Reminiscing On The Legendary Kobe Bryant 81-Point Game – TBT #8
It’s January 22nd, 2006. The Los Angeles Lakers face the Toronto Raptors in a regular season NBA game. So far, the Lakers have 22 wins and 19 losses, while the Raptors amassed 14 wins alongside 27 losses throughout the season.
The game begins, and from the start, the Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant shows why he’s one of the best players in the league. He ends the 1st quarter with 14 points. Then, in the 2nd quarter he performs similarly to the 1st quarter, scoring 12 points. At half-time, the Lakers trail by 14 points, and even 26 points from Kobe isn’t enough to put them into the lead.
After half-time, Bryant completely dominates the game and scores 27 points in the 3rd quarter and 28 points in the 4th quarter, earning a 122-104 comeback win for the team from Los Angeles.
Bryant ends the game with 81 points on 28/46 shooting, with 7/13 from beyond the arc and 18/20 from the charity stripe in under 42 minutes. Thanks to this incredible scoring display, Kobe is 2nd on the all-time list of NBA players with the most points in a single game (Wilt Chamberlain is 1st with 100 points scored in one game).
Kobe’s 81-point game is undoubtedly one of the most mesmerizing and iconic moments in basketball history.
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