How in a top scoring game can the winning team have only 38 assists?

Answer 1

The question almost contradicts itself. Teams, on average, have around 20 assists a game. If a team has 38 assists, that is considered fairly high, and will most likely score a lot. A similar question would be if you asked "How can you have a lot of apples if you only have 14 apple trees?" Obviously, 14 apple trees is a lot and you will produce a lot of apples.

Either way, that is very possible. For instance, Kobe Bryant once scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors. Being a two guard, he can handle the ball very well. He doesn't need anyone to pass it to him, and can go coast to coast and score by himself. That's already 81 points. If the other players on the team score 40 points by themselves (i.e. a fastbreak in which they make layups or shoot pull-up three pointers) then that is already 120 points, with no assists needed.

Obviously, both of those cases are rare (scoring 60+ points and having 40+ fast break points). Games usually have around 20 fast break points and players score around 25-30 points a game if they are very talented.

The point is, 38 assists is a lot. You will most likely score a high amount with that amount as a team. However, you can score a high amount with very little assists as well, but it isn't as likely.