The 7 most unbreakable playoff records in NBA history

Guard Earvin (Magic) Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers moves the ball during an NBA game.
Guard Earvin (Magic) Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers moves the ball during an NBA game. /
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The 2023 NBA playoffs are beginning to kick into high gear, and there have already been several record-breaking performances. Records are, of course, meant to be broken but there are several NBA Playoff records that are highly unlikely to ever be broken. Let’s take a look at the 7 most unbreakable playoff records in NBA history.

Most points in a quarter and a half of an NBA playoff game: Sleepy Floyd-29 and 39

Of the players on this list, Sleepy Floyd is one of the least known, but his playoff record may prove timeless. Floyd set two scoring records in a sizzling Game 4 performance in the Golden State Warriors first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1988. Floyd dropped a staggering 29 points in the first quarter and 39 points in the first half, which was made all the more impressive by the fact that he only hit two 3-pointers during his onslaught.

Floyd would go on to drop 51 points, which is much harder to do in the playoffs than in the regular season. In fact, the single-game playoff scoring record belongs to Michael Jordan, who dropped 63 in a double-overtime game in 1986. Even then, Floyd’s two records are far less likely to be broken than Jordan’s.

Dropping 30 points in a quarter and 40 in a half in a playoff game is hard to imagine, even with the high level of offense in today’s NBA. The game tends to slow down, and defenses tend to be much better, resulting in fewer big individual-scoring performances. Never say never, but Floyd’s incendiary performance hasn’t been surpassed in 35 years, and it doesn’t appear likely that it ever will.