There are literally hundreds of game days in a typical NBA calendar year and just the onslaught of basketball action day after day seems like enough to make any random fan nauseous.

But for purists, however, what happened on Friday night is the exact reason why every outing is worth keeping an eye on.

In a 13-game schedule on January 24, 2014, two records were set almost 3,000 kilometers apart: Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks scored the most points scored by a Knick while simultaneously outscoring Kobe Bryant with the highest point total of any player at Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile, Chandler Parsons of the Houston Rockets imprinted his name in the history books for punching the most 3-point shots in the half.

Although their teams experienced different results, both feats are astonishing.

First: ‘Melo.

Syracuse’s scoring machine made everything look so easy and relaxed when he converted 23 field goals en route to 62 points. By halftime he was 37 by virtue of a 45-foot push just before the buzzer expired. At that very moment, everyone knew this was going to be special for the only scoring champion.

Melo surpassed Kobe’s record of 61 on MSG set five years ago and eclipsed Bernard King’s franchise record of 60. Notably, ‘Melo and his friend Kobe were the last two people to score at least 62 in the past seven years (Bryant burned Portland with 65 in 2007).

Anthony could have scored a lot more if he had stayed away from the right wing, as the shooting chart showed, but hey, he’s not going to 80, is he? Melo could have tried another Bryant record (the second-most points scored in NBA history at 81), but Mike Woodson opted to knock him out of the final 7:23 with the game out of reach for the Bobcats.

Now NBA.com writer John Schumann attributed the Knicks’ offense’s improved spacing to the absence of Andrea Bargnani. Bargnani, the Italian big man who hasn’t seen a shot he didn’t like, probably would have gobbled up one more attempt, but Anthony had every chance for himself Friday night against a pretty solid defense for the season. squad like the Bobcats.

(Look at each of Carmelo Anthony’s 23 field goals.)

Credit the guards too for repeatedly finding the red-hot striker all night long. Nine of his 23 marks were assisted by teammates, and many of those situations allowed Anthony to do nothing but set himself on fire.

“It’s just a zone that you go into at some point, and only a certain group of people know what that zone feels like,” said Anthony, who also had 13 rebounds and didn’t record a single loss.

Chandler Parsons Tale of Two Halves

Quite the opposite of Melo’s scorching start, the former Florida Gator was ice cold in the first half, missing all three attempts from deep and finished with just four points against a suffocating Grizzlies defense.

And then less than sixty seconds into the third, he drilled one. A minute later, he hit another and then another, and another, and another, and another.

Officially, he is blistering with a third quarter of 18 points, all on triples, and has not failed in all six attempts.

Parsons also made his next four in a back-and-forth game between Southwest Division foes, but blew one with 73 ticks remaining that would have given the Rockets the lead.

“They came out and got caught, and I was going to give it back to James, and James cut,” the 6-foot-9 swingman recalled on that last play. “I guess they denied it, and I really couldn’t give it to Dwight [Howard]so i got stuck and picked up my drip. I should have kept my dribble alive. “

Still, it was an impressive display of shooting prowess from Parsons, who is averaging just under 18 points per outing this season for less than the league average.

I just have to say that.