Today’s the 13th-anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s 81-point outburst, the second-highest single game total in NBA history.
Kobe Bryant has had a treasure chest of all-time NBA moments. Five championships, an MVP and numerous mythical scoring outputs. None were as dominant and magnificent as his 81-point performance against the Raptors in 2006.
Today is the 13th anniversary of that game and no one has come close to matching it since.
Devin Booker hit for 70 against the Celtics in 2017.
A night to remember.
Every bucket from Devin Booker's 70 POINT NIGHT!#WeArePHX pic.twitter.com/d4hhQZes0B
— NBA (@NBA) March 25, 2017
While Houston Rockets bucket-stuffer James Harden has recently enjoyed a scoring explosion where he’s joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only two players to score 30 or more points in 20 straight games, I’d still bet the house that Bryant is a superior offensive player. That night against the Toronto Raptors proves it.
Kobe had the second-highest single-game output in NBA history, behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point effort in 1962 that very few people actually witnessed. It was like a trip into the Twilight Zone for Raptors players, especially Jalen Rose, who’s now an elite ESPN analyst.
Today in 2006, Kobe Bryant scores 81 points against Jalen Rose and the Toronto Raptors; later the basis of this hilarious commercial. #TodayInSports #OTD @WorldWideWob #NBATwitter
pic.twitter.com/WKYKf5A4sL— TodayInSports (@TodayInSportsCo) January 22, 2019
Kobe torched Rose for 18 of those 81 points, hitting 6-of-11 shots from the field. Morris Peterson was the second most victimized defender giving up 17 points to Kobe on 6-of-13 shooting.
On that night, Kobe epitomize the word “unstoppable.”
