Twenty years ago, Kobe Bryant became a legend with 81 points!

“It’s blurry… It’s really very strange because I didn’t really understand what was going on.” Here she is what the deceased said Kobe Bryant a few years ago, for the 10th anniversary of the career record, 81 points against the Raptors.

It was January 22, 2006. Twenty years ago to the day. At the time, the Lakers (21w-19d) were barely average, but practically qualified for the playoffs, and faced the Raptors (14w-26d) at Staples Center for a regular-season matchup like any other. Between the two, no one imagines that this match will become legendary.

First half with “only” 26 points

Even at half time the game remains quite classic. The Raptors clearly dominate the Lakers, and Kobe Bryant scored “only” 26 points. After his daughter Natalia’s birthday, he spent the day in the hands of a physiotherapist to treat his knee. He is not at 100%, but he scores 26 points in one half. The Kobe Bryant of 2006 has never been so strong and dominant.

In the third quarter, Chris Bosh and his partners even had an advantage of 18 points (71-53) after two shots by Morris Peterson. And then the unbelievable happens. Kobe Bryant, the league’s leading scorer, then decides to put on his superhero cape and take the match into his own hands. 3 points, and 1, a dunk, everything goes… In the third quarter, he gives 27 points. One more than in the first half, and here it is already at 53 points.

A month earlier, he had already been scored 62 points on the Mavericks in three quarters ! But this time they will play the last quarter.

Phil Jackson wanted to release it…

He crossed the 60-point mark on a layup with 6:26 left in the game. The Lakers are now confident of victory, and the public remains amazed by the performance of their star. The mark of 70 points is reached in 3 points. Kobe Bryant then surpassed Michael Jordan with 69 points. With 4:26 remaining, he passed Elgin Baylor on the Lakers’ scoring list with 72 units to the former winger’s 71. Delighted like the fans, the announcer can’t help but announce to the public the records that fall one by one. On the bench, Phil Jackson plans to take him out…

“I wasn’t following his stats and I turned to my assistant and said I’d better kick him out. He said, ‘I don’t think you can do that. He’s at 77 points.’ So I left him until he reached 80 points. »

The author of 32 of the last 37 points of his team, Kobe Bryant ends his recital with a series of shots and scores 81 points! This is the second highest single performance in history behind Wilt Chamberlain’s famous 100 points (March 2, 1962). Like an emperor, or rather a gladiator, Kobe Bryant comes out with 4 seconds left, with his finger raised to the sky and to the cheers of the public chanting “MVP, MVP, MVP”.

Proof that “anything is possible”

After the game, which the Lakers won 122-104, Kobe Bryant even took the microphone and addressed the 18,997 spectators at the Staples Center. “It’s hard to talk. I never imagined this even in my dreams. It’s just one of those nights where anything can happen…” A hot, very fuzzy statement… Kobe Bryant undoubtedly realizes the enormity of his performance. His teammates know that it is a legendary game, so they will ask him to sign the statistics to keep everyone’s memory…

Ten years later, “The Black Mamba” will be much more talkative. “It might sound crazy to say, and I think most people will think it’s crazy, but scoring 81 points didn’t surprise me.” he explains on ESPN. “I hope people don’t take it as arrogance, but you have to understand that at my age, 27, in top physical shape, it wasn’t surprising.

For Kobe Bryant, his performance was simply proof that “nothing is impossible.” “When we are children, we have dreams, and even if they are crazy and full of imagination, we do our best. Because we believe that nights like this can happen. It is a form of testimony to the power of imagination. There are many players who did not even imagine that we can score 80 points. 50 points, we think about it. But, I never had a limit. I thought that 90 points is also possible 100 points.

Kobe Bryant podcast 81 points

A performance that would turn a superstar into a legend

This “game without limits” leaves us with unique statistics: 81 points on 28/46 shooting (at 61%), 7/13 on threes and 18/20 on throws, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Kobe Bryant was often unplayable for his opponents. But that night, he was just a little over the top. That toughness that takes you from superstar to legend. All against a defense focused solely on him…

“I faced a strong defense,” he remembers when he had Kwame Brown and Smush Parker as teammates. “For me, keeping two players in defense is like waving a white flag.”

Twenty years later, and nearly six years after his death, his 81 points remain a historic moment, etched in the marble of the NBA plaque and in the collective spirit. The work of a great scorer, five times, who became the fourth best scorer in history under Phil Jackson who thought he had seen it all with Michael Jordan…

“That’s not exactly the way you want your team to win a match,” the Zen master concluded. “But when you have to win, it’s great to have a weapon that can do it. I’ve seen some great matches before, but I’ve never seen anything like this.”

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The article was originally published in 2020