Sport-Blog.com

By now everyone has heard of the monster game that Kobe Bryant put together for the Lakers Sunday night. The superstar and NBA scoring leader on the season struck for 81 points for the game, 55 of those in the second half, as the Lakers thrashed the Toronto Raptors.

Bryant went 28 for 46 from the floor (that's right 46 shots taken) including 7 for 13 from the three point line and hitting 18 of 20 foul shots. Bryant also grabbed 6 rebounds, had 3 steals and a block.

When it comes to the NBA mark for most points, the 81 ranks second all time to the famous 100 point night for Wilt Chamberlain while playing for Philadelphia against New York on March 2, 1962. Seventy plus points had been scored a total of 8 times in NBA history, with Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, David Robinson, and David Thompson all topping the 70 point mark previously. Of the 8 games of 70 points, Chamberlain had five of them, with his second best outing being 78 points. Ironically that was against the Lakers back on December 8, 1961, in a game that went three overtimes.

In fact, when it comes to big scoring numbers, Kobe's 81 is second all-time but he has a long way to go to make headway on Wilt. Though many are now wondering if Kobe could go for 100 some day, it is interesting to note that Chamberlain went for 65 points or more a total of 15 times in his career. Kobe's 81 is his first such game of that magnitude. Another way of understanding where Wilt fits in is that here have been 21 games in NBA history where a player has gone for 65 points or more, 15 by Wilt and 6 other such games by 6 different players (Bryant, Baylor, Robinson, Thompson, Pete Maravich, and Michael Jordan).

But also to put the number in perspective, there have been 88 instances this season where a team did not score as many as 81 points in a game. In addition, Bryant outscored the Raptors himself in the second half, his 55 points topping the entire Toronto output (41).

Indeed it was a special game by an enormously talented player who has folks once again thinking the unthinkable, that another 100 point game just might be possible.