The NBA went 12 years between David Robinson and Kobe Bryant scoring over 70 points, but now we have 2 this year and 3 since 2017, after Damian Lillard dropped 71 against the Rockets.

So, similar to how we recapped Donovan Mitchell’s career night, let’s compare Lillard’s historic performance to the others to drop over 70 since after the 1980s.

For this, we’ll compare these 5 players’ stats from that night to the same league average.

The only reason Lillard falls out of the 70-point club in this comparison is because of the number of threes he shot, which is impressive in itself.

He went 13 for 22 from deep, which makes him just 4th player in NBA history to his 13 or more from deep. 

But even with this many attempts from three, he still had a .718 effective field goal percentage, which is the second-best behind Mitchell of the group.

Even though the storyline of Damian Lillard’s 71-point night was the scoring total, the fact that he hit 13 threes, 1 shy of the single-game record, may not be getting enough credit. 

So, how would he compare to Thompson, LaVine, and Curry’s career-high performances from beyond the arc in a balanced era?

Since Curry played in the lowest league average in terms of three-point attempts and pace league-wide, he’d add 2 threes to his night and set the NBA record with 15 hypothetically. 

But even after Lillard’s threes deflate by 6.7%, and free throws by 2%, he still would have scored 69 points, as his 56% field goal percentage from inside the arc would allow him to maintain his points per minute.