Image Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

On This Day: Kobe Bryant drops 81 points, second-highest point total of all time

“Not even in my dreams,” Bryant said after scoring a staggering 81 points on Jan. 22, 2006.

Image Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The month of January brings emotions for Kobe Bryant fans. The legendary NBA star passed away on Jan. 26, 2020, in a helicopter crash in California. Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant has produced extraordinary performances in his 20-year-long career and this month is also special for his all-time outburst.

Kobe Bryant scored 81 points on Jan. 22, 2006, against the Toronto Raptors to create an NBA history. Los Angeles Lakers legend guided his team to a 122-104 win over the Raptors. It was one of the most incredible moments in the history of the NBA.

Then-Lakers owner Jerry Buss described the Lakers-Raptors game in 2006 as “like watching a miracle unfold.” As per the NBA, Bryant’s 81-point game was the first and only professional game his grandmother had ever seen him play live.

Mamba mentality 🐍

Here’s all of Kobe’s 81 points vs. Toronto pic.twitter.com/GYn7KwXZZI
— NBA TV (@NBATV) August 24, 2020

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Second-highest total in NBA history

Kobe’s 81-point performance created history as it was the NBA’s second-highest point total of all-time, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain‘s 100-point game. On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a 169-147 win over the New York Knicks.

Toronto Raptors had a 14-point lead at halftime and they stretched it to 18 points in the third before Bryant’s outburst. Kobe scored a staggering 55 points in the second half, the second highest point total in a half in NBA history behind Chamberlain (59). His last 23 points came in the final nine minutes of the game.

Chris Bosh tells us a story about Kobe Bryant and his 81 point game.

Hes an underrated story teller, up there with Iman Shumpert and Chandler Parsons. pic.twitter.com/QAsov0e3xI
— Brandon (@clickthatfollow) April 14, 2024

There is another interesting story behind the Lakers-Raptors game. Kobe scored 62 points in three quarters against the Dallas Mavericks one month back. The Los Angeles superstar wasn’t allowed to play in the fourth quarter as the Lakers were ahead in the game. Kobe Bryant predicted to break his record in future and the legend completed the task within a month.

Kobe Bryant shot 28-for-46 (60.9 percent) from the field, 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from the three-point line, and 18-for-20 (90.0 percent) from the free-throw line. He also tallied 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and one block over 42-minute stay.

“Not even in my dreams,” Bryant said after the game. “That was something that just happened. It’s tough to explain. It’s just one of those things. It really hasn’t, like, set in for me. It’s about the `W,’ that’s why I turned it on. It turned into something special. To sit here and say I grasp what happened, that would be lying.”

Image Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

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A native of Jaipur, Rajasthan, journalist, and a complete soccer and basketball fan, he found the huge interest with basketball by watching videos of Allen Iverson and Tony Parker, but fell head over heels in love with the sport during the Warriors’ championship era (2015-2018). A sports game addict since his late PS1, he’s also passionate about the Eagles, Inter Miami and the Fever. He’s fortunate to have seen all his favorite teams win championships. He also has a special love for cricket and football (soccer), where he is a fan of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Barcelona.