These last few days have been marked by XXL performances in scoring, from Jayson Tatum to Devin Booker via Kevin Durant, Luka Doncic and a few others. Suffice to say that the greatest offensive talents in the NBA are super hot, enough to launch this 2022-23 campaign on a simply historical basis.
They are 7. Yes, 7 players to shoot at least 30 points since the start of the season: Luka Doncic (33.6), Jayson Tatum (31.6), Stephen Curry (31.4), Giannis Antetokounmpo (31, 3), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31.1), Joel Embiid (31.1) and Kevin Durant (30.4).
In the not so distant past, like before the start of the 2020s, shooting at an average of 30 pawns over a season was truly a feat. We had maybe one or two players who reached this bar, sometimes three or four in the best years, but no more. And when you look season by season since the inception of the NBA, there’s actually only one real campaign that manages to rival the one we’re seeing now in terms of individual scoring: the famous 1961-62 season, that of almost all records.
That year, six players had reached the 30 points per game mark, with the legendary Wilt Chamberlain leading the way (50.4 points), followed by scoring machine Elgin Baylor (38.3), Walt Bellamy (31, 6), Bob Pettit (31.1), Logo Jerry West (30.8) and Mr. Triple-Double Oscar Robertson (30.8). An absolutely legendary season therefore, which could well be surpassed by the one we are experiencing even if theoretically Joel Embiid is not counted in the averages for the moment because of an insufficient number of matches, but that should be settled quickly since Jojo is now back on the court.
JT vs. WOUND
It was one of the flagship duels of the night ????
☘️ Jayson Tatum : 37 PTS, 13 REB, 5 AST
???? Luka Doncic : 42 PTS, 8 REB, 9 ASTVictory of the C’s 125-112! #NBASaturdays pic.twitter.com/j3VSxqWZyP
— NBA France (@NBAFRANCE) November 24, 2022
This avalanche of offensive cards is part of an NBA perhaps more than ever focused on the attack. 113 points scored per team every night across the entire League is the highest average since 1970, and the offensive rating has never been as high in history as this season (112.8 points for 100 possessions, just ahead of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons). We know it, we are in the era of 3-pointers, where it is played quickly, where there is a lot of space, where we rarely see two big interiors squatting the racket, and where the attackers have great freedom of movement facing defenses not really helped by the evolution of certain rules in recent years. All this necessarily favors the offensive explosions that we find night after night today.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the level of talent that we currently find in the NBA is enormous. Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are still at their best individual level despite their 34 brooms, Jayson Tatum and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have changed dimensions, Luka Doncic is a monster, Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Freak, and Joel Embiid is one of the pivots the most skilled in the history of the League. So hey, we’re not talking about just anyone anyway, huh.
It remains to be seen now if it will last throughout the 2022-23 campaign. Because it’s one thing to shoot 30 pawns per night over 20 games, it’s another thing to do so over 70, 75 or 80 games. We will therefore have to redo the accounts next April when the regular schedule ends, but something tells us that the phenomena mentioned above have everything they need to maintain this frantic pace.
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Source stats : NBA.com, Basket-Reference
