Nearly a week after Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo shook up the NBA world with a historic game of 83 points, the reverberations are still being felt. This past Sunday was the anniversary of Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving scoring a Brooklyn Nets franchise record of 60 points, and Irving responded to the feat this week by joking that he should have gone for 85 points in that game.
Kyrie Irving’s 60-point performance was not only a Nets franchise record, but it was his career-high in points as well, surpassing his previous total of 57. It’s also the only 60-point game that Irving has had. He had a well-balanced stat line too, finishing with six rebounds, four assists, four steals and one blocked shot in 34 minutes.
Irving shot 20-of-31 (64.5 percent) from the field, 8-of-12 (66.7 percent) from the 3-point line and 12-of-13 (92.3 percent) from the free-throw line.
Irving has multiple 40 and 50-point games in his career, however, and he’s always been one of the league’s most explosive offensive guards. Irving is currently recovering from an ACL injury suffered late last season, and he has been ruled out for this year.
Bam Adebayo’s 83 points is going to be talked about for years to come, and perhaps Kyrie Irving will be the one to get closer to that mark once he is healthy again, be it for the Mavericks or another team.
Prior to his injury last year, Irving was averaging 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.3 steals with splits of 47.3 percent shooting from the field, 40.1 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 91.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
