The Highest-Scoring NBA Game Ever: The Full Top-10 Leaderboard

The highest-scoring game in NBA history was played on December 13, 1983, when the Detroit Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets 186-184 in triple overtime for a combined 370 points. Detroit’s 186 is also the most points ever scored by a single team, and Denver’s 184 is the most by a losing team. As of the 2026 season, no game has come within 19 points of it.

Scoring records usually belong to individual players, but the highest-scoring games are team feats, the product of blistering pace, porous defense and, often, extra periods. Below is the full top-10 leaderboard of the highest-scoring games in NBA history, the story behind the top entries, and how the modern game measures up.

Leaderboard: the 10 highest-scoring NBA games ever

Rank	Result	Combined	Overtime	Date
1	Pistons 186, Nuggets 184	370	3 OT	Dec 13, 1983
2	Kings 176, Clippers 175	351	2 OT	Feb 24, 2023
3	Spurs 171, Bucks 166	337	3 OT	Mar 6, 1982
4	Bulls 168, Hawks 161	329	4 OT	Mar 1, 2019
5	Warriors 162, Nuggets 158	320	none	Nov 2, 1990
6	Suns 161, Nets 157	318	2 OT	Dec 7, 2006
7	Rockets 159, Wizards 158	317	none	Oct 30, 2019
8	Nuggets 173, Suns 143	316	none	Nov 10, 1990
9	Spurs 161, Nuggets 153	314	none	Nov 7, 1990
10	Celtics 173, Lakers 139	312	none	Feb 27, 1959

Six of the top 10 were decided in regulation, but the top four were all overtime shootouts, where extra periods pile on points fastest.

No. 1: Pistons 186, Nuggets 184 (370 combined, 3 OT)

The 1983 game in Denver was an offensive avalanche. Isiah Thomas (47) and John Long (41) led Detroit, while Kiki Vandeweghe (51) and Alex English (47) led a Nuggets attack that scored 184 points and still lost. Four players finished with 40 or more points in a single game, something that has never been matched. Detroit’s 186 remains the most by a single team in NBA history, and Denver’s 184 is the most ever by a losing team, making this the rare game that holds two records at once.

No. 2: Kings 176, Clippers 175 (351 combined, 2 OT)

For 40 years the 1983 record looked untouchable, and then the 2023 Kings-Clippers game came surprisingly close. Sacramento and Los Angeles traded baskets through two overtimes before the Kings won 176-175, the second-highest total in history and the highest of the three-point era. Malik Monk scored a career-high 45 points off the bench, and De’Aaron Fox and Kawhi Leonard both starred in a game that felt like a throwback to the fast, high-scoring 1980s.

No. 3: Spurs 171, Bucks 166 (337 combined, 3 OT)

San Antonio and Milwaukee needed three overtimes on March 6, 1982 to reach 337 combined points, the third-highest total ever and still the standard for regular-season shootouts outside the top two. It is the oldest game on the list besides the 1983 record itself and the 1959 Celtics-Lakers game, a reminder that the fastest-paced eras of the NBA were not confined to the three-point age.

No. 4: Bulls 168, Hawks 161 (329 combined, 4 OT)

Chicago and Atlanta needed a full four extra periods on March 1, 2019 to climb to 329 combined points, still the most recent game inside the all-time top five. It is the only four-overtime game on the leaderboard, underscoring how much extra time it takes a modern, defense-conscious league to approach the scoring totals of 1983 and 1982.

No. 5: Warriors 162, Nuggets 158 (320 combined, no overtime)

The Golden State Warriors’ 162-158 win over the Denver Nuggets on November 2, 1990 is the highest-scoring game in NBA history that did not go to overtime. Denver’s run-and-gun teams under coach Paul Westhead, who built a system that prized pace over defense, appear three times in the top 10 (No. 5, No. 8, and No. 9), more than any other franchise.

What it measures, and why it is hard

A combined-points record is not about one scorer’s brilliance, the way most points in a single NBA game is. It measures two entire rosters failing to stop each other, usually across extra periods that add possessions no regulation game gets. Reaching 370 requires a rare alignment: fast pace on both sides, weak defense on at least one, and often three or four extra periods to pad the total. Coordinated modern defenses and load-managed possessions have made that alignment harder to find than it was in 1983, even with three-point volume raising per-game scoring averages league-wide.

The scorers who fuel these shootouts also dominate our list of the most points in NBA history, and the giants who anchored high-scoring eras are a theme in our list of the tallest NBA players of all time. For the record on the other extreme, see the longest NBA game ever played by minutes, and our tracker for the most points scored in an NBA season.

The active chase, as of 2026

The 1983 record has stood for more than four decades, and the closest anyone has come remains the 2023 Kings-Clippers game, still 19 points short. The most recent sign of a possible run at the leaderboard came on December 21, 2025, when the Chicago Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks 152-150 for 302 combined points in regulation, only the eighth time in league history two teams have topped 300 points without overtime. That total is not close to the top 10, but it confirms scoring pace is climbing again league-wide. Breaking 370 still requires a high-pace, poor-defense matchup that goes deep into overtime, the same rare combination that has not repeated since 1983.

The short version: the Pistons’ 186-184 triple-overtime win over the Nuggets on December 13, 1983 is the highest-scoring NBA game ever, at 370 combined points. The 2023 Kings-Clippers game (351) is second, and as of the 2026 season the record still stands.