Wilt Chamberlain Holds the NBA Record With 59 Points in a Half

Wilt Chamberlain holds the NBA record for most points by a player in a half: 59. He scored them in the second half of his 100-point game for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962. Kobe Bryant’s 55-point second half against Toronto in 2006 ranks second. NBA history

A half means the first two quarters or the last two regulation quarters—not any rolling 24-minute stretch. Each NBA regulation quarter lasts 12 minutes; overtime is a separate period, not part of this second-half total. NBA timing rules

The records below are current through October 8, 2026, with regular-season, playoff and team totals kept separate.

How Wilt scored 59 points in 24 minutes

Chamberlain had 41 points at halftime, then added 28 in the third quarter and 31 in the fourth. Philadelphia won 169–147 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. NBA account of the game

The full-game box score shows the volume of shots behind the performance: Chamberlain made 36 of 63 field-goal attempts and 28 of 32 free throws. Philadelphia attempted 115 field goals, compared with New York’s 118. Those are shot counts, not possession counts—offensive rebounds can produce multiple attempts on one possession—but they show the game’s high shot volume. Full-game box score

Role mattered, too. The Warriors deliberately fed Chamberlain throughout the fourth quarter. New York fouled other Philadelphia players to keep the ball away from him, and Philadelphia countered with fouls to regain possession. This was not an ordinary distribution of a team’s offense. NBA account of the game

For the complete performance, see our breakdown of Chamberlain’s 100-point single-game record.

Kobe’s 55—and the separate first-half record

Kobe Bryant scored 55 points in the second half of his 81-point game against the Raptors on January 22, 2006: 27 in the third quarter and 28 in the fourth. The Lakers won 122–104 after trailing by 18 in the third quarter. His half finished four points short of Chamberlain’s record. NBA recap

The era distinction matters: Chamberlain played before the NBA introduced the three-point line in 1979–80. His 59 came entirely from two-point field goals and free throws; later scorers could also earn three points from a made shot. That changes the routes to a huge total, not the record itself. Three-point line history

The first-half record is 53 points, shared by David Thompson and George Gervin. Remarkably, both did it on April 9, 1978, in separate games on the season’s final day while competing for the scoring title. ESPN’s record comparison

Thompson scored 32 in the first quarter and 21 in the second against Detroit, shooting 20-for-23 from the field before halftime. He finished with 73. Gervin reached 53 at halftime against New Orleans, finished with 63 and won the season scoring title. NBA’s account of their scoring duel

Playoff record: 39, now shared by Floyd and Mitchell

Sleepy Floyd and Donovan Mitchell share the NBA playoff record with 39 points in a half. Floyd set it against the Lakers on May 10, 1987, finishing with 51 points for Golden State. Warriors historical account

Mitchell matched it in the second half against Detroit on May 11, 2026, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. He finished with 43 points as Cleveland won 112–103. A free throw with 27.6 seconds remaining tied Floyd; Mitchell missed the next attempt, which would have broken the record. Official game recap · ESPN report

This is distinct from Michael Jordan’s 63-point playoff game record, which measures the entire game.

If you mean a team: Phoenix scored 107

The NBA regular-season team record for a half is 107 points by the Phoenix Suns, scored in the first half against Denver on November 10, 1990. Phoenix scored 50 in the opening quarter and 57 in the second, then won 173–143. NBA record history · Quarter-by-quarter game summary

That is one team’s total, not the two teams combined—and a different category from Chamberlain’s individual 59.