NBA Game Notes (Nov. 9, 2023)
Here are the NBA game notes for games that were played on November 9, 2023.
Pacers Survive Giannis Onslaught
The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo poured in 54 points, the highest-scoring game in the NBA this season, but it wasn’t enough as the Indiana Pacers pulled out a 126-124 victory.
Antetokounmpo also hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds. He now has seven career 50-point, 10-rebound games, the sixth-most such games in NBA history:
118 — Wilt Chamberlain
16 — Elgin Baylor
8 — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
8 — Michael Jordan
8 — James Harden
7 — Giannis Antetokounmpo
Antetokounmpo shot 19-25 from the field and made 16 of his 18 free throws. It’s the 18th time in NBA history a player has recorded a 50-point, 10-rebound game while shooting at least 75% from the field:
Wilt Chamberlain (8 times)
Giannis Antetokounmpo (3)
Karl Malone (2)
Truck Robinson
Kevin McHale
Larry Bird
Michael Jordan
Joel Embiid
However, it’s the first time a player has ended up on the losing end of one of those games.
The Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton scored a team-high 29 points and dished out a game-high 10 assists. Haliburton is averaging 23.6 PPG and 11.6 APG this season, shooting 50.4% from the field, 40.0% from 3-point range, and 94.3% from the free throw line. He’s the first player in NBA history to average at least 20 PPG and 10 APG with 50/40/90 shooting splits through his first eight games of a season.
The Pacers have scored at least 120 points in each of their last five games, matching the franchise’s longest such streak since joining the NBA in 1976. The Pacers are averaging 126.0 PPG this season, the highest scoring average through nine games since the 1990-91 Denver Nuggets (132.2).
The Pacers shot 20-48 from 3-point range, the fourth time they’ve made at least 20 threes in a game this season. No other team in NBA history has recorded four such games in their first nine games of a season.
Hawks Edge Magic in Mexico City
Trae Young produced game highs of 41 points and eight assists as the Atlanta Hawks edged the Orlando Magic 120-119 in Mexico City. It was the 13th NBA game ever played in Mexico’s capital city.
Young shot 12-27 from the field — including 5-15 from 3-point range — and made 12 of his 13 free throws. Young has attempted at least 14 shots from the floor in every game this season, but has yet to record a field goal percentage higher than 46.7%.
Young is averaging 24.1 PPG on 35.6% shooting from the field this season. The only player over the last 50 seasons to average at least 20 PPG through eight games with a lower field goal percentage is Allen Iverson in 2001-02 (32.1%).
The Hawks are averaging 121.8 PPG this season, the highest scoring average through eight games in franchise history. The previous mark of 117.5 PPG was set back in 1960-61, when the franchise was still in St. Louis.
Jalen Suggs led the Magic with 21 points, making seven of his 10 attempts from the field. Suggs set a new career high with six steals, which is also the most thefts recorded by a player in a game this season.
