Kobe Bryant: Highlight Video of Record Breaking Night

It was easily Kobe Bryant’s best game in two years.  Yes, he spent most of last season injured.  Every rep of every exercise was a test of his will to continue with his NBA career.  Everyone asked, “Will Kobe Bryant ever be the same?”

Although it’s early in the season, Kobe Bryant showed he has plenty in the tank.  Want to take a stab at how many minutes he played tonight?  The answer is a number greater than 41. Even without overtime, he would have had a normal, All-Star’s minutes with over 35 minutes played.

Kobe Bryant did a stellar job of blending his playmaking abilities with his scoring.  There have been a limited number of times where he looked under control of taking over a game.  He does that easily with his scoring.  It’s not as easy for him when it comes to spreading the ball around for teammates.

How well did he do?  Four Laker players took exactly 11 shots.  Another Laker player took 15.  Yes, Kobe Bryant took 24 shots to lead the team, but he did it in a manner of picking his spots.  He picked about the Toronto Raptor defense with his post position. It seemed perfectly split between hitting his teammtes for an open shot as well as creating a shot for himself.

The Lakers had a chance to win the game late.  Unfortunately, he shot 9 of 13 from the line.  If there was a statistical benefit to overtime, it was the fact that he earned a triple double, on the night where he had over 30,000 career points, but also broke 6,000 career assists.

As a whole, the Lakers shot 49% from the field, 41.7% behind the arc, and had 24 assists on just 10 turnovers.  On almost every night, that will get it done.

Tonight, he took over the game.

Something tells me, it’s a glimpse of things to come.