Gilbert Arenas was a lethal scorer during the prime of his career. One of the best performances by Agent 0 was against the legendary Kobe Bryant in 2006.
Arenas scored 60 points vs. the Los Angeles Lakers and led the Washington Wizards to a 147-141 win on December 17, 2006. In a 2021 interview with Vlad TV, Arenas shared his hilarious reaction to dropping 60 points against Bryant.
“After the game, we walk into the locker room,” Arenas said. “We bring the huddle in, and I walk in late like, ‘Yo! I just scored f*****g 60 bro, 60 on f*****g Kobe Bryant!’ And the coach says, ‘And we won the game.’ [to which Arenas immediately replied] ‘Man, f**k that game! You know how much p***y I’m going to get now?!?!? I’m on Iverson level, I’m getting all the girls!! You all can’t tell me nothing now!!”
(Starts at 2:20)
Arenas was on cloud nine after scoring 60 points against Bryant. Gil also had 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 blocks to his name. He shot 17-32 from the field and went 21-27 from the free throw line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLFT2KsU_7E
On the other hand, Kobe Bryant had 45 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block while shooting 15-24 from the field and 8-10 from the charity stripe. It was one of the rare games where Bryant’s performance was overshadowed by another player.
Gilbert Arenas On Scoring 60 Points vs. Kobe Bryant
Gilbert Arenas’ 60-point performance vs. Kobe Bryant is etched in the NBA history books. It will be remembered as one of the greatest scoring performances by a player during the 2000s.
But what was Arenas’ thought process during that game? Well, the former Wizards star credited Bryant for bringing out the best out of him.
“Going into the game, there’s a video of me talking like, I’m watching him, and I’m like, ‘Man, that man’s a bad man,'” Arenas said. “You see how hard he goes? Like, man. So it was already like built in cause I’ve always had great games against Kobe. He just brings that out of you. So once I got to cooking, I already knew he was gonna guard me. From there, it’s just who can sustain it the longest.
“We had a nice little lead on them, and then Kobe do what Kobe does and he starts willing them back. But at that point, I’m on fire, so it’s basically who is gonna stop who. I didn’t have to guard him, so I wasn’t losing no energy.”
Arenas used Kobe’s mentality against him. He devised a strategy that made Bryant use energy on both ends of the court while he was only focusing on scoring. Either way, taking such a gamble against one of the greatest players of all time takes serious guts, and Arenas certainly had them.
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