Take 81
By: Peyton Schultze
In one of the most iconic moments in the history of the NBA, Kobe Bryant put up 81 points on 46 total shot attempts on January 22nd, 2006.
28 field goals on 46 attempts. A 60.9% field goal percentage. 7 of 13 from the three-point line. 18 of 20 from the free throw line. 41 minutes. 81 points. And one of the most iconic performances in the history of the National Basketball Association.
What Kobe Bryant did on January 22nd of 2006 is purely stunning to look back, even so many years later in the high-scoring modern NBA. A true basketball exhibit put on by Bryant and something that has practically been unmatched in NBA history, Kobe solidified his status as one of the game’s greats on that fateful night against the Toronto Raptors with an unbelievable 81 points. And on the 13th anniversary of The Black Mamba’s stunning career moment, we revisit not only the 2nd highest scoring outing in NBA history, but the performance that practically sealed the mythological legacy of one of the league’s best players of all time.
Mamba Moment: Kobe’s scoring outburst ranks second among the best scoring performances in NBA history.
Coming into their game at home against the struggling Toronto Raptors, Kobe and the Lakers were trying to overcome their own hurdles and stay in the thick of the playoff hunt in the deep Western Conference. At 21-19, the Lakers had been rather mediocre thus far, despite Bryant’s superb scoring efforts that season (he would finish averaging 35.4 PPG in the 2005-2006 regular season). Kobe and the Lakers sledged through the beginning of the season up until that point, and needed some kind of momentum to build quickly.
To understand just how huge and epic Kobe’s performance would end up being, the NFL had two conference championship playoff games that would determine the two spots in Super Bowl XL. With Pittsburgh and Seattle eventually advancing to the Super Bowl before the Lakers and Raptors tipped off at 6:30 at the STAPLES Center in downtown Los Angeles, few expected a late-night Sunday basketball game to garner any type of highlights other than on the back end of ESPN’s nightly SportsCenter recap of the day’s national sporting events.
But that was part of Kobe Bryant’s legacy. Not only could Bryant essentially steal the show on a nightly basis with his athletic dominance, but could generate a surplus of viewers to tune in to see what his nightly theatrics on the stage of a basketball court would be like. And did he ever on that Sunday night. Yes, the Super Bowl matchup was indeed decided previously on that same day, but who really cared when people started to realize they were witnessing pure greatness in the form of the 2nd highest single game scoring performance of all time?
Kobe was not originally on pace for 81 points after 26 in the first half, but would put up 55 points in the second half to lead the Lakers to a huge comeback victory.
Yet the Lakers did not start off red-hot by any means. Although Bryant would put up 26 first half points, the Lakers would go into the half trailing 63-49 with a mediocre first half effort from the role players of Los Angeles. The Lakers needed this win over the terrible Raptors, but simply could not find a way to break through in the first half. Something needed to happen, or a fire needed to be lit into somebody if the Lakers wanted to comeback and secure a crucial mid-season win.
Yet luckily for the Lakers, perhaps nobody in league history was more willing to accept a challenge of this magnitude other than Kobe Bryant. Kobe was a three-time champion up to this point and was certainly a superstar in the league, but was simply gaining the reputation around the league as someone who could only win with former center, Shaquille O’Neal, or was too selfish with the ball in his hands. But Kobe was still known as someone who could single handedly take over any game when asked to, and his number 8 white jersey would be called upon to deliver a superhuman effort for the Lakers to pick up their 22nd win of the regular season.
Going into the second half down by 14, Kobe would begin to become even more aggressive than he was in the first half. Taking 15 shots and making 11 of them (including four of four from behind the arc), Kobe helped the Lakers storm back and take a 91-85 lead heading into the 4th. Kobe, now with 53, looked hungry and was at full strength heading into the last quarter of regulation.
Bryant was able to put up 28 in the fourth quarter to seal an 81 point game for the then-27-year old Los Angeles superstar.
Throughout the years, Kobe displayed a knack for being able to rise on the biggest stage on his way to becoming one of the game’s best to ever play. With that being said, the Black Mamba also provided some of the largest scoring outbursts in NBA history, with one of them coming several weeks prior. On December 20th, Bryant and the Lakers faced the Dallas Mavericks, where Los Angeles rolled throughout the contest. However, Bryant would single handedly score 62 points, outscoring the entire Mavs’ roster before being taken out after the 3rd quarter at Bryant’s own request. Although he had reached a scoring milestone, Kobe knew that he would have other opportunities down the line to score even more than he did on that December night.
However, only Kobe can know if he knew that he would score so many again just in the next month. Behind a 28 point fourth quarter by Bryant in which he went seven of fifteen from the field (12-13 at the line), Los Angeles was able to secure a final score victory of 122-104 over the Raptors behind 81 total points from Kobe. The performance still stands today as the second highest single game scoring performance of all time behind Wilt Chamberlain, and remains as impressive as ever thirteen years later.
In his illustrious 20 year career, Bryant has his fair share of iconic moments, but few as notable as his 81 point performance in 2006.
Throughout the years since then, there have been many talented scorers that strive to reach eighty in one game. Players like Stephen Curry and James Harden certainly have the potential in this day and age of three ball spectacles, yet have been unable to reach that landmark number set by Bryant at 81. One day, a player may be able to get up near that number, but Kobe’s place in NBA history is all but set. 81 may not be reached for a long time, and the show by Kobe is one that stands as an iconic Laker moment and one of the most recognizable and significant performances in the history of the league.
“You’re sitting and watching, and it’s like a miracle unfolding in front of your eyes and you can’t accept it.”