Golden State Warriors set NBA record for points in a first quarter

Playing in Portland, the Warriors scored 55 points against the Trail Blazers in the first quarter to break their own NBA record of 51 points for the opening stanza -- which they earlier achieved against the Denver Nuggets in 2019. Sunday's monster quarter came with white-hot three-point shooting, as the Warriors tied an NBA record with 12 three-pointers (on 18 attempts).

Klay Thompson started the offensive barrage with 14 points, including four three-pointers in the first four minutes and five total treys for the quarter. He also became just the second player in league history to make more than 300 three-pointers in a season, joining James Harden and fellow Splash Brother Steph Curry.

Thompson did it in his first full season after a torn ACL and a torn Achilles tendon cost him the entire 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, as well as half of the 2021-22 campaign. He will finish the current regular season with 69 games played and the most threes in the league.

For his part, Jordan Poole also hit four triples in the quarter. Perhaps the most remarkable part of this onslaught was that Steph Curry contributed only eight points in the space. The Warriors led by 28 points after 12 minutes.

With Golden State comfortably ahead of Portland as of this posting, their seed will depend on whether the Los Angeles Clippers can come back to beat the Phoenix Suns and grab the five seed -- or fall to seventh place.

The NBA record for points in any quarter is 58, set by the Buffalo Braves in 1972. It was the definition of garbage time, however. Buffalo won the 4th quarter 58-23. And still lost by eight points, having gone into the final quarter trailing by 43 points.

The Warriors team record is 57 points, set by the 1989 team in a 155-143 win over the Sacramento Kings. That team hit six three-pointers for the entire game or just one more than Thompson did in the first 4:40 of Sunday's game.