Yahoo Sports Kevin Porter Jr. drops 50 to lead Rockets past Bucks, snaps LeBron James record
Kevin Porter Jr. was hit with a $50,000 fine on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the 20-year-old had the best game of his career and surpassed a LeBron James record in the process.
Porter put up 50 points and 11 assists to lead the Houston Rockets past the Milwaukee Bucks 143-136 at the Toyota Center. He is now the youngest player in league history to score at least 50 points with 10 assists, passing James — who did so when he was 23.
Porter is also now the youngest player to score 50 points in Rockets history and has scored the most points in a single game by anyone on the team this season.
KPJ, the youngest player to score 50 in a Rockets uniform. pic.twitter.com/zifnXswTbD
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) April 30, 2021
Porter drops 50 one day after fine
The league fined Porter $50,000 on Wednesday after he attended a strip club in Miami with teammate Sterling Brown earlier this month.
Brown was allegedly attacked outside of that club and hit in the back of his head with a bottle, something that briefly sent him to the hospital. He hasn’t played since. Porter was seen in footage with Brown after that incident speaking with police.
Clearly, that didn’t shake him one bit. Porter shot 9-of-15 from behind the arc en route to his 50 points, 17 of which came in the fourth quarter. The outburst came after a tough game on Tuesday night, in which he shot just 2-of-12 from the field in their loss to Minnesota.
“He can get down, but the thing about him is he snaps right back,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said, via USA Today’s Ben DuBose. “That’s a good quality to have.”
Center Christian Wood added 31 points and nine rebounds while shooting 6-of-10 from the 3-point line, and Kelly Olynyk finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds. The win snapped a six game losing skid for the Rockets, though they’ve lost 10 of their last 12.
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo left Thursday night’s matchup in the first minute after spraining his right ankle after he got tangled up with Olynyk while driving to the hoop. Antetokounmpo picked up a foul on the play and stayed to shoot free throws, but left soon after and was ruled out for the rest of the game.
Khris Middleton led the Bucks with 33 points and eight assists, and Bryn Forbes added 30 points off the bench.
“We certainly tried a lot of different things,” Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer said, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jim Owczarski. “I think our execution can be a lot better, but they also executed at a high level.”
More from Yahoo Sports:
