With Bam Adebayo dropping 83 points in a game last week and with Devin Booker playing in Boston on Monday night, it felt like an apt time to revisit one of the strangest scoring outbursts in NBA history.
With Bam Adebayo dropping 83 points in a single game last week - the second-highest total in NBA history - the basketball world was reminded just how rare those kinds of scoring explosions really are.
Moments like that also tend to send fans digging through the record books, revisiting the handful of nights when one player simply couldn’t be stopped.
For Boston fans, one of those nights came nearly a decade ago, when Devin Booker authored one of the strangest 70-point performances the NBA has ever seen inside TD Garden.
The date was March 24, 2017. Booker was just 20 years old and in his second NBA season with the Phoenix Suns.
By the end of the night, he had joined Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, David Robinson, David Thompson and Elgin Baylor as the only players in league history to score at least 70 points in a game.
The twist? The Celtics still won.
Boston rolled to a 130-120 victory, leading wire-to-wire and building a lead that stretched to 26 points before Booker’s historic scoring binge made the game interesting late.
At halftime, Booker had a relatively modest 19 points. Then everything changed.
The young guard erupted for 51 points after the break, including 28 in the fourth quarter, as Phoenix essentially turned the final minutes into a mission to get him to 70.
Mar 24, 2017; Boston, MA, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) controls the ball while Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas (4) defends during the second half at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/Imagn Images)The Suns intentionally fouled, called timeouts, and repeatedly fed Booker the ball to keep the scoring chase alive.
Boston players noticed.
“It was weird what they were doing,” then Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas said postgame. “I’ve never seen anything like that… but hats off to him. He played a hell of a game.”
(sound familiar?)
Booker finished the night 21 of 40 from the field, 4 of 11 from three and an eye-popping 24 of 26 from the free throw line while adding 8 rebounds and 6 assists in 45 minutes.
Despite the loss, the moment still resonated around the arena. With the Celtics comfortably ahead late, parts of the TD Garden crowd began cheering as Booker crept closer to the milestone.
“That meant a lot, especially here in Boston,” Booker said postgame. “I know how rowdy they can be with opponents sometimes.”
History was made that night, even if it came in defeat.
And with Booker returning to TD Garden on Monday night as the Celtics (44-23) prepare to host the Suns (39-28), it’s a reminder that sometimes the most unforgettable performances don’t always come with a win attached.
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Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.