This Week in NBA History: Week of March 3

March 3

March 3, 1985

Kevin McHale of the Celtics connected on 22-of-28 field goal attempts and scored a team-record 56 points in a 138-129 victory over Detroit at Boston Garden. Nine days later against Atlanta, Larry Bird set a new Celtics single-game scoring record by hitting for 60 points.

March 3, 1986

Mark Aguirre of the Mavericks scored 42 points, giving him back-to-back games of 40-plus points, as he led Dallas to a 139-138 double-overtime win over Phoenix.

March 3, 1995

Phoenix forward A.C. Green moved past former NBA great Dolph Schayes and into third place on the all-time consecutive games played list, with 707, after playing 38 minutes and scoring 13 points in the Suns’ 122-118 overtime win over visiting Seattle.

March 3, 1999

Milwaukee’s Dell Curry reached 1,000 3-pointers made in a 106-78 win over the Golden State Warriors.

March 3, 2014

LeBron James of the Miami Heat scores 61 points in a 124-107 win over the Charlotte Bobcats. James made 22 of 33 shots from the field, including his first eight 3-point attempts. He had 24 points at halftime, then added 25 in the third quarter. The record-breaker came with 5:46 left, when James spun through three defenders for a layup that fell as he tumbled to the court.

March 3, 2020

San Antonio Spurs legend and Hall of Famer Tim Duncan makes his debut as an NBA coach, serving as the Spurs’ acting head coach in a 104-103 road win against the Charlotte Hornets. Duncan was filling in for coach Gregg Popovich, who missed the game due to personal reasons.

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March 4

March 4, 1982

San Antonio’s George Gervin racked up 48 points, surpassing 19,000 career points, in a 110-101 loss to Boston.

March 4, 1996

Utah’s John Stockton hands out 11 assists during the Jazz’ 110-87 victory over Phoenix, becoming the first NBA player to collect 11,000 career assists.

March 4, 1998

Arbitrator John Feerick upheld the NBA’s suspension of Latrell Sprewell for the 1997-98 season, resulting in a monetary penalty of $6.4 million, finding that the NBA’s investigation was “done in good faith and was fair and adequate.” Feerick also found “that the NBA complied with the standards of industrial due process.” He reduced the NBA’s suspension to the extent it had included approximately one month of the 1998-99 season. However, the arbitrator reinstated Sprewell’s contract with Golden State for the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons, finding that the combination of a one-season suspension and a contract termination would not be appropriate under all of the circumstances.

March 4, 2012

Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets scores 57 points in a 104-101 win over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics dished 20 assists in a 115-111 win over the New York Knicks.

March 4, 2016

Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers scores 50 points in a 117-115 loss to the Toronto Raptors.

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March 5

March 5, 1983

Golden State’s Joe Barry Carroll scored 52 points in a 127-121 Warriors victory over the Utah Jazz.

March 5, 1996

Dallas sets a then NBA record for 3-point field goal attempts (49) in a game during a 127-117 win over visiting New Jersey. George McCloud makes seven threes in an NBA record-tying 20 attempts. Michael Adams of Denver also attempted 20 3-point field goals against the LA Clippers on April 12, 1991. The mark was surpassed by the Rockets on Jan. 16, 2019 as Houston attempted 70 3-pointers.

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March 6

March 6, 1982

The Spurs defeated Milwaukee 171-166 in triple-overtime in San Antonio in what was then the highest scoring game in NBA history. The mark of 337 points was erased when Detroit beat Denver 186-184, also in triple-overtime, on December 13, 1983 for a total of 370 points.

March 6, 2000

Shaquille O’Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers scored an NBA season-high 61 points to go with 23 rebounds in the Lakers’ 123-103 triumph over the LA Clippers.

March 6, 2001

The Portland Trail Blazers retired the No. 22 jersey worn by versatile guard Clyde Drexler, who played for the team for more than 11 seasons from 1983 to 1995.

March 6, 2019

With a driving layup in the second quarter against the Denver Nuggets, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers surpassed Michael Jordan’s 32,292 career points. In doing so, James became the fourth-leading scorer in NBA history. Despite his efforts, though, the Lakers lost the game, 115-99.

March 7

March 7, 1974

The New Orleans Jazz (who later moved to Utah) became the NBA’s 18th franchise.

March 7, 1995

Dominique Wilkins of Boston scored 19 points in the Celtics’ 115-110 loss at New York, moving him past 25,000 career points, the ninth NBA player to reach that plateau.

March 7, 1996

With seven assists against Sacramento in the visiting Lakers’ 102-89 victory, Magic Johnson becomes the second NBA player to register 10,000 career assists.

March 7, 2001

The Phoenix Suns retired the No. 7 jersey worn by Kevin Johnson, the immensely popular point guard who played for the team for 12 seasons and retired sixth on the NBA’s all-time assists list.

March 7, 2017

Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder scores 58 points in a 126-121 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

March 7, 2017

The Dallas Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki becomes the sixth member of the 30,000 all-time points club in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers.