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Kobe's 81


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I didn't get to see it live. I was out that night, and turned on Sportscenter just as they were about to repeat the episode. As the screen was going black I thought I saw 'Kobe: 81pts' underneath video of him walking off the court with his finger pointed to the sky, but I thought I was mistaken. Once the next SC came on directly after that, I saw what happened and was stunned. I NEVER thought a player would score over 80pts ever again. Definitely the greatest scoring achievement in NBA history IMO, and one of the top 5 performances of all-time.

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I was at home, and I watched it from beginning to end. I remember being disgusted at halftime, as we were on our way to a blow out and Kobe was the only one playing well for us. And then it happened. Kobe started going nuts, and slowly the rest of our team started playing better. The defense got better the more he scored, the crowd got into it, and Kobe's scrub team mates (Chris Mihm, Smush Parker, Devean George, Kwame Brown) started playing like decent players.

 

It's insane to think that after a 27 point third quarter, it was still a close game. It was a 18 point lead for the Raptors at about 8 minutes into the third, and to end the quarter the Lakers were only up 6 points. 27 points in one quarter was crazy, and to follow it up with a 28 fourth quarter performance? It was the single greatest performance I've seen from any NBA player, ever.

 

I can't believe it's already been five years since it's happened. I have the game on DVD thanks to BALF, and still watch it every now and then.

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I didn't get to see it live.

I was in the same boat.

 

I got a call from a friend, and he told me to turn it to the Lakers game...and it wasn't being televised, and I didn't have League Pass. So I ran to NBA.com and found an audio link to the game, and I listened to it the rest of the way (he was in the 60's when I first put it on).

 

And, yeah Kyle, Farhan hooked me up too. I still have the DVD somewhere.

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I was doing my homework when my brother told me Kobe was dominating in the third quarter, that's when I started watching. Luckily I was able to catch one of the million replays of the game later on.

 

55pts in a full game of regulation for Dwyane Wade ( 2nd best SG of the decade) would match his career high-single game scoring mark. Kobe Bryant went for 55pts in one half of NBA basketball... just 24 minutes. I just thought that needed to be said.

 

About 3 weeks before this he scored 62 against the Mavs, who only went on to make the Finals that year, only he did it in three quarters and sat out the 4th altogether. In terms of dominant perimeter scorers, nothing tops Kobe in '06.

 

I do think a case could be made that 62 points against the Mavs was just as, if not more impressive than his 81 point performance. The Lakers need almost every one of the points Kobe scored to win that game against the Raptors. In his 62 point performance against the Mavs the game was already over by the end of the 3rd. That Mavs team was far better of an opponent as well (went on to the Finals that year). It was just complete domination from the start.

 

And I think if anyone were in Kobe's position, they would do the same if it was in their power. That team was garbage, Kobe got so frustrated with them, no one was capable of creating their own shot. I bet if Jordan had the power to take over a game like that when he was on the Wizards, he would've done so.

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shoulda scored 101...i dont think we will see defense that bad again for a while lol

 

but easily a top 5 performance of all time, clearly 2nd best scoring achievement (arguably 1st if u wanna talk positions and era and shot chart)

Edited by Clutch
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55pts in a full game of regulation for Dwyane Wade ( 2nd best SG of the decade) would match his career high-single game scoring mark. Kobe Bryant went for 55pts in one half of NBA basketball... just 24 minutes. I just thought that needed to be said.

Kareem's high is 55 as well.

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This was the reason why i started following Kobe & the Lakers in general. It was all over the news over here and since i already liked basketball i started watching Lakers game replays from raptorsnation and downloading torrents. The more i watched L.A play, the more i started to enjoy them.

 

81 happened exactly 5 years ago in a couple of days. The best scoring performance in the history of the game.

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i will always remember this game for ending Laron Profit's NBA career

 

and Smush Parker saying that he was more impressed with the team's defense than Kobe's 81 points after the game

 

:)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wY6tlEv4Ff4/S7K-XW-LPeI/AAAAAAAAALQ/6YgACup1iaE/s1600/Funny+NBA+photo+of+Smush+Parker+getting+groped+by+Shawn+Marion.JPG

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I was actually playing basketball that night, so I missed the first half. When I came home my dad was talking mad smack about how the Lakers were losing to the Raptors. At half Kobe only had 26 points which was anything special, I was just hoping for a Lakers win at that point. The second half started with a bang and Kobe really started to take control of the game and that's when I began to feel like something special was going to happen. I remember being really angry at all the people who were at Staples and witnessed this performance firsthand lol. It was the single greatest performance I had ever seen and will probably ever see.

 

After the game finished I texted some of my close friends (most of which are big time Kobe haters), and bragged about his performance. All the haters at that point could say was that he was a ballhog. I think that night I watched the highlights on ESPN atleast 5-6 times lol, it was just that exciting. I remember when I went to school the next morning there were a whole bunch of Kobe jerseys.

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Oh please. It was against a terrible defense in the Raptors. And I can't even imagine how much shots he had to rack up.

 

46 FGA, 13 3 pointers attempted, 20 FTA. Totaled, 79 shots, to get 81 points. That's not good.

n the same day AI had 39 points :D

Edited by AllenIverson#1fan
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46 FGA, 13 3 pointers attempted, 20 FTA. Totaled, 79 shots, to get 81 points. That's not good.

n the same day AI had 39 points :D

Hate to break it to you, but FGA already take into account the threes attempted. And, when you speak of "how many shots it took," you don't include the free throws because they aren't a part of determining a player's efficiency, in that manner.

 

There are many bad defenses in the NBA, every season. When have you seen a player, other than Bryant, score more than 62 points? I know you were too young to see Jordan's 69 or 64, D-Rob's 71, and besides Bryant's 81, 65 and 62, there's nobody else that has done it. And that's just asking for anyone scoring over 62 points.

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i think malone score 61 pts in 33 minutes once, with like insane efficiency

Yep, it was back in the early 90s against the Bucks, shot 21-26 FGA and around 20 FTA (don't remember that number).

 

But, I listed "more than 62" because he may have seen McGrady drop 62 in 2003 or 2004, whenever that was.

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I didn't watch that game live, they didn't broadcast it in France and I didn't have a computer at the time... I don't think that I would have watched it live if I had anyhow cause Raptors-Lakers was not really the kind of matchup that I wanted to watch at the time...

 

So I heard about it the following day. And I have to say that I was literally amazed I really couldn't believe it. I didn't think that a player could score more than 80 pts again, that Chamberlain would remain the only player to ever do it.

 

I also remember at the time that, if most people were amazed as well, there were many people who criticized it. Saying that this kind of things shouldn't happen in a collective game. That it was even really pathetic... And I sure didn't (and still don't) understand this kind of reaction. I mean even if I understand where those people were coming from, basketball is first of all a collective game and I prefer to watch a great team work than a great individual performance but it's still amazing nonetheless, it's just outstanding and it has definitely to be considered as one of the greatest performances ever. No I don't understand how a basketball fan cannot enjoy what Bryant did that day...

 

So yeah it's definitely one of the best scoring performances ever, no doubt about that. However I don't think that it is the greatest one. Because it happened in the regular season, against a team that had a horrible defense... Don't get me wrong it is really outstanding no matter if the opponent has a weak defense or not (we're talking about something that only two players in the NBA history have done..). But we also have to consider the fact is that the regular season and the playoffs are totally different. The playoffs is just another level, it's the "crème de la crème" of basketball, there is nothing better than the NBA playoffs in the World. And that is why I always give more weight to the NBA playoffs records. And why I think that the most impressive scoring records in one game are IMO Jordan's 63 pts in 86 (especially that it was against the mighty Celtics who were on their way to the ring), Jordan's 55 pts in the game 4 of the 93 Finals (second best scoring performance in the Finals, the first one was Baylor (61 pts) in 62 but it was in another era...) and Jordan's 54 pts in the game 4 of the 93 ECF (against the Knicks huge defense). Barkley's 56 pts against the Warriors in 94 was outstanding as well (38 pts in the first half). And let's not forget about Jordan's 35 pts in one half against the Blazers in the game 1 of the 92 Finals (most points ever in one half in the Finals), probably the most impressive scoring performance in one half ever.

 

But Bryant's performance that day is definitely among the very best scoring performances ever, certainly the greatest scoring performance in the regular season (a case could be made for Wilt's 100 though, but it was another era).

Edited by Oliver P
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