ORLANDO, Florida. Saddiq Bey scored a career-high 51 points in the Detroit Pistons’ 134-120 win over the Magic on Thursday night, continuing an already torrid month of personal NBA results.
According to research by ESPN Stats & Information, Bey’s result was the league’s eighth 50-point game in March, the most in a single calendar month in the past 50 seasons. The last month with more was December 1962, when there were nine 50-point games.
Overall, there were 17 50-point games that season, and Bey became the 13th player to accomplish the feat, equaling the most games in a season in NBA history. At 22, he is the youngest player to score 50 points in Pistons history, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Two nights after Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving scored 16 points in the first quarter en route to a 60-point game, the Magic lost 21 points in the first quarter to Bey.
“I saw those moments and it was very effective. It was part of the game,” Bey said of Irving. “It was a great performance and I think there have been a lot of great performances in the NBA over the past two weeks. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to play in this league.”
Marvin Bagley III added 20 points and 11 rebounds to Detroit in a game between the bottom two teams in the Eastern Conference. Franz Wagner led Orlando with 26 points.
“Restorations are always ugly,” Detroit coach Duane Casey said, “but there are a lot of great moments like today.”
Bey, whose previous career high was 34, ended the first half in spectacular fashion, scoring five points in less than five seconds. He hit a 20-foot ball, falling out of bounds with 8.8 seconds left, intercepting the backcourt and making a 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left to give the Pistons a 73–62 lead.
“He had 30 points in the half, so we definitely expected 50,” said Pistons center Isaiah Stewart, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds.
The Magic scored the first nine points of the game, but Bay quickly reduced that lead. The Pistons took the lead thanks to a dunk from Stewart, who broke the 50-50 lead midway through the second quarter.
“I think it was just a game play,” Bey said. “I didn’t come into the game saying that this is what I’m going to do, but you will catch the rhythm and get into the zone.” My teammates did a great job of finding me and just encouraging me to stay aggressive.”
The Pistons hit 50% and their 134 points also set a season high.
“[Bey] started early and he landed some really hard shots, but we have to do better – I have to do better – not let him do what he wants,” Wagner said. He hit 14 threes and we knew before the game that we didn’t want him to throw threes.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.