When Jimmy Butler capped off another quality performance with 52 points in the Bulls 118-111 comeback victory over the Charlotte Hornets Monday night in Chicago, Butler became the 8th player in the 2016-17 season to have a 50 point game.
Feel free to read that sentence again.
With Butler joining Russell Westbrook, James Harden, DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall, Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson and Isaiah Thomas, the record for most 50 point games in a single NBA regular season has already been tied and we are not even at the midway point of the season.
Jimmy Butler (@chicagobulls) is the 8th player this season with a 50-point game. pic.twitter.com/o11u74NSvG
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 3, 2017
The other two seasons in which there were eight 50-point games were the 2015-16 season and the 1989-90 season.
What’s even more remarkable about that list is it doesn’t even include guys like LeBron James, Kevin Durant or Steph Curry. Players like DeMar DeRozan, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo are more than capable as well.
Scoring has increased by over four points per game across the league over the past seasons according to NBA.com. The fast-paced, small-ball, ball movement and three-point heavy NBA has lead to much more entertaining and high-scoring games.
We are truly in a golden age of NBA basketball and can expect these sort of Herculean performances to continue.
