Has an NBA game ever ended 81-80?

Yes. NBA has seen a final score of 81-80 21 times. It first happened on January 23, 1949, when Rochester Royals beat Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons, and most recently on November 14, 2009, when Miami Heat beat New Jersey Nets.

Where 81-80 sits among nearby NBA scores. Deeper blue means a score has happened more often; the outlined cell is the new one.

That makes 81-80 the 953rd most common final score out of 3,190 that have ever occurred in NBA. One point away, 82-80 has happened 23 times and 81-81 has happened never. Nearly all of its occurrences fall between 1980 and 2009. At one point the score disappeared for 29 years, between 1956 and 1985.

Every 81-80 in NBA history

Date	Result	Season
2009-11-14	Miami Heat over New Jersey Nets	2009
2006-02-01	Dallas Mavericks over Memphis Grizzlies	2005
2005-02-13	Houston Rockets over Portland Trail Blazers	2004
2004-12-09	Houston Rockets over San Antonio Spurs	2004
2004-03-01	Memphis Grizzlies over San Antonio Spurs	2003
2003-11-25	Washington Wizards over Portland Trail Blazers	2003
2003-11-23	New Orleans Hornets over Detroit Pistons	2003
2003-11-22	Toronto Raptors over New Jersey Nets	2003
2003-01-12	San Antonio Spurs over Boston Celtics	2002
2003-01-03	Cleveland Cavaliers over Toronto Raptors	2002
2002-12-21	Portland Trail Blazers over Seattle SuperSonics	2002
2002-03-27	Toronto Raptors over Miami Heat	2001
1999-04-16	San Antonio Spurs over Portland Trail Blazers	1998
1998-01-06	Phoenix Suns over Indiana Pacers	1997
1994-11-17	Cleveland Cavaliers over Portland Trail Blazers	1994
1985-11-06	San Antonio Spurs over Washington Bullets	1985
1956-11-07	Rochester Royals over Philadelphia Warriors	1956
1952-02-23	Baltimore Bullets over Syracuse Nationals	1951
1949-12-29	Chicago Stags over Anderson Packers	1949
1949-03-09	St. Louis Bombers over Indianapolis Jets	1948
1949-01-23	Rochester Royals over Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons	1948

Open the NBA grid at 81-80