It’s been a record scoring year for Canadians across the NBA.
New York Knicks, third-year guard RJ Barrett returned from a four game, mild left sprained ankle absence and scored a career-high 46 points in the 115-104 loss to the Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden.
Barrett knocked down 13-of-22 field goal attempts and tied a season-high six three-pointers on 13 attempts from deep. A mediocre 14-of-22 (63.6%) effort from the foul-line prevented Barrett from setting the all-time Canadian NBA scoring mark of 50 points, set by Jamal Murray.
Barrett, scored 30 of his 46 points in the first-half on his way to the fourth most points scored by a Canadian basketball player in an NBA regular season game. The former third-pick of the 2019 NBA Draft surpassed his previous career-high of 35 points by the end of the third-quarter with 39 points.
At 21-years-old and 256 days, Barrett is the second-youngest Canadian to score 40-plus points in an NBA regular season game. Murray scored 48 points, a day younger (21-255) on November 05, 2018. As member of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Andrew Wiggins (21-264) scored 47 points on the Los Angeles Lakers.
RJ’s career-high 46 points against Miami are the most points by a New York Knicks player since Carmelo Anthony in 2014. Melo dropped 46 points on November 14, 2014 against the Utah Jazz.
Barrett has now scored 30+ plus points in seven games this season, increasing his points per game average to a career-high 19.0 points per game.
