - Tim Hardaway, Mitch Ritchmond and Chris Mullin ushered in an era of fast-paced, exciting basketball. Their pace, however, was no match for the Nuggets, who led them in pace by a margin of 113.7 possessions per game to 103.6 - more than 10 - with both teams in the top 2 of the league by that metric.
This game was the highest-scoring non-overtime period game in the history of the NBA, with the Warriors' superior overall quality outlasting the resistance posed by the Nuggets' Orlando Woolridge (37 points). Chris Mullin top-scored in the game with 38 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals and a block, while Mitch Richmond and Tim Hardaway had 29 and 32 points respectively.
#2 San Antonio Spurs 171-166 Milwaukee Bucks, March 6 1982
In a free-scoring game pitting two big-time playoff teams with realistic chances of making the NBA Finals, this midseason slugfest has gone down in league history as one of the most exciting games ever. The Bucks held a 42-16 record coming into this game, while the Spurs themselves had a healthy 37-21 record.
This game had to go all the way up until 3 overtime periods for it to be resolved. Spurs Mike Mitchell and George Gervin played a combined 114 minutes during the game to score 45 and 50 points respectively. The Bucks' charge was led by sixth man Brian Winters. As starter Mickey Johnson fouled out within 19 minutes of game time, Winters came into his own to score a team-high 42 points, converting 19 of his 25 field goal attempts on the way.
#1 Denver Nuggets 184-186 Detroit Pistons, December 13 1983
This game trumps all the other games on this list, as the Pistons and Nuggets combined to score a total of 370 points over the course of 63 minutes of game time. To put into perspective how crazy the scoring total was, there has only been one All-Star Game with more points scored, and the All-Star games have been notorious for the lack of defense played by those on the field.
This is the only NBA game in history with 4 40-point scorers overall. Kiki Vandeweghe top-scored in the game with 51 points, while Alex English had 47 of his own. The Pistons' Isiah Thomas had a team-high 47 points, and he was ably supported by John Long with 41. Pistons' start Cliff Levingston fouled out in 13 minutes of game time, and the brunt of the minutes was borne by Vinnie 'Microwave' Johnson, Earl Cureton and Terry Tyler.
