Australian gun Liz Cambage just stamped her name in the history books after dropping a WNBA-record 53 points in a single game, a mark no player in the league has ever achieved before.
[jwplayer uhR6V6TN]
Cambage, playing for the Dallas Wings, had 33 points in the first three quarters against the New York Liberty. But a rollicking final term saw the star Opal drain a further 20 points by herself as the Wings stormed home to a 17-point rout of the Liberty.
Liz Cambage had 33 points after 3 quarters … then dropped 20 in the 4th to grab that single-game scoring record 🔥 pic.twitter.com/N5pmFLAQAO
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 17, 2018
Cambage’s 53 points also came with a bonus 10 rebounds and 5 blocks, ranking it as one of the greatest individual performances in the history of the WNBA.
HISTORY. 📽️ @ecambage did what no #WNBA player has ever done today! #WatchMeWork pic.twitter.com/lwkWqgRhRu
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 17, 2018
But it was Cambage’s insane shooting that’s drawn the most attention.
Liz’s 53 total points came off a ridiculous 17/22 field goals, with 4 of 5 being made from beyond the 3-point arc.
That’s an overall shooting percentage of a whopping 77% shooting. Staggering numbers.
It gets even more staggering when you consider basketball history.
As many on social media have pointed out, the last time any player – male or female – registered 50 points with 10 rebounds at greater than 75% shooting percentage in top-tier American basketball was in 1996, when a bloke you may have heard of called Michael Jordan managed it in a matchup between the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons.
.@ecambage posted 53 pts, 10 reb on 77% shooting. The last @NBA player with 50 pts, 10 reb on 75% shooting in a game?
Michael Jordan on March 7, 1996 vs Pistons (via @ESPNStatsInfo) pic.twitter.com/2D8Yle6UgA
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 17, 2018
It’s certainly, by a measure of miles, the greatest single-game performance by any Australian player to ever grace the WNBA/NBA, and it even eclipses the highest mark of Lauren Jackson‘s glittering career by 6 whole points. No Australian man has gotten even remotely close to putting up numbers like that in the toughest basketball league on earth.
No doubt about it, that’s a hell of a game.
A hell of a game.
Get ’em, Liz.
