This time he played all four quarters
A month after tallying 62 points in just three quarters, Kobe Bryant put his name No. 2 on the all-time NBA single-game scoring list by dropping a ridiculous 81 points on the Raptors Sunday night, in a 122-104 Lakers win. Not since Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points over 40 years ago has the NBA seen a performance like this. Chamberlain scored 100 for Philadelphia against the New York Knicks at Hershey, Pa., on March 2, 1962. Now Kobe’s name resides second with 81 on Jan. 22, 2006 in Los Angeles.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Bryant told the Lakers website.
“We had four days off coming up and I would have been sick as a dog if we lost. It turned into something very special.”
Special doesn’t do it justice. Bryant drilled 28 shots from the field, including seven from three-point land and went 18-20 from the charity stripe. There are few words to describe that kind of line. The man himself had a tough time grasping it.
“I couldn’t even dream of this when I was a kid, not even in my dreams.” Bryant said. “It’s tough to explain, it just happened man.”
Kobe scored 55 points in second half alone. That’s more than anyone other than Kobe has scored in the NBA this season — for an entire game. The 55 were also just four shy of Chamberlain’s record for points in a half.