People like to try to minimize such an amazing game by Kobe by claiming the Raptors were terrible, but let's take a look at the guys on their
2005-06 roster.
[LIST=1][*]
Chris Bosh - 1x NBA champion, 7x All-Star, Toronto's all-time leading scorer, he was putting up 22.5/9.2/2.6 on 50.5% in 2005-06. Had 18/8/2 during the game.[*]
Jalen Rose - Led the Fab Five in scoring (19 PPG), a career-best 24/4/5 NBA player. 17/5/6 during the game.[*]
Matt Bonner - 1x NBA champion, 1x NBA 3PT% Leader, a decent role playe for his limited minutes.[*]
Jose Calderon - Toronto's all-time leader in assists, a career 10/2.5/7.2 player.[*]
Charlie Villanueva - Averaged 13/6.4/1.1 in 2005-06.[*]
Mike James - He was averaging 20.3/3.3/5.8 on 37 MPG and 79 games in 2005-06. He put up a nice double-double during the game. Led his team with 26 points, 10 assists, 2 steals on 66.7% FG, 75% 3PT.[/LIST]
Meanwhile Kobe had Odom and shit for teammates in 2006. Smush, Kwame, Mihm, Cook, George, Walton?
Other reasons Kobe's performance was so impressive:
[LIST][*]LA was
down by 14 at the half (TOR 63 - LAL 49). Kobe's insane run in the 2nd half ended the game with LA up by 18 (TOR 104 - LAL 122).
[*]He put up those 81 points on incredible
efficiency: 60.9% FG (28-46), 53.8% 3PT (7-13), 90% FT (18-20).
[*]He led
all 4 quarters in scoring; 1st- 14 pts, 2nd- 12 pts, 3rd- 27 pts, 4th- 28 pts
[*]He put on this insane scoring show with only
3 turnovers in the game. In comparison, Odom had 4 turnovers on his 8 points in that game. Two days before Kobe's 81-point game, LeBron was
losing to the Warriors and putting up 14 points on
6 turnovers and 5 for 22 shooting (22.7%) from the field.
[*]Kobe's advanced metrics during this game: 73.9 TS%, 23.0 AST%, 158 ORtg, 107 DRtg[/LIST]