Ranking probably the most iconic 50-point scoring performances at Madison Square Garden

On Wednesday night time, to concurrently finish each his group’s six-game shedding streak and his opponent’s eight-game win streak, Pascal Siakam thought it smart to ship a career-high 52-point outing within the iconic Madison Square Garden.

Along with concluding the Toronto Raptors’ skid, Siakam turned the most recent famous person to pen a masterpiece at a venue that has now grow to be well-known for its scoring outbursts. So, in honor of Siakam’s achievement, we figured we’d have a look again on the 5 best scoring shows ever to happen at Madison Square Garden.

5. Bernard King Gets Festive

With the vacation season in full swing, it might be an abhorrent omission to go away out Bernard King’s Christmas scoring extravaganza. Almost 38 years in the past to this present day, King delivered not solely probably the greatest Garden performances ever, but in addition one of many all-time nice Christmas Day showcasings.

Against the East Coast rival New Jersey Nets, King delivered 60 factors in solely 30 photographs from the ground. This was in the end a shedding effort, however nonetheless extremely memorable, nonetheless.

4. Stephen Curry goes Stephen Curry Mode, Before we Knew that was a Thing

Before the rings, the MVP awards, the all-time rankings leaderboards, even earlier than his first All-Star nomination (which got here the next season), Stephen Curry had his eruption on the Garden.

On February 27, 2013, the person as soon as dubbed the “Baby-Faced Assassin” accomplished his passage into NBA maturity with a 54-point capturing expedition towards the New York Knicks. During that outing, the best shooter ever made 11 of his 13 threes, giving him probably the most three-pointers of any participant in our countdown.

3. The Mamba Delivers his Revenge Against the Knicks

With a whopping 17 NBA Championships, the Los Angeles Lakers are the winningest franchise in league historical past. Yet, in some way the Knicks and the illustrious Madison Square Garden are considered because the mecca of basketball.

A notoriously fierce competitor all through his taking part in profession, it’s seemingly that this truth infuriated Kobe Bryant. And that rage was sufficient to gasoline his 61-point tirade (the highest-scoring output of anybody on this checklist) on a cold February night time in 2009.

In typical Bryant vogue, his Lakers additionally secured the victory, and the Mamba was greeted with “MVP!” chants by the Garden crowd. Only Bryant (and Rocky Balboa) may flip a house group’s followers towards them.

2. LeBron James went off on the Garden, after which he did it once more

On March 5, 2008 (simply sooner or later earlier than Shaq’s thirty sixth birthday), LeBron James got here simply wanting a 50-point triple-double, unleashing 50 factors, 10 assists, and eight rebounds on the Knicks in a 119-105 victory. James, nonetheless solidifying himself as the very best participant on the planet, did what he wanted to do – authored an eruption on the Garden.

However, that wasn’t sufficient for James and his insatiable urge for food for achievement. Not even one 12 months later (and solely two days after Bryant’s 61-piece), on February 4, 2009, James topped his earlier efficiency with a stat line of 54 factors, 11 assists, and 9 rebounds. He nonetheless couldn’t get the illustrious 50-point triple-double, however his Cleveland Cavaliers did accumulate the win.

1. Michael Jordan Reminds the World that he’s Still the Greatest Player Alive

When Michael Jordan abruptly returned from his 12 months and half lengthy hiatus within the tail finish of the 1994-95 season, he wasn’t fairly the identical divine pressure that catapulted the Chicago Bulls to a few straight titles from 1991 to 1993. Through his first 4 video games, he averaged 24.8 PPG, however on a extremely inefficient (even at the moment) 39.4% from the ground.

Then, he made his first return again to the Garden because the 1993 Playoffs, and the remainder was historical past.

The recreation is understood now as Jordan’s “Double Nickel” efficiency as a result of he scored 55 factors to narrowly escape the Knicks 113-111.

Given how standard Jordan was on the time, the prospect of him having misplaced a step after his baseball sabbatical was worrisome, so for him to squash these fears on this enviornment, on this vogue, makes it probably the most iconic Garden scoring efficiency of all of them.