Five players who have a solid shot at joining 80-point club

Kevin Durant and James Harden each possess the raw talent to score 80-plus points in a single game.

On Wednesday night, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry put on a scoring clinic, starting with a 25-point first quarter against the Washington Wizards. To say Curry entered the zone would be an understatement. Steph made 9 of his first 10 field goals, including 7 of 8 from 3-point range. By halftime he had 35 points and the Twitter-verse wondered just how many points he would score. 50? 60? 70?

After the first period, the reigning Kia MVP was on pace to reach 100 but no one really thought it was obtainable. After all, he's sat out 14 4th quarters this season. Curry would finish halfway to the century mark -- 51 points, thanks to an 11-for-16 effort from 3-point land. Steph can score 50 points at any moment, but can he or anyone else flirt with 81?
It's been 54 years since Warriors legend Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points and 10 seasons since Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant scored 81. Neither Wilt nor Kobe were prolific 3-point shooters, but they both shared the mentality that the next shot was guaranteed to fall.
"Scoring 100 points is a lot," Chamberlain once said. "But ... I maybe could have scored 140 if they had played straight-up basketball!"

The thought of one player scoring 100 points is insane, let alone 80. In fact, Chamberlain possessed the ability to score at will and only surpassed the 80-point threshold once in his entire career. Out of the thousands of players to play in the NBA's lifetime, only five players have scored 70-plus points in a single game. That list does not include three of the top four scorers in NBA history: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Michael Jordan.

Just last month, Bryant was asked about reliving his historic 81-point performance and, like Chamberlain, he felt he "should have had 90 points or more." If Bryant thinks 90 is possible, then 81 should be within reason.

Clearly it would take a young player with a true scorer's mentality. Wilt was 25 years old when he scored 100 and Kobe was 27 when he poured in 81. The player that scores 80 has to be a volume shooter that can get to the free throw line often. He must possess the ability to create his own shot as well as 3-point shooting range.

Using this criteria, many players may fit the mold but five All-Stars -- Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Klay Thompson and DeMarcus Cousins -- immediately come to mind. These are the top four scorers in the league who have a total of 13 career 50-point games. Three of the five players (Curry, Harden and Cousins) are responsible for four of the six 50-point games this season. So who's the most likely candidate for an 80-point game?.

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