More like anniversary of the day the raptors played like pansies, showed no balls and wouldn't hack a guy that was running up points like that. I am pissed ot this day that no one even bothered to play tough D on him, let alone hack him when he drove to the basket. In real basketball, when a guy is going off on you, you get an enforcer in there to knock him hard when he goes to the rim so that he'll think twice about doing it again. I don't care what anyone says, I watched the game live with my friends and we all agreed that there were a few plays where Kobe (and the rest of the Lakers) were clearly just running up points to chase a record. It is at that point that the Raps should have let him know that you don't let someone take a dump on your team, and fight back.
God i am so annoyed at this game still, worst basketball I've seen in years.
Thank you kwaj.
After I heard about it and looked at the boxscore, I didn't see highlights or the game and I hope to never, ever do it. Just straight-up shouldn't have happened, for even more reasons than listed by kwaj.
One of the greatest individual performances of all-time. Only person who even came close to Wilt's in game scoring record, and he's a 6'6 Shooting Guard!!! I still say if he got to play that whole Mavs game last year, he would have broke 90. Man, 81 points. Just ridiculous. Teaches kids to follow your dreams, and ALWAYS believe in yourself no matter what.
I still got to find a place I can buy this in high quality on DVD.
but leave out the fact that after they had the Raptors basically blown out at a 10+ point advantage he was still in the game padding stats.
Who cares, partna?! It's just a basketball game. Meant to be fun, for both fans and players. The media criticized the hell out of Kobe Bryant for taking himself out for a whole 4th quarter when he was sitting on 62 against the Mavericks. I still remember reading the venom filled article about it in ESPN the magazine. They said it was a selfish move, for not gratifying and pleasing the fans. Guess you can't have your cake, and eat it oo.
Bad defense, no enforcer or not, no one just goes out there and scores 81 points. If I put you in a 48 minute game, against a 1st grade girl's basketball team at the YMCA, YOU wouldn't be able to score 81 in a game. You have to respect him, and tip your hat off.
I'm sorry for any basketball "fan" that was even remotely mad or displeased with this performance. Still salty after all this time? Pathetic.
I love how you bring up the fact that the Lakers were down & that's why he went off for so many points but leave out the fact that after they had the Raptors basically blown out at a 10+ point advantage he was still in the game padding stats.
One of the greatest individual performances of all-time. Only person who even came close to Wilt's in game scoring record, and he's a 6'6 Shooting Guard!!! I still say if he got to play that whole Mavs game last year, he would have broke 90. Man, 81 points. Just ridiculous. Teaches kids to follow your dreams, and ALWAYS believe in yourself no matter what.
I still got to find a place I can buy this in high quality on DVD.
I don't know if you noticed, but being a shooting guard in today's NBA puts you in a much, much, much better position to score than it did in the past.
I don't know if you noticed, but being a shooting guard in today's NBA puts you in a much, much, much better position to score than it did in the past.
He's still only 6'6", and scoring 81 is incredible feat for a man in the NBA of that stature.
so what was ISH like the night of 81 (i wasnt here yet) ?
What a gong show that was.
Remember when AI got traded and everybody felt like they had to create their own thread? That day was worse. Shogun was terrible. He created like ten on his own. There were two or three pages worth of Kobe threads.
The day was loaded with stats. Ray Ray got 50 something that day. Nash had a 22 assist game that day. But none of that mattered. It was Kobe Bryant day.
a lot of people are criticizing kobe for staying in the game even if the lakers were already up by 10....but ask yourselves, if there was a chance for you to score 80 in an NBA game, wouldn't you take that chance? Im pretty sure that a lot of players in today's NBA would...another thing, about the no defense thing, Kobe was double teamed for most of the fourth quarter...the raptors just couldn't stop him....
He's still only 6'6", and scoring 81 is incredible feat for a man in the NBA of that stature.
It's impressive for a man of ANY stature. Using his size as something to add to the "OMG" factor of this game just makes it seem like you're trying to garner as much praise for him as possible instead of calling it like it is.
Kobe was not double teamed "most" of the 4th, in fact Sam was criticized for not doubling enough. Not to mention he had Matt Bonner guarding Kobe on a number of possessions. Matt freaking Bonner!? On Kobe?! Oy
It's impressive for a man of ANY stature. Using his size as something to add to the "OMG" factor of this game just makes it seem like you're trying to garner as much praise for him as possible instead of calling it like it is.
No, it certainly does make it just as impressive. The 2 people that scored even close to 81 was .... ummm .... Wilt Chamberlain and ..... Wilt Chamberlain. A 7'1, athletic man beast ahead of his time. Kobe was playing against players just as athletic, quick, etc. So there definetely is a more impressive factor to it. It's why some sports writers and columnist said it was more impressive than Wilt's feat.
Plus, this thread is for giving the performance as much praise as possible. What were you thinking?
Kobe was not double teamed "most" of the 4th, in fact Sam was criticized for not doubling enough. Not to mention he had Matt Bonner guarding Kobe on a number of possessions. Matt freaking Bonner!? On Kobe?! Oy
Why are you even in this thread, if you didn't like the game? We are here to celebrate it. For the enormous accomplishment that it was.
a lot of people are criticizing kobe for staying in the game even if the lakers were already up by 10....but ask yourselves, if there was a chance for you to score 80 in an NBA game, wouldn't you take that chance? Im pretty sure that a lot of players in today's NBA would...another thing, about the no defense thing, Kobe was double teamed for most of the fourth quarter...the raptors just couldn't stop him....
To add to this, it's the coaches decision if he wants that player to stay in the game. Phil could have easily yanked him. He didn't, so let Kobe do his thing.
