Back in 1990, Magic guard Scott Skiles went on to set the NBA’s all-time record for the most number of assists in a single game with 30 assists.
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John Stockton, Magic Johnson, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul are all some of the top-most assists getters in NBA history. With that being said, naturally, one would assume one of these players to hold the all-time record for the most assists in a single NBA game.
Surprisingly, the record is held by none of these legends. In fact, the player who has the record to his name is not an NBA champion, an All-NBA player, and not even an All-Star.
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Back on December 30th, 1990, Scott Skiles went on to destroy the Denver Nuggets as he put up 22 points and a staggering 30 assists, surpassing the previous record of 29 assists set by Kevin Porter in 1978, as the NBA’s all-time record for the most assists in a single game.
“But I am proud I have more assists than Cousy, Robertson, Magic, Archibald, and Stockton in a game”: Scott Skiles
Years later, Scott gave a detailed explanation of how he went to grab his 30th assist during the record-breaking game. As told to Brett Ballantini, Skiles stated:
“Time was running out, and my total was still 29. Finally, with 19.6 seconds left, Reynolds scored on a 20-foot jumper off one of my feeds, and I had the record. I was very happy, and the crowd was yelling and cheering loudly for me.”
“Someday, someone will get 31, so I don’t think too much about the assists record. But I am proud to know that of all the great playmakers — guys like Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Tiny Archibald and John Stockton — I have more assists than any of them in one game.
In the 155-116 win, the Magic as a group shot the ball at high efficiency. Skiles credited the record to all his teammates.
I looked at the film about a week later, and saw that my teammates hit a lot of tough shots off my passes — and that we shot .570 as a team overall, if any of those shots were missed, I would have fallen short, so I owe the record to my teammates.”
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30 assists in a single game by a single player seems almost impossible to think about. However, it isn’t a record that is unbreakable. There are several great pass-first players in our league who have a real shot at this record.
