Most Common NBA Final Scores: Exact Results From 30,930 Games

If you've followed my basketball betting tips, you know I start with pace and efficiency, not exact results. Correct-score markets still tempt people, though, so I wanted a straight answer: how often does any one NBA final score actually land? This study counts every regular-season, play-in and playoff game from 2002-03 to 2025-26, which comes to 30,930 games.

The headline answer is humbling. Across the last five seasons the most common final score was 114-106, and it came up in just 0.4% of games, which works out to fair odds of 254.04. Those 6,605 recent games produced 1,538 different winner-loser scores. In basketball, the exact score is closer to a lottery ticket than a read on the game.

Period 1114-106 leads the recent list at 0.4%

This table covers the window that matters now, 2021-22 to 2025-26. 114-106 leads with 26 games, then 119-115 and 113-104, both at 0.3%. Look at the per 1,000 column: the top score shows up 3.9 times per 1,000 games, and the tenth, 119-109, still manages 2.7.

That flatness is the point. No score in the table stands clear of the others, and fair odds run from 254.04 at the top to 366.94 at number ten. There's no standout score worth chasing, only a crowd of near-identical long shots.

Notice how many of these scores sit in the 113 to 119 range for the winner. That fits modern pace, and it's the one useful clue in the table: the band matters far more than the exact number.

Period 2Even the top 100 scores cover under a quarter

Here I stack the most common scores to see how much of the season they capture. The ten most common together account for only 3.1% of recent games. The top 25 reach 7.0%, and even the top 100 stop at 22.5%.

Compare that with football, where a handful of scores take a big chunk of every season. In the NBA, 473 of the recent scorelines happened only once. The distribution has a very long tail, and most of the action lives in it.

My honest caveat belongs here. When outcomes are this spread out, a few dozen games can shuffle the rankings, so I treat every fair price in this study as a rough guide, and none of them include the bookmaker's margin.

Period 3114-106 also tops the full record since 2002-03

Over all 30,930 games, 114-106 again comes out on top with 74 games, or 0.2%. The chasing pack is almost level: 104-101 and 105-98 both sit on 73. Across the whole record, 2,456 different winner-loser scores were recorded.

Look at the scores, though. Most of this list is pre-boom basketball, built on results like 105-99 and 99-94. 114-106 is the only one that also fits today's game, which is why it tops both lists.

The note on the chart says it plainly: no exact NBA score reaches 1% of games. That holds whichever era you pick.

Period 4Winning and losing scores have climbed roughly twenty points

This is why I split out a recent window. The average winning score rose from 100.5 in 2002-03 to 121.8 in 2025-26. The average losing score went from 89.8 to 108.4. The jump picks up in the later 2010s and hasn't reversed.

The effect on exact scores is stark. From 2002-03 to 2010-11 the most common result was 97-92, with 41 of 11,744 games. In the recent window it happened only 4 times. Any all-time frequency table is partly describing a sport that no longer exists.

For me this is the real lesson. Pace and shot profile set the scoring band, and the band drifts season to season. Stale samples will quietly mislead you on any market tied to the score.

Written byMarcus Bennett

I'm Marcus Bennett, and I handle basketball betting tips at correct-score.vip — leaning on pace, matchups and efficiency rather than gut feeling.

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