Baylor Sets Finals Mark
On this day in 1962, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Elgin Baylor scored 61 points in a 126-121 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. It’s still the highest-scoring game by a player in Finals history:
61 — Elgin Baylor (1962, Game 5)
55 — Rick Barry (1967, Game 3)
55 — Michael Jordan (1993, Game 4)
53 — Jerry West (1969, Game 1)
51 — LeBron James (2018, Game 1)
Baylor scored 18 points in the first quarter, 15 in the second quarter, 13 in the third quarter, and 15 in the fourth quarter. He played all 48 minutes, shooting 22-46 from the field and 17-19 from the free throw line. Baylor also grabbed a team-high 22 rebounds.
Baylor became the first player in NBA postseason history to record a 60-point game. Only one other player has since joined him: Michael Jordan, who scored a postseason-record 63 points versus the Celtics in Game 2 of their first-round series in 1986.
30-Rebound Triple-Double
On this day in 1967, the Philadelphia 76ers’ Wilt Chamberlain compiled 16 points, 33 rebounds, and 11 assists in a 141-135 victory over the San Francisco Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. It was the second of three straight 30-rebound triple-doubles for Chamberlain. It’s the only time in NBA history, regular season or postseason, a player has recorded consecutive 30-rebound triple-doubles.
Chamberlain is the only player in NBA Finals history to record a 30-rebound triple-double (he did so twice). He recorded five such triple-doubles in his postseason career. The only other player to record even one 30-rebound triple-double in a playoff game is Bill Russell, who did so versus the Cincinnati Royals in Game 5 of the 1966 Eastern Division Semifinals.
The Warriors’ Nate Thurmond grabbed 31 rebounds in this game. It’s the only game in NBA Finals history in which two players each recorded at least 30 rebounds. It’s one of six such playoff games in NBA history. The other five all involved Chamberlain and Russell.
Block Party
On this day in 1985, the Utah Jazz’s Mark Eaton blocked three shots in a 104-102 win over the San Antonio Spurs, concluding the 1984-85 season with 456 blocks. Since the NBA began tracking blocks in 1973-74, no player has blocked more shots in a season. In fact, no other player has even reached 400 blocks in a season.
Eaton averaged 5.6 blocks per game that season, another NBA record. He’s the only player to average at least 5 BPG in a season.
Eaton ranks fourth on the NBA’s all-time list with 3,064 blocks, and his average of 3.5 BPG ranks first. Eaton recorded six seasons in which he blocked at least 300 shots, double that of any other player.