5 Highest Scoring Olympic Basketball Games

Basketball has been a staple of the Summer Olympics since 1936 when it was first played on the international stage. In that timeframe, the world’s nations have competed to take home the gold in basketball, though some countries have fared better at that task than others.

The

NBA

is the world’s premier basketball league, featuring the world’s greatest basketball talents. As such, it is often home to games featuring high scores and otherworldly offense, something that is hardly the case in Olympic basketball.

FIBA, the organization that hosts Olympic basketball, has certain rules in place which differ from the NBA, and serve to prioritize defense over offense. Therefore, Olympic basketball games have generally been lower-scoring than their NBA counterparts.

That does not mean blowouts and high-scoring games have never occurred on the international stage, however. With the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris coming up, it makes sense to take a look at the five highest-scoring basketball games in the history of the Olympics.

1

USA 156, Nigeria 73

Team USA defeated Nigeria 156-73 at the 2012 Games

The highest-scoring basketball game in Olympic history occurred during the 2012 iteration of the games. On August 2, 2012, Team USA trotted out a lineup consisting of players such as

Kobe Bryant

,

Kevin Durant

,

LeBron James

,

Carmelo Anthony

, and

Russell Westbrook

.

That team took on Nigeria on that day, and pounded them by a score of 156-73, a difference of 83 points — that’s more points than are often scored by a single winning team in the Olympics. The team led by 26 points in the first quarter and had 78 in the books by halftime.

Team USA eclipsed the previous record for most points scored by a team in a game, which was set by Brazil in 1988 — with 4:37 still left to play. The Americans would go on to win the Gold in London in 2012.

2

Brazil 138, Egypt 85

Brazil defeated Egypt 138-85 at the 1988 Olympic Games

Prior to Team USA’s massacre of the Nigerian basketball team at the 2012 games, the highest-scoring game in Olympic basketball history was a 138-85 rout of Egypt by Brazil. Brazil has historically been a dominant basketball team in the Olympics, particularly in the 1980s (though they’ve never won the Gold), and 1988 was no exception.

The game occurred on September 23, 1988, as part of the latter portion of the group stage. By halftime, Brazil was already up by a score of 66-38, and would add on another 72 points in the second half to win the game, 138-85.

The game allowed Brazil to advance to the championship bracket as the final seed. However, they would lose in the first round, the Quarterfinals, to the Soviet Union by a score of 110-105.

3

Brazil 137, India 64

Brazil defeated India 137-64 at the 1980 Olympic Games

Eight years prior to Brazil’s devastation of the Egyptian basketball team, they had done the same to India, but worse. By looking at the scores for the Group Stage, it can be determined that India was not a good team — they were blown out in all three of their games.

However, their third and final game against Brazil was the most one-sided of them all. On July 23, 1980, Brazil would defeat India by a score of 137-64, a difference of 73 points.

Even though India had the highest scorer of the game, Radhey Shyam with 32 points, his efforts would not be enough as he accounted for exactly half of the team’s total points. Oscar Schmidt led Brazil with 26 points, and by halftime, Brazil already had 65 points, more than India would score in total.

4

USA 133, China 70

Team USA defeated China 133-70 at the 1996 Games

The rivalry between the world’s two biggest powers, the United States and China, reached an Olympic head in 1996, when the two faced off in that summer’s games. Team USA would eventually go on to win the Gold at home (the Olympics were hosted in Atlanta that year) by going 8-0 in total.

One of those eight wins came during the group stage on July 26, 1996. That evening saw Team USA demolish Team China by a whopping score of 133-70, one of the largest blowouts in Olympic basketball history to this day.

Scottie Pippen led both teams in scoring, with 24 points, while Liu Yudong led Team China with just 18 points. By halftime, America was already up 65-28, and would go on to steamroll China by a final score of 133-70.

5

Brazil 130, China 108

Brazil defeated China 130-108 at the 1988 Olympic Games

A running theme with the Brazilian national basketball team throughout the 1980s was that they were a powerful team offensively who could run through opponents, but could never quite continue that winning into the final stage. This was especially true in 1988, when they blew out multiple opponents during the Group Stage, including China.

As mentioned, Brazil defeated Egypt by a blowout score of 138-85 during that year’s Olympics, the second-most points scored of all time. But just three days prior to that game on September 20, 1988, Brazil took on China, and would blow them out by a score of 130-108.

The point differential in this game was somewhat closer, at just 22 points, but Brazil’s offense still ran wild in this game. They scored a whopping 72 points in the first half, leading China by a score of 72-61 at halftime, and would then go on to score 58 more points in the second half, resulting in a final score of 130-108.

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