December 13, 1983: The Highest-Scoring Game in NBA History

Isiah Thomas (left) and Dan Issel

December 13, 1983: The Detroit Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets, 186-184 in triple overtime at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver. It is the highest-scoring game in NBA history.

The Pistons led 38-34 after the 1st quarter. The game was tied 74-74 at the half. The Nuggets led 114-108 at the end of the 3rd quarter. This fact, alone, my stun some of you who grew up in the 1990s, when Pat Riley shunned his former "Showtime" philosophy with the Los Angeles Lakers to go with a defense-first philosophy with the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat, and frequently won games that required only 90 or so points to do so.

It was 145-145 at the end of regulation, 159-159 at the end of the 1st overtime, 171-171 at the end of the 2nd, and 186-184 Pistons at the end of the 3rd. The teams combined for 142 field goals and 93 assists.

For the Pistons, in their 1st season with Chuck Daly as head coach: Isiah Thomas scored 47 points, John Long 41, Kelly Tripucka 35, Terry Tyler 18, Bill Laimbeer 17, Vinnie Johnson 12, Earl Cureton 9, Ray Tolbert 3, Cliff Levingston 2 (he started, but played only 13 minutes), Walker Russell 2, and Ken Benson and David Thirdkill none. Daly, Thomas, Tripucka, Laimbeer and Johnson.

For the Nuggets, coached by Doug Moe: Kiki Vandeweghe 51, Alex English 47, Dan Issel 28, Mike Evans 16, Richard Anderson 13, Danny Schayes 11, Rob Williams 9, T.R. Dunn 7, Bill Hanzlik 2, and Howard Carter and Kenny Dennard none.

This game broke the record set on March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, when Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points, en route to his Philadelphia Warriors beating the New York Knicks, 169-147.

A month after the 186-184 game, on January 11, 1984, also at McNichols Arena, the Nuggets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 163-155, no overtime necessary. Vandeweghe scored 50, and the teams combined to score 99 points in a quarter.

The previous highest-scoring game was fairly recent: On March 6, 1982, the San Antonio Spurs beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 171-166 in triple overtime in San Antonio. The highest-scoring game in regulation was on November 2, 1990, also at McNichols Arena. The Nuggets lost that one, 162-158 to the Golden State Warriors.

The highest-scoring game since the 186-184 game has been on March 1, 2019, at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, with the Chicago Bulls beating the Atlanta Hawks, 168-161 in 4 overtimes.

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December 13, 1983 was a Tuesday. There were 7 other games in the NBA that night:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 102-100 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Golden State Warriors, 133-122 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Purvis Short scored 39 in defeat.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Bullets, 94-89 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 107-105 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. Adrian Dantley scored 35 points.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 96-88 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Phoenix Suns, 129-110 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat their arch-rivals, the Seattle SuperSonics, 102-89 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Edmonton Oilers, 8-5 at the Nassau Coliseum. Butch Goring scored 3 goals for the Isles, Mike Bossy 2. Wayne Gretzky was held to 1 goal. This was a rematch of the previous season's Stanley Cup Finals. In this season's Finals, the Oilers would end the Isles' dynasty and begin their own.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Hartford Whalers, 3-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-5 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The St. Louis Blues beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-1 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

January 27, 1976: Dr. J's Foul Line Dunk

January 27, 1976: The American Basketball Association All-Star Game is played at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver. The Denver Nuggets, in 1st place in what had become a single 7-team division (3 teams had folded already this season), took on an All-Star team made up of players from the other 6, and won, 144-138.

But that's not what everyone remembers from this game. They remember the 1st-ever professional basketball Slam Dunk Contest, won by Julius Erving of the New York Nets. "Dr. J" made a leaping dunk from the foul line.

The other competitors were David Thompson of the Nuggets, Artis Gilmore of the Louisville-based Kentucky Colonels, and George Gervin and Larry Kenon of the San Antonio Spurs. All but Kenon have since been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. The performances they put on led a writer from Sports Illustrated to write, "The dunk contest was the best halftime invention since the bathroom."

The Nets would beat the Nuggets in the ABA Finals -- the last league championship won by a New York Tri-State Area basketball team to this day. Both teams would enter the NBA before the next season, as would the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs. In 46 years, the Spurs are 5-1 in NBA Finals, the Nets 0-2, the Pacers 0-1, and the Nuggets... 0-0.

The NBA would adopt the 3-point line that the ABA (and, before it, the 1961-62 ABL) used in 1979, and the All-Star Game Slam Dunk Contest in 1984. They would not, however, adopt the league's famed red, white & blue ball, sticking with their more familiar orange.

UPDATE: In 2023, the Nuggets finally made their 1st NBA Finals, and won it. In 2024, the New York Liberty ended New York's drought by winning the WNBA Championship. In 2025, the Pacers returned to the Finals, but lost.

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January 27, 1976 was a Tuesday. Baseball and football were out of season. In spite of the ABA having its All-Star Game that night, the NBA played 7 games:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 114-113 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the New Orleans Jazz, 129-105 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Detroit Pistons, 85-83 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Golden State Warriors, 110-103 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Kansas City Kings beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 107-89 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 127-116 at The Summit in Houston. (It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Washington Bullets, 118-105 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

There were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Minnesota North Stars, 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 8-4 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Washington Capitals, 2-0 at The Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.

* And the Montreal Canadiens and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 2-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in in Vancouver.

And there were 3 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 9-1 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Toronto Toros and the Edmonton Oilers played to a tie, 4-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* And the Phoenix Roadrunners beat the San Diego Mariners, 4-3 in overtime at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).