With Kobe Bryant set to pass Michael Jordan tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves, it gives us the chance to reminisce on all the points we’ve watched Bryant score. Certainly there’s been many buzzer-beaters, more dunks, and even more of his patented mid-range fade-away jumpers.
In an effort to spark the memory banks, we take a look back at some of Bryant’s most memorable points scored. Remember, this is singular points. While his 81 point game is his greatest accomplishment and moment, there wasn’t a singular point that was particularly memorable.
I’ve also excluded milestone points – 30,000th point, basket to become Lakers all-time leading scorer – as you could make a list of just those baskets as well.
With all that settled, let’s take a trip down memory lane and relive some of Bryant’s greatest buckets.
10. Dunk on Dwight Howard vs. Magic
In reality, this play has become more popular since Howard left the Lakers as a highlight for Lakers fans, but even at the time, it was an absolutely vicious posterizing dunk. Even from the get-go of his career, Bryant had the upper hand on Howard.
9. Dunk on Steve Nash vs. Suns
Apparently, those who Bryant dunks on later become teammates. This time, Nash was the victim during a 2006 playoff game. It was arguably the pinnacle of Bryant’s scoring ability and the “7 Seconds Or Less” Suns teams, giving us some of the most memorable playoff series, which we’ll look at later on this list.