Kobe had a rolodex of highlights to select from, but one that fans love to point out is the night he scored 81 against the Toronto Raptors. A night that wasn’t supposed to turn out the way it did as both teams were struggling heading into the matchup.
It was a Sunday game which meant there was little attention on the NBA with NFL football in play, and with the 14-27 Raptors rolling into town many people were not expecting to see a night which ended up in the history books forever.
The game didn't start off great for the Lakers as they went down early. The Raptors lead at halftime 63-49 and it seemed that they were in the driver’s seat. Although Kobe already had 26 points by halftime it wasn’t nearly enough for the Lakers to keep contending.
Then Kobe went into Mamba mode.
He dropped 27 points in the 3rd quarter and the Lakers outscored Toronto 42-22 in that frame and Kobe wasn’t done there as he added 28 points in the 4th quarter.
What’s even more remarkable is Lakers coach Phil Jackson almost took him out of the game with the Lakers already having secured the victory, but after some deliberation he decided to let him play until 4.3 seconds left and subbed him out to people in the crowd chanting MVP, MVP.
Kobe later revealed that this game was the first and only professional game his grandmother had ever seen him play live.
Although Jalen Rose catches a lot of the flack he only had 18 scored on him.
Rose has it so bad there is this infamous commercial of him catching Kobe at a restaurant.
Here are some former Raptors talking about that happened that fateful night.
Kobe hadn’t watched the game for years and was live tweeting throughout it in 2013.
In classic Kobe fashion he could merely reflect on the shots he missed, stating he should’ve had more points!
Kobe was quoted when asked if he ever imagined accomplishing something such as this: "Not even in my dreams…that was something that just happened. It’s tough to explain. It’s just one of those things."
The legend of Mamba lives on forever <3
