One of the most famous moments of Kobe Bryant’s career came on January 22nd, 2006, when he dropped 81 points against Jalen Rose and the Toronto Raptors.
To this day, it stands as the second most points ever scored in a game and also one of the finest performances of Bryant’s life. Even now, years later, fans are still thinking about that game and the guy who allowed it to happen.
Things have gotten so bad that even Jalen Rose’s daughter, Mariah, is getting some heat. In a now-viral TikTok, she responded to the trolls who kept flooding her social media with comments.
“Let me get close to y’all to say this… me, personally, I wouldn’t take the disrespect of somebody scoring 81 on my head. I would fake an injury. ‘Ah, my knee!’ ‘Ah, my shoulder!’ They’re wheeling me out, all the dramatics, full LeBron-line performance out there. Nobody is scoring 81 points on me. If I have to could out, if I have to punch Kobe straight in his head, hell no. So this, this ain’t me. I’m not gracefully enough to sit there and take 81 points.”
Twitter used to harass Jalen Rose daughter with “81” tweets lmaooo pic.twitter.com/v1tPUYcspE
— JT (@ThatDamnJosh_) August 4, 2022
It’s a pretty funny clip from Mariah, and fans were clearly having a good laugh at her reaction to the 81-point game. Unlike Jalen, who toughed it out and absorbed every bit of Kobe’s fury, she would have taken herself out of the game as soon as things got out of hand.
Then again, pulling all of that off during a live game is a whole lot easier said than done. Kobe was just a different animal, and he was on something crazy for that game. You can’t blame Jalen for being on the wrong side of Kobe’s best night — nobody could have stopped him.
