Performance Of The Night: Malachi Flynn
Was anybody expecting Malachi Flynn to be CourtSideHeat’s POTN Award winner? No, if we are all being honest with one another. Did anybody expect my guy to drop 50 points against the Atlanta Hawks? No, not in the slightest.
First of all, I know I’m breaking the rule for this award that the player’s team needs to win the game; however, this performance was historic and may never happen again from a bench guy or Flynn himself. It just needs to be done, don’t care.
I remember when the 25-year-old was in the OG Anunoby trade and then in the Bojan Bogdanovic trade with the Detroit Pistons. The New York Knicks were wielding and dealing like the world was ending.
People really didn’t think about Flynn, mainly because he was a “subpar” bench player who averaged five points a game. It’s understandable why he isn’t mentioned as a threat, but he became a threat today against the Hawks.
In a game where the Hawks needed to win for a Play-In spot, where everyone thought it would be an easy win, there was one man ready to jeopardize their chances of a crucial spot: Malachi (middle name unknown, seriously) Flynn.
The reserve point guard put up 50 points, six rebounds, five assists, and four steals. He also went 18/25 (72%) from the field and 5/9 (55%) from deep. What’s even more incredible is that Flynn is the *ONLY* player in NBA history to put up these numbers as a bench player.
Plus, to make this performance even more historic, he’s only the third bench player in NBA history to score 50 points in a game. Since 1970-71, when stats were first beginning to be tracked, only three players have done it. Do you all know how astonishing that is?
The other two men were Jamal Crawford (2019) and Nick Anderson (1993). Flynn tied Anderson with 50 points, while Crawford sits at 51 points. Could you imagine a guy like Flynn passing up the likes of two very well-known and well-respected players? Not many would, but it has been done.
Not only did he do it, he did it at an incredibly efficient rate. The 25-year-old went 72% from the field, 55% from deep, and 75% (9/12) from the line. That is incredibly hard to do, especially when shooting over 20 shots. To be exact, he shot it 25 times.
Monty Williams didn’t check him into the game until the 5:38 mark of the first quarter. What’s even more fascinating is that he’s the tenth guy this season to score 50 points. Plus, this makes you never want to underestimate guys again; he has the lowest scoring average of any player with a 50-point game in the history of the NBA. Flynn averages 5.2 points per game this season.
To recap, he did it efficiently, broke some records, added his name to history, and became a real-life underdog story of the night and for the rest of the week. He broke franchise records and added himself to NBA history.
Fans and experts will say the name “Malachi Flynn” more often now. Detroit fans finally have something positive to talk about for the remainder of the season.
