As for fourth-year backup level guard Malachi Flynn, I believed his largest splash this NBA season would have been the time New York Knicks broadcaster Clyde Frazier, evaluating Flynn’s efficiency to then-teammate Donte DiVincenzo, described him as “Evil Donte.” I used to be mistaken. When the Knicks acquired Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks on the commerce deadline, they despatched Flynn to the Detroit Pistons, the place he was free to construct a brand new legacy among the many ruins of the Zoomer. Largely, he simply did the identical as all his earlier NBA stops: present 13 or 14 minutes of serviceable PG play every outing. Till final night time.
In Wednesday’s recreation in opposition to the Atlanta Hawks, the Pistons have been with out Cade Cunningham, who was scratched late as a consequence of a lingering left knee damage. The RotoWire damage report urged that “Malachi Flynn may tackle a much bigger function.” If solely they knew. Flynn got here off the bench halfway by means of the primary quarter and stayed in for a lot of the recreation as he carried the Pistons’ offense. He scored a career-high 50 factors on 18 of 25 from the sector, with six rebounds, 5 assists and three steals. Based on Flynn, it was the primary time he had scored 50 at any stage of competitors. “I virtually did that in highschool,” he mentioned, through The Athletic. “I had 49 and my coach took me out. I nonetheless have a grudge.”
The six-foot-long reserve made every kind of historical past. Flynn’s profession common of 5.2 factors per recreation heading into Wednesday night time was the bottom amongst all NBA gamers who subsequently scored 50. He’s additionally one of many 4 gamers who as soon as dropped 50 whereas capturing higher than 70 p.c from the sector, following the likes of Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jalen Brunson. He’s the one one in all that bunch to take action whereas coming off the bench, and is simply the third participant ever to come back off the bench and attain the 50-point mark, following Jamal Crawford for the Suns in 2019 and Nick Anderson for the Magic. in 1993.
It is a nice alternative for the person and never for the crew. As a result of when you take a look at the remainder of the field rating, you may see that the Pistons squandered this occasion of particular historical past and misplaced, 121-113, for his or her tenth loss of their final 11 video games.