Kobe Bryant was a lethal scorer during the prime of his career. The epitome of Bryant’s scoring was felt by Jalen Rose and the Toronto Raptors in the 2005-06 season when he went off for 81 points in a single game.
Despite being on the receiving end of the brutal beating, Rose believes that game wasn’t the best performance by Kobe. Instead, he picked Bryant’s 62-point scoring outburst in just three quarters vs. the Dallas Mavericks in the same season as the Mamba’s best performance ever.
“The greatest thing about Kobe’s 81-point game was that actually wasn’t his best game to me,” Rose said, per the Los Angeles Times. “His best game was actually against a good team, the Dallas Mavs, when I think he had like 60 in three quarters.”
In the Dec. 2005 game vs. the Mavericks, Bryant scored 62 points in just three quarters. He also had 8 rebounds and 3 steals in the 112-90 win over the Mavs. Bryant sat out the entire fourth quarter and could have easily scored more.
By the end of three quarters, Kobe had 62 points, while the entering Dallas Mavericks team had 61 points. Keeping that in mind, it’s no surprise Rose picked that game as Kobe’s best performance ever.
Jalen Rose Opened Up Above Kobe Bryant’s 81-Point Game
Kobe Bryant had 81 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block vs. the Raptors on January 22, 2006. To this date, it remains the second-most points scored in a single game, only behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point performance.
Jalen Rose, who primarily defended Kobe Bryant in that game, once opened up about the legendary performance of the Mamba.
“January 22nd, 2006. The NBA world, almost, saw history and that’s when Wilt Chamberlain’s record was challenged. It was a rotisserie. It was a buffet of guys that were on Kobe Bryant. But it didn’t matter. My opinion and I said it multiple times during the game, how about we consider double-teaming him? As a matter of fact, triple teaming him… he never said a word. He never pointed and said, ‘It’s all about me.’ Never talked trash.”
Scoring 81 points in a single game is an insane achievement. But Kobe didn’t allow that to get to his head and remained throughout the game. If he had talked trash to his opponents, they may have played a more physical brand of basketball and the world could have been robbed of a legendary performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9NILK4OXpo
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