What is the lowest points scored in a quarter in NBA history? 

The New York Knicks hosted the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday in one of the NBA’s scheduled games. In a battle of injury-riddled teams, some expected the matchup to be a seesaw, low-scoring battle. The encounter between two teams missing key players lived up to the hype.

In the first quarter, New York and Philadelphia labored to score 15 points each. If not for the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson and Philly’s Kelly Oubre Jr., the output would have been a nightmare. The two players also helped their teammates to get going in the second quarter, which was not by much, though.

New York remained inept, adding just 16 points in the second frame. The 76ers played quite well, tallying 22 more points. Tobias Harris and Paul Reed contributed to the team’s improvement. Still, the game looked like one from the ‘80s or ‘90s when matchups were normally grind-out affairs.

The Knicks and the 76ers’ combined output of 30 points in a quarter is far from the NBA record of lowest points in 12 minutes. What they tallied together was double the mark for scoring ineptitude in league history.

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Lowest scoring game by a quarter in NBA history

The second quarter of the game between the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic on April 12, 2015, is the lowest in NBA history. No teams combined in the shot clock era for so few points. The Knicks had eight while the Magic put up seven to collectively score 15 points.

Current 76ers forward Tobias Harris was also on that Magic team that put up the ghastly number. Orlando was led at that time by an emerging young center named Nikola Vucevic and Victor Oladipo. The Knicks had Cole Aldrich and Tim Hardaway Jr. spearheading them.

Before the shot clock era, the lowest-scoring quarter by two teams combined in NBA history was between the Fort Wayne Pistons and Minneapolis Lakers. In the fourth quarter of the said matchup, they hit a total of four points with the Pistons getting three of those.

The Pistons-Lakers battle on November 22, 1950, also has the lowest points combined in a full game. Fort Wayne won 19-18 over Minneapolis. All four quarters, particularly the fourth, are in the books for the lowest total output by two teams.

With the introduction of the shot clock, games like those in the NBA did not last long. Teams were forced to play at a faster pace than before, which led to more possessions and more opportunities to score.