This is the most insane thing I've ever typed on this blog: Kobe Bryant scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night.
Yeah. 81 points.
He was 28-for-46 from the field....including 7-of-13 from the three-point arc. He also hit 18-of-20 free throws. Oh, and for you haters out there....he did have 2 assists.
Only Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game in Hershey, PA in 1962 tops Kobe's mark. It is so amazing that Kobe's feat is in that Wilt category of scoring. Before the night started....Wilt owned the top FOUR scoring marks in NBA history. Now Kobe has #2. The #3 all time mark, Wilt scoring 78 points in 1961, took place in a game that featured 3 overtimes.
This, obviously, also set the Los Angeles Lakers record for points in a game.....breaking Elgin Baylor's mark of 71 set in 1960.
Kobe is now just the fifth player to score at least 70 points in a game....joining Wilt, Baylor, David Thompson and David Robinson. In Thompson's and Robinson's cases....those career games came on the final game of the season where they were trying to win scoring titles and were force fed the ball. Not a regular season game in the middle of the season.
Kobe scored 55 of those points in the second half....marking the 2nd best scoring half in NBA history.....second to Wilt's 59 in the second half of that 100 pt game.
That 55 pt second half is more points than any other NBA player has scored in an ENTIRE GAME!!! Yep. Allen Iverson scored 53 pts against Atlanta on December 23....one bucket less than what Kobe scored in the 2nd half!
There are now EIGHT games where someone scored 50+ points. Kobe has done it FOUR of those times. LeBron's done it twice; Iverson and Vince Carter have done it once each.
So far this season...there has been 88 times an NBA team hadn't scored at least 81 points in an entire game. The Minnesota Timberwolves, who played earlier in the day, scored just 84.
And what makes this even more sick....is that Kobe's season low was against the Raptors where he scored just 11 points in the Lakers' win.
Since there is no video footage anywhere of Wilt's 100 point game....this will become the definitive scoring game your eyes will feast on for a long time.
Well, that is until Kobe goes after that 100 mark. Hey, don't laugh that off!
FROM ENDORA60, a Utah Jazz fan:
Sorry about everything, Kobe
Excuse our language, but what the hell is going on right now? We didn't watch this game, despite having plenty of time to. Saw the headline this morning and we're actually visibly shaking.
Our love affair with hating Kobe Bryant is officially over as of this morning, washed away like ridiculous allegations from some young slut from Colorado.Washed away like so many silly jabs and pokes from the Big Getting Old.
Washed away like people washing their cars and saying, "man that Kobe Bryant can't wash a car as good as me."Washed away like a bunch of other stuff that we can't think of at the moment.
Kobe Bryant has done the impossible - he's made us happy for him, and he's made us want to root for him. Kobe Bryant is officially a legend.
15 comments:
a selfish player against a stinky team gets 81 points in a meaningless game. the mark of greatness is championship and mr bryant will never again win a championship as long as he is immature and only wants to score from behind the 3-point line. la's championships came on the back of shaq's big body.
when michael scored 60 the bulls usually lost especially against good teams.
wilt never won until he couldn't score or until he became a defensive player-it depends whom you want to believe. his greatest team was when he definitely was no longer a scoring threat.
mvp-kobe?you must be joking or you don't understand real basketball
cmb
I'm replying back just to let you know that you're wrong about your entry's sentence where you said "That 55 pt second half is more points than any other NBA player has scored in an ENTIRE GAME!!! Yep. Allen Iverson scored 53 pts against Atlanta on December 23....one bucket less than what Kobe scored in the 2nd half!" Allen Iverson scored a career high of 60 points against Orlando on february 12, 2005
Daniel Pierre
(pesdaniel2@aol.com)
Yes exactly correct. As of right now KOBE is the unanimous MVP of the league. If he plays half as good as he has played thus far he will run away with the award. Whoever doesn't think so, really doesn't know Basketball. By the way, the Championships were won in L.A. due to a solid team with a solid coach. I am sure Kobe will win another title or 2 before all is said and done. Now that he is the only superstar on the team, we can see all that he is capable of. GO KOBE....keep it up!!!
pesdaniel....I believe he was speaking about this season, if you read it correctly.
Kobe Bryant is all about Kobe Bryant. 81 points. Big deal. It was only The Raptors!
There is a problem when the next highest scorer for The Lakers has something like 13 points.
If Micheal Jordan had 81 points back in the day, that means Scottie would've had at least 50.Micheal had a whole team of big guns.Kobe doesn't have that and I think he likes that.
He knows he'll never win another ring without Shauq, so he's trying for MVP.
Like I said, I'm not impressed.
Thanks Kobe for finally giving life back to a sport who's pulse was slowly weakening. Like or not, when people tune in to watch NBA games they don't like to be lulled to sleep with a defensive struggle between teams like the Detroit Pistons (who I love) or the San Antonio Spurs. We love to see the superstars shine with awsesome feats of athleticism and superhuman effort. A great individual effort like that deserves all the exposure it is getting. And it's not like that only in Basketball. What was it that finally brought attention back to baseball a couple of years back. The homerun derby Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa put on during that record breaking season. And though even McGwire's homers didn't put his team in contention for the playoffs, it made it fun to watch again. Which brings us back to todays story. Keep doing your thing Kobe.
It's easy for all you Kobe haters to say "it was only the Raptors." In all the years of the NBA, only once has a player scored more than 81. ONCE! And there has been some really terrible teams out there (anyone remember the Cav's of the 70's and 80's?) Did Kobe take a lot of shots in that game? No doubt. Was he trying to make a statement? Probably was. But take a look at his percentages on field goals, 3 pointers and free throws, all very good. It was not a matter of putting up so many shots that you'd have to score a lot of points. I remember watching Wilt play in the 60's, and he rarely shot from more than 12 feet, with most being dunks or finger rolls. Few of Kobe's shots were close to the basket. I've always been a Laker fan, but lets face it, they are not going to win a championship this year. But Kobe has brought excitement back to the game. and Laker tickets are once again a hot item in Los angeles.
FOR ALL KOBE HATERS NOW U KNOW WHO'S THA BEST PLAYER IN NBA NOT LABRON NOT IVERSON NOT TRACY IT'SKOBE TIME
KOBE BRYANT scored 81 points and the haters still hating. That is the second highest point total ever in the NBA, and the LAKERS were down by 18 points at one time, down by 14 at the half. KOBE played within the flow of the game, his teammates took open shots, granted not all of them went in, but nevertheless they took them. It wasnt until the last minute or less that KOBE got a little greedy, but if YOU were that close to 80 points you wouldve done the same thing too. SO TO ALL THE HATERS, ADMIT THAT KOBE IS AWESOME AND WOULD BE A STARTER ON ANY TEAM IN THE NBA. KOBE has done what no other athlete has done since Wilt, and from what is being said, he was fed the ball at every opportunity.
Watch the game and you will see that when KOBE got going it made the whole team's defense better, and the LAKERS came back from 18 points to win.
Daniel,
I was referring to this season. As a Laker fan....I watched SHAQ put up 61 on the Clippers a few years back. This season, the highest non-Kobe scoring effort is Iverson's 53.
-Sportz
Wow, I think I'd kick my own ass if I ever admitted to being a Pistons fan, and then somehow saying that this incredible run they're on is somehow next to nothing compared to a one game performance. Colour me impressed. You know what I think is impressive? Jordan hanging 69 on a team during the PLAYOFFS. Well see if his hogness can hang half of that on the "boring" Pistons this week.
"See you in June."
so what . . . still four guys standing around
IT DOEN'T MATTTER IF YOU HATE KOBE OR NOT. LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT HE SCORED 81 POINTS. HE DID THAT ON 46 ATTEMPTS COMPARED TO 63 ATTEMPTS FOR WILT. YOU SAY THE RAPTORS ARE TERRIBLE, WELL WILT DID IT AGAINST THE KNICKS WHO WERE PLAYING WITHOUT THEIR CENTER. I'M A LAKER FAN AND ALWAYS WILL BE. I'M TIRED OF HEARING THAT KOBE WILL NEVER WIN ANOTHER TITLE WITHOUT SHAQ, WE'LL SHAQ NEVER ONE A CHAMPIONSHIP WITHOUT KOBE AND SHAQ I SHOOTING 18 PT. AVERAGE A GAME, A CAREER LOW. SO QUIT CRYING KOBE HATERS, GET A LIFE. GO LAKERS!!!!!! GO KOBE!!!!!
Hey deadhead. If you read what I said you will notice I never dissed the Pistons and what they are doing. But you know as well as I do their style of play (effecient as it is) is very boring. No one really wants to see that type of basketball other than their fans. Think about this. What Kobe did upstaged two NFL conference championship games. On every sports channel that day the lead in story wasn't the football games, it was the amazing feat that dude did. By the way if the 69 points you are speaking of by King Jordan was his game against the Celtics...you do realize he lost that game to Larry Legend and his boys right?
WOw over 50% excluding is 90% Free throw avarage!
Not important really when you think about it though. If a musician played 50% of his notes right you wouldnt buy it. It would SUCK. What he gets paid for shooting 52% on a good day, could save the music programs in 50 schools. where those kids CAN play better that 80% IF NOT 100% and that is thier best day.
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