Just under five years after Kobe Bryant broke Bernard King‘s record, it was time for a Knick to reclaim the MSG scoring throne. The night was January 24, 2014, and the player was Carmelo Anthony.
Melo had The Garden rocking that night, scoring 62 points to surpass King for the franchise-record for points in a game, and Bryant for the most ever scored at The Mecca.
Melo scored 37 points in the first half and capped it off with a half-court buzzer beater.
He stayed hot after halftime and had 56 points at the end of the third quarter. Then, in the fourth quarter, Melo made history by recording his 62nd point.
Melo’s shot chart, courtesy of nba.com:
After that basket, Melo was pulled and received a standing ovation from The Garden crowd. There was 7:18 left when Melo exited the game, which makes one wonder how many points Melo could have scored if he stayed in for the entire game.
Melo shot 23-35 from the field, made all 10 of his free throw attempts and added 13 rebounds. However, arguably the most impressive stat from Melo’s game was that he had zero turnovers.
Following the final buzzer, Carmelo talked with MSG Networks.
After having a chance to cool down, Melo spoke with the media about his historic performance.