Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson scored 60 freakin’ points last night against the Indiana Pacers at Oracle Arena, and he did so in just 29 minutes over three quarters!
Thompson was upset he didn’t get to play the fourth quarter; he wanted to go for 80 points (Note: The Warriors were blowing out the Pacers, so Steve Kerr probably made the right call in pulling Thompson):
Thompson reached a career-high 54 points on this three with 4:38 to go in the third quarter:
He hit 57 points with another three just over a minute later:
And then he got to 60 with this corner three with 2:29 to go in the third:
Here are full highlights of Thompson’s historic night:
https://youtu.be/Y-mvFyS2hag
60 points, on 21-of-33 shooting from the field (8-14 on threes), and 10-of-11 at the line.
How Klay Thompson racked up to 60 Pts. pic.twitter.com/gc7nrpxTF6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 6, 2016
Some of the factoids to come out of the game are especially insane. We’ll start with the most incredible one, which is that Thompson is the first player of the shot clock era to score 60 minutes in under 30 minutes:
Most points w/ <30 mins played:
60 – Klay, tonight
59
58
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
45
44
43 – Larry Bird 3/18/86
(via @bball_ref)— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) December 6, 2016
Most points playing under 30 minutes since 1983:
60 Klay Thompson TONIGHT
43 Larry Bird 1986
42 George Gervin 1984
41 Patrick Ewing 1988— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) December 6, 2016
Klay Thompson: 60 points are most in a game in fewer than 30 minutes played in shot clock era (via @EliasSports) pic.twitter.com/BKNw7d5SW6
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 6, 2016
Thompson’s superstar teammate Steph Curry said that he’d put money on Thompson’s feat (60 points in under 30 minutes) “never being touched again in the history of basketball” (via ESPN):
Of Thompson scoring 60 in under 30 minutes, his superstar teammate Stephen Curry summarized, “That’s a feat that I would put money on to probably never be touched again in the history of basketball. It’s unbelievable.”
But moving on to more incredible statistical nuggets… the Pacers only outscored Thompson by 10 points in the first half:
Klay Thompson 40, Indiana Pacers 50. Halftime.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) December 6, 2016
Thompson became the first NBA player to score 40 points in a half since Kobe Bryant did in 2003:
Klay Thompson has the first 40-point first half in the NBA since Kobe Bryant had 42 points against the Wizards on March 28, 2003.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) December 6, 2016
He joins Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James as the only active NBA players to score 60 points:
Warriors' Klay Thompson joins Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James as the only three active players to score 60+ points in a game.
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) December 6, 2016
He is one of eight players to score 60 since 2000:
Klay Thompson has 60. In 29 minutes.
Kobe, LeBron, Melo, Arenas, AI, T-Mac and Shaq are the others who have dropped 60 since 2000.
— SB Nation NBA (Click the pic to read 🔽) (@SBNationNBA) December 6, 2016
Maybe my favorite factoid is that Thompson’s 60 points are more points than Brian Scalabrine scored (52 points) in his final two seasons combined:
Klay Thompson has scored more points tonight than Brian Scalabrine did in his final two seasons combined.
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) December 6, 2016
Thompson only had the ball in his hands for about a minute and a half the entire game (and even tweeted about that point):
According to SportVU data, Klay Thompson had the ball in his hands for about a minute and a half in his 60-point performance. #Warriors
— Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux) December 6, 2016
S/O to my squad for setting me up 2night! I don't think I had to take more then 5 dribbles the whole game lol
— klay thompson (@KlayThompson) December 6, 2016
And last but certainly not least, Thompson’s 2.07 points per minute almost matched the pace of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point performance from 1962!
Wilt: 100 pts in 48 min = 2.08 pts per min
Klay: 60 pts in 29 min = 2.07 pts per minThat pace… unreal pic.twitter.com/0RYWsL3ygZ
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 6, 2016
Amazing. What a performance.