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On this date in 1950, George Mikan scored 51 points in a game. It was the fourth 50-point game in league history; Mikan also had two of the other three. However, this was the first time in league history that someone scored 50 in a game and lost. It was the only time Mikan scored 50 or more and lost. I decided to look up the player who has the most losses while scoring 50 or more points. It’s Wilt Chamberlain, with 37 of those games. That’s impressive, considering the second-most 50-point games in league history, regardless of outcome, is 39 by Michael Jordan.
Clutch City
SGA delivers late. Other stars, not so much
We’re nearly halfway through the 2025-26 season, which means it’s a great time to check in on which players have been clutch and which ones have come up short the most in the clutch. Clutch situations are triggered in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the game is within five points. Let’s look at five players who have been the most clutch and three players who have struggled so far. We’ll go off clutch points, percentages and record.
Five most clutch players so far:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder): 119 points | 49.3/26.9/85.7 shooting splits | 11-4 record
SGA could capture his first Clutch Player of the Year, the NBA’s still-newish award. He’s hitting nearly half his shots and is leagues ahead of everybody else in total points, despite playing in only 15 clutch games.
Cade Cunningham (Pistons): 98 points | 50.0/8.3/84.6 shooting splits | 13-7 record
Ignore the 3-point shooting, and everything else is pretty good. The clutch moment used to be a rough spot for Cunningham, as he was learning how to embrace stardom. Now you expect him to get tough, clutch buckets.
Anthony Edwards (Wolves): 76 points | 70.7/57.1/83.3 shooting splits | 9-5 record
He’s shooting what?? Ant hitting over 70 percent of his clutch shots is extremely noteworthy, even in just a 14-game sample size. This is a massive turnaround for someone who had really struggled making the right call in those moments.
Deni Avdija (Blazers): 86 points | 50.0/38.5/78.4 shooting splits | 14-12 record
He’s played in a ton of clutch games, so of course his point total is high. But he’s hitting half his clutch shots, and the Blazers are good in these games. He helps close it out.
Nikola Jokić (Nuggets): 80 points | 55.6/41.7/83.3 shooting splits | 5-8 record
Jokić edged out Tyrese Maxey simply because he’s scored nearly as many points in far fewer games. Plus, Maxey’s clutch shooting is 42.5 percent. However, Jokić is hurt, and his team’s record isn’t great.
Three least clutch players so far:
Donovan Mitchell (Cavs): 46 points | 37.0/28.6/66.7 shooting splits | 7-12 record
This kind of sums up Cleveland’s problems. Mitchell has been pretty poor here.
Paolo Banchero (Magic): 37 points | 29.5/9.1/62.5 shooting splits | 11-5 record
The Magic have a good clutch record, but it’s simply their defense clamping down. Banchero might as well just yell “crash the boards” when he puts up a clutch shot this season. Even with him hitting a game-winner in overtime this week.
Jaren Jackson Jr. (Grizzlies): 28 points | 19.4/9.1/78.9 shooting splits | 9-13 record
Are we sure you want to build this team around JJJ? Are you just hoping to blow every opponent out and not find yourself in clutch games
The last 24
🔊 DJ Hali? Tyrese Haliburton is trying to keep busy during his Achilles rehab. It’s been a tough, lonely road, Shakeia Taylor writes, but he has learned “it’s OK not to be OK.”
🇩🇪 Wagner brothers. Moe and Franz have been great success stories for Orlando. Now they’re showing off Berlin to the NBA.
🏀 Embiid’s back? He isn’t playing at an MVP level yet, but something big has returned for Joel Embiid: his joy on the court.
👋 No surgery. Anthony Davis will not have an operation on his injured hand. He should be back in six weeks.
🗣 Ja speaks. Amid swirling trade rumors, Ja Morant gave a short news conference in Berlin. His reaction to the Grizzlies shopping him?”Live with it.”
🤝 MPJ to the Bay? Sam Vecenie is a magician with the trade machine. He proposes a handful of deals before the deadline, including Michael Porter Jr. to the Warriors.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
About last night
The Thunder finally figured out the Spurs
I don’t know if it was reasonable to expect San Antonio to go 4-0 against Oklahoma City this season. After winning three games in 12 days against OKC, the Spurs had a few weeks in between Tuesday’s latest showdown with the defending champs.
It took until the third quarter, but the Thunder (34-7) finally showed the Spurs who’s boss in a 119-98 victory. They used a 40-24 third period to take control and never really let San Antonio (27-13) make a push in the fourth quarter. SGA dominated for 34 points, and Jalen Williams chipped in 20. But it was the Thunder bench that made the difference. They combined for 46 points and helped OKC shoot 52 percent against one of the best defenses in the NBA.
And, yes, Victor Wembanyama still doesn’t seem to like Chet Holmgren.
Wolves 139, Bucks 106: No Anthony Edwards (foot maintenance). No Rudy Gobert (suspension). No suspense in this game, as the Wolves (27-14) obliterated the Bucks. Minnesota was up 76-45 at halftime, and Julius Randle finished the game with 29 points in just 30 minutes. Bones Hyland led the Wolves’ bench with 23 points. Milwaukee (17-23) turned it over 20 times. Kyle Kuzma was minus-37 in 21 minutes. Gary Trent Jr. was minus-30 in 14 minutes.
Heat 127, Suns 121: A furious 38-21 third quarter by Phoenix was not enough. Tyler Herro (23), Norman Powell (27) and Bam Adebayo (29) combined for 79 points. All Suns players not named Grayson Allen were 8-of-34 from deep, including Dillon Brooks’ 1-of-10 performance on a night when he had 25 points. And, yes, of course, Brooks had another dirty play.
Nuggets 122, Pelicans 116: Peyton Watson and Jamal Murray continue to ball out while Jokić is out with his knee injury. Watson had 31 points and Murray added 35 as Denver continued to keep pace in the West despite missing the best player in the world. The Nuggets (27-13) are now 5-3 since Jokić went down. Watson is averaging 24.6 points during these eight games, while Murray is averaging 27.8 points and 11.0 assists in his last five games.
Rockets 119, Bulls 113: The Rockets (23-14) are finally home, and the home-cooking did some good for them. They survived a 34-point effort from Tre Jones, and Alperen Şengün looked great in his second game back from an ankle injury. He had 23 points and 11 assists. Kevin Durant had 28 points, and Amen Thompson chipped in 23. Houston is 12-2 at home.
Lakers 141, Hawks 116: After losing to Sacramento the night before, JJ Redick talked about how poor a shooting team the Lakers are and how bad they are at stopping opposing teams from making 3-pointers. Well, at least for a game, his team responded. The Lakers (24-14) went 19-of-34 from deep, and the Hawks (20-22) only managed to shoot 13-of-46 from downtown. Warriors 119, Blazers 97: This one was academic after Golden State (22-19) led 67-41 at halftime. The Warriors’ defense forced 22 tur
novers, scored 29 points off those turnovers and only allowed 20 assists from Portland (19-22). Steph Curry had just seven points in 25 minutes, but he also had 11 assists. De’Anthony Melton led the Warriors with 23 off the bench
Did LeBron ruin the All-Star Game?
Kevin Garnett sure thinks so
Kevin Garnett believes that a moment that happened toward the end of the 2012 All-Star Game ruined that event’s tradition of competitiveness. And he blames LeBron James for it.
With the West up 151-149 on the East, James fought to get the ball against Kobe Bryant with 16.3 seconds left. He then isolated on the right side of the floor.
Kobe got down in his defensive stance and readied for LeBron to challenge him for either the tie or a go-ahead 3-pointer. Instead, James waited for Deron Williams to pop off a screen and fired the ball to the Nets guard. Williams missed a 3-pointer. Carmelo Anthony kept the possession alive by batting the rebound back to Williams. He quickly got it to LeBron, who had Kobe on him with Kevin Durant showing a soft presence in nearby help.
LeBron quickly tried to whip the ball to the corner with about four seconds left, and Blake Griffin picked the pass off to secure the win for the West. There was no mano a mano moment between James and Bryant. And after the game, it seemed like Kobe couldn’t believe LeBron didn’t go at him. You can see him say, “C’mon, man,” to James when the play ended.
According to Garnett (warning: language, even though it’s bleeped out a bit), this sequence and when James decided not to participate in the dunk contest is when “the trajectory” of All-Star weekend started to fall apart. Is he correct? Let’s take a look at the 12 All-Star Games before (including that night) and the 12 All-Star Games since (I have no idea how to factor in last year’s round robin, so I won’t even try).
All-Star Games from 2001-2012: 8.8-point margin of victory | five double-digit wins (one in double OT) | four games decided by one possession | Average total points: 267.5
All-Star Games from 2013-2024: 10.1-point margin of victory | five double-digit wins | three games decided by one possession | Average total points: 334
It’s worth noting that the league adopted the Elam Ending (add 24 points to the leading score after three quarters and first to that number wins) for the All-Star Game from 2020 to 2023, and the rise of 3-point shooting from 2013-2024 affected scoring. Still, you see a decent increase in the margin of victory and a massive increase in total points. It got so embarrassing in 2024 when the East won 211-186 that Adam Silver altered (in disgust) the format to a tournament of three small teams.
Maybe there is something to what KG is saying in terms of competitiveness, but the real difference happened between 2016 and 2024 when the margin of victory jumped to 12.1 and the total points were supersized. I’m not sure it’s fair to put that on LeBron, but it might have something to do with Kobe retiring after 2016.