By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
March 29th, 2024 will always be a day to remember when talking about EuroLeague Basketball.
Breaking the record for most points scored in a game with 50 against ALBA Berlin, Nigel Hayes-Davis became the standout leader when it comes to highest-scoring performances in the EuroLeague.
But who are the other names on the list? Let’s take a look at the most memorable scoring performances ever in the competition since the 2000-01 season, going from 40 points and higher.
Standing on top: 50-point showdown by Nigel Hayes-Davis
Fenerbahce is leading by 35 points (101-66) on an already incredible night in the Ulker Sports And Event Hall of Istanbul, destroying ALBA Berlin to stay in the race for the home-court advantage in the EuroLeague Playoffs.
But with 23.6 seconds left, everybody in the stands is on their feet to likely witness history. Sehmus Hazer is inbounding the ball, with Georgios Papagiannis receiving it on the other side of the floor, avoiding the opponents’ full-court pressure.
The ball goes immediately into Nigel Hayes-Davis’ hands, who speeded up like it was already August in Paris for the Olympic Games. All the attention is on Fenerbahce‘s forward, completely surrounded by every ALBA Berlin player on the court.
With less than 21 seconds on the clock, he goes up for the euro-step, climbing up the rim with the right-handed layup. History has just been made: 50 points in a single EuroLeague game. Nobody ever did that before, and probably quite some time will pass before somebody could even tie it.
In 29:56 minutes of playing time, Fenerbahce’s number 11 has put up a 50-point piece with an excellent shooting performance: 9/11 from two-point range, 9/16 from three-point range, and 5/7 at the line. The standout scoring leader is here to stay.
Shane Larkin’s 49-point party vs Bayern Munich
Before yesterday, another Turkish powerhouse representative was on top of the all-time EuroLeague highest-scoring performances. Looking back at a night of late-November in 2019, Shane Larkin was the man on the mission, once again against a German team.
In an unforgettable 2019-20 run that would have eventually opened Anadolu Efes‘ dominant chapter in the EuroLeague, the former Baskonia guard left an adamant mark against Bayern Munich, living a never-forgettable game in Istanbul.
Subbed off by Ergin Ataman with 4:21 minutes left in the game when he was enjoying himself with 38 points, the American guard needed only three more to tie with the all-time record, which was standing at 41 points.
And he knew it, as he was visibly upset. “He told me “Don’t worry, you will break the record”, and then he put me back in, called a couple of plays for me, and it happened”, he then revealed in the post-game flash interview to comment on history being made.
Not only he tied the record with a frontal three-pointer after Greg Monroe’s turnover with 2:42 minutes left, but he went on to extend it all the way to 49 points, with 10/12 from beyond the arc. Sufficient to be the scoring king in a single EuroLeague game before Nigel Hayes-Davis happened last night.
The 41-point club: Tyrese Rice, Alphonso Ford, and more
As previously said, Shane Larkin knew the record was 41. The American guard wanted to enjoy the view from up high all by himself because the company was large when it came to the 41-point club.
The most recent of such performances came one week after the Anadolu Efes superstar could destroy Bayern Munich with that three-point showdown.
After already leaving a huge mark in the EuroLeague with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2014 and dominating in the BCL with Bamberg, Tyrese Rice came back to the competition in the 2019-20 season to join Panathinaikos at 32 years of age, wanting to prove he still belonged to the elite of European basketball.
In what would have gone down as the latest Panathinaikos‘ official victory in the EuroLeague Greek derby against Olympiacos, he erupted for 41 points coming off the bench, ending with a shooting night of 5/7 from two, 8/16 in three-pointers and 7/7 at the line.