It was a special night in the NBA with 70 points from Joel Embiid and 62 from Karl-Anthony Towns.

Joel Embiid scored 70 points in Philadelphia. Karl-Anthony Towns had 62 goals in Minnesota. Elite big men paired up to accomplish something not seen in the NBA in over 45 years.

Thus, January 22, 2024 became a day like few others in NBA history.

On the 18th anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s 81 points against the Los Angeles Lakers (the second-most in a game in NBA history), Embiid and Towns put on a spectacular show, setting historic milestones for their players. personal bests in points and historical achievements in his franchises.

“From the moment I started playing, Kobe was my player,” Embiid said. “He is the reason I started playing basketball. It’s funny, he scored 81 points that night and was my favorite player.”

Embiid’s 70 points represented a career-high in Philadelphia’s 133-123 win over San Antonio. Towns scored 62 points, two more than his previous career high and a Timberwolves record, but it wasn’t enough in Minnesota’s 128–125 loss to Charlotte.

Monday ultimately marked the fourth day in NBA history that two players scored at least 60 points. The others were on April 9, 1978 (David Thompson scored 73 for Denver, George Gervin scored 63 for San Antonio in a duel on the final day of the season for top scorer); January 17, 1962 (Jerry West scored 63 for the Lakers, Wilt Chamberlain 62 for the Philadelphia Warriors) and December 8, 1961 (Chamberlain scored 78 for the Warriors and Elgin Baylor 63 for the Lakers in a triple-A game overtime).

“These guys are going crazy today,” NBA scoring leader LeBron James wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.