The Detroit Pistons fell to the Atlanta Hawks 121-113 on Wednesday night despite a 50-point outburst from backup point guard Malachi Flynn.
Flynn, whose previous career high was 27, was 18 for 25 from the floor and 9 for 12 at the line. The 50 points was a Pistons record for a reserve. He also had a season-high six rebounds, five assists and five steals in 34 minutes.
In fact, Flynn's scoring outburst made a little history, per StatMuse:
“Bench players with a 50-point game in the 21st century: Jamal Crawford. Malachi Flynn Insane.”
He was seven points from the Pistons' franchise record.
The Hawks were 1 for 11 from 3-point range to start the game, but still managed to build a 59-48 halftime lead. Every time the Hawks started to pull away, Flynn helped the Pistons respond with buckets from all over the floor.
The closest a Pistons player had previously come to 50 this season was Cade Cunningham with 43. Flynn's total also blows out his previous career high of 27 points.
Flynn simply isn't the kind of player one would expect to see score 50 points in a game. He was the 29th overall pick for the Toronto Raptors in the 2020 NBA Draft and has never carved out a consistent role as a starter. His most productive season was a rookie year in which he averaged 7.5 points 19.7 minutes per game.
Since then, Flynn has averaged only 12.3 minutes per game. He played 2 1/2 more seasons for the Raptors before getting dealt to the New York Knicks in the O.G. Anunoby trade, then landed with the Pistons as the return for Bojan Bogdanovic.
To put into perspective how surprising his outburst was – Flynn scored 14.9% of his points this season on Wednesday, and 4.4% of his career points.
Malachi Flynn and the Pistons
Flynn was with the Toronto Raptors from his rookie season in 2020 until the end of December, when he was dealt to the New York Knicks as part of the trade that sent OG Anunoby to New York.
After playing 14 games with the Knicks, Flynn was dealt yet again, this time to the Pistons with cash, Ryan Arcidiacono, Evan Fournier and Quentin Grimes in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks. New York also received at trade exception Detroit also received a trade exception.
Bogdanovic is a player the Pistons have turned down numerous offers for through the years. Last season, there were several playoff-contending teams willing to offer a first-round pick for the veteran. At this year's trade deadline, the Pistons moved on from Bogdanovic, landing cap relief, two second-round picks, and Quentin Grimes.
But on Wednesday night, it was Flynn that was the star of the show.
Up next for the Pistons – Detroit visits Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.
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