High but not the highest

kw: sports

I don't watch sports much, except for the Olympics. But, having lived in Oklahoma prior to moving to the East Coast, I had to watch last night's NBA finals game. Of course, I was rooting for the Thunder, but in the past, I've been for the Heat, even over the 76ers (I don't dare tell my neighbors).

This game was a defenseman's nightmare, an almost pure offensive duel. And I have to hand it to Miami, they played with a steady level of intensity that shows in the scores. As I recall, by quarters, they went 30-59-90-121. This overwhelmed Oklahoma, which had about four points less per quarter, with the final score 121-106.

Ordinarily, particularly at the playoffs level, a score of 106 is a winning score. Not this time. I say, though, hats off to the Thunder, for scoring 106 against the Heat! I wondered, how close was this to a playoff record? It didn't take long to find out, not close at all. The highest combined score was in 1992, when Portland beat Phoenix, 153-151. I makes me wonder how many miles the players ran, back and forth!

Curiously, I recall from my childhood hearing on the radio about a basketball game that was the first in which a team scored above 100. I've tried to find out more about it, but no Google search I have been able to craft has gotten me past the thousands of sites that tout Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point individual effort in 1962. Oh, well. This is the first game I've watched in which a team scored more than 120.