Damian Lillard has scored the most points in a game with fewer than 40 minutes played, with 71 points against the Rockets on February 26, 2023.

Interpreted as:

most points by a player under 40 minutes in a regular-season game

	NAME	PTS	MIN	DATE	TM		OPP	REB	AST	STL	BLK	FGM	FGA	FG%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	TS%	OREB	DREB	TOV	PF	+/-
1	Damian Lillard D. Lillard	71	39	2/26/2023	POR	vs	HOU	6	6	0	0	22	38	57.9	13	22	59.1	14	14	100.0	80.4	1	5	2	0	+21
2	Joel Embiid J. Embiid	70	37	1/22/2024	PHI	vs	SAS	18	5	1	1	24	41	58.5	1	2	50.0	21	23	91.3	68.5	9	9	1	2	+11
3	Giannis Antetokounmpo G. Antetokounmpo	64	37	12/13/2023	MIL	vs	IND	14	3	4	1	20	28	71.4	0	3	0.0	24	32	75.0	76.0	3	11	4	1	+29
4	George Gervin G. Gervin	63	33	4/9/1978	SAS	@	NOJ	2	1	2	1	23	49	46.9				17	20	85.0	54.5				3
5	Jerry West J. West	63	39	1/17/1962	LAL	vs	NYK	3	3			22	36	61.1				19	22	86.4	69.0				5
6	Devin Booker D. Booker	62	38	1/26/2024	PHX	@	IND	5	4	1	2	22	37	59.5	6	12	50.0	12	13	92.3	72.6	0	5	4	2	+1
7	Karl-Anthony Towns K. Towns	62	38	1/22/2024	MIN	vs	CHA	8	2	0	0	21	35	60.0	10	15	66.7	10	14	71.4	75.3	3	5	7	2	0
8	Stephen Curry S. Curry	62	36	1/3/2021	GSW	vs	POR	5	4	0	0	18	31	58.1	8	16	50.0	18	19	94.7	78.8	1	4	5	0	+20
9	Carmelo Anthony C. Anthony	62	39	1/24/2014	NYK	vs	CHA	13	0	0	0	23	35	65.7	6	11	54.5	10	10	100.0	78.7	1	12	0	1	+34
10	Kobe Bryant K. Bryant	62	33	12/20/2005	LAL	vs	DAL	8	0	3	0	18	31	58.1	4	10	40.0	22	25	88.0	73.8	3	5	2	3	+35
11	James Harden J. Harden	61	37	3/22/2019	HOU	vs	SAS	7	1	3	0	19	34	55.9	9	13	69.2	14	17	82.4	73.5	2	5	3	3	+18
12	Kobe Bryant K. Bryant	61	37	2/2/2009	LAL	@	NYK	0	3	0	1	19	31	61.3	3	6	50.0	20	20	100.0	76.6	0	0	2	1	+19
13	Karl Malone K. Malone	61	33	1/27/1990	UTA	vs	MIL	18	2	3	0	21	26	80.8	0	0		19	23	82.6	84.4	9	9	2	2
14	Damian Lillard D. Lillard	60	40	1/25/2023	POR	vs	UTA	7	8	3	0	21	29	72.4	9	15	60.0	9	10	90.0	89.8	0	7	4	1	+11
15	Kyrie Irving K. Irving	60	35	3/15/2022	BKN	@	ORL	6	4	4	1	20	31	64.5	8	12	66.7	12	13	92.3	81.7	2	4	1	3	+36
16	Karl-Anthony Towns K. Towns	60	36	3/14/2022	MIN	@	SAS	17	3	1	0	19	31	61.3	7	11	63.6	15	16	93.8	78.9	2	15	6	5	+16
17	Bradley Beal B. Beal	60	38	1/6/2021	WAS	@	PHI	7	5	1	0	20	35	57.1	7	10	70.0	13	15	86.7	72.1	4	3	4	3	-9
18	James Harden J. Harden	60	31	11/30/2019	HOU	vs	ATL	3	8	3	1	16	24	66.7	8	14	57.1	20	23	87.0	87.9	0	3	5	3	+50
19	Klay Thompson K. Thompson	60	29	12/5/2016	GSW	vs	IND	2	1	0	0	21	33	63.6	8	14	57.1	10	11	90.9	79.3	0	2	0	0	+37
20	Joel Embiid J. Embiid	59	37	11/13/2022	PHI	vs	UTA	11	8	1	7	19	28	67.9	1	5	20.0	20	24	83.3	76.5	1	10	5	3	+25
21	James Harden J. Harden	59	38	10/30/2019	HOU	@	WAS	3	9	1	0	18	32	56.3	6	14	42.9	17	18	94.4	73.9	1	2	4	3	+6
22	Russell Westbrook R. Westbrook	58	36	3/7/2017	OKC	vs	POR	3	9	3	1	21	39	53.8	3	9	33.3	13	16	81.3	63.0	1	2	4	4	+7
23	Michael Jordan M. Jordan	58	37	2/26/1987	CHI	vs	NJN	8	3	3	2	16	25	64.0	0	0		26	27	96.3	78.6	1	7	3	4
24	Julius Randle J. Randle	57	37	3/20/2023	NYK	vs	MIN	4	1	0	0	19	29	65.5	8	14	57.1	11	13	84.6	82.1	0	4	4	4	-6
25	Stephen Curry S. Curry	57	37	2/6/2021	GSW	@	DAL	2	5	1	0	19	31	61.3	11	19	57.9	8	8	100.0	82.6	0	2	3	3	+7