1 of 5

Write now Article Tools

This is a joke, right? High scoring in the NBA? Twenty four years ago, on Dec. 13, 1983, the pistons beat the nuggets 186-184, in triple overtime. A year earlier, on March 6, the spurs beat milwaukee 171-166, also in triple overtime. The time of true high scoring in the NBA has passed. In 1961-62, there were six players who averaged over thirty points. The "high scoring" teams of today may compare with them statistically but what we are so quick to forget was that there were a number of teams who could score that high in the past, as recently as the early nineties and late eighties. There is only one team that can do that now, and that is the Phoenix Suns. Let's see how they stack up against the real high scoring teams.

As follows are the top five scoring teams of the early nineties:
1. Denver Nuggets 90-91 119.9
2. Golden State Warriors 91-92 118.7
3. Golden State Warriors 90-91 116.6
4. Golden State Warriors 89-90 116.3
5. Phoenix Suns 89-90 114.9

This year the Suns are averaging 110.9 ppg, leading the league. Last year they averaged 108.4 ppg. As follows are some of the scoring averages of teams that won the NBA championship in the past:

1 L.A. Lakers (1984-85) 126.3
2 Boston (1958-59) 123.3
3 Boston (1960-61) 120.7
4 L.A. Lakers (1986-87) 120.6
5 Boston (1962-63) 118.1
6 Boston (1964-65) 115.8
8 L.A. Lakers (1981-82) 115.4
9 Boston (1961-62) 114.9
10 Boston (1967-68) 114.6
11 Boston (1985-86) 114.4
12 Boston (1959-60) 113.2
13 Boston (1956-57) 111.7
14 Boston (1983-84) 110.9

As is evident, through the constant pounding of statistics, the Suns do it the best now, high scoring that is, but what they do still needs to be kept in a historical context. Teams, great and average, in the past used to run up numbers like this current Suns team on a consistent basis. What the Suns are doing is great, but is only an imitation, on a somewhat smaller scale, of what teams were able to do in the past offensively.

Learn more about this author, Robert Solis.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about High Scoring in the NBA?
We want to hear your view. Write now!