Kobe Bryant: Five Greatest Regular Season Games (w/ video)
By Daniel Tran
2. Kobe Bryant vs. the Portland Trail Blazers
March 16, 2007
Staples Center
Bryant’s Line: 65 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 8/12 3-point field goals
It would be an understatement to say that the Lakers had a couple of disappointing teams after Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were officially divorced from one another. During the 2005-06 season, the Lakers had a starting lineup that featured Chucky Adkins and Chris Mihm. Not exactly championship pieces, but Bryant finally had what he always wanted: being the lone star on the team. Unfortunately for Bryant, he quickly realized how much of a burden that was going to be.
By the 2006-2007 season, Bryant had already become adept at carrying a team by himself and was relatively successful, almost pushing the Lakers past the first round of the playoffs the season before. Whether it was necessary or not, Bryant was option one, two, three, and four for the Lakers.
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Despite Bryant averaging 30.2 points per game in the previous six games heading into their match-up against Portland, the Lakers were on a six-game losing streak. Bryant knew it would take a Herculean effort to get this mediocre team out of their funk. As Bryant usually does, he delivered in a huge way.
After attempting to get his teammates involved and yielding a scant 16-point return for the Lakers in the first quarter, Bryant decided to take matters into his own hands.
He would start the second quarter blazing hot, scoring the Lakers first 15 points on five of eight shooting from the field. He would finish the quarter with 19 points and give the Lakers the lead against the Trail Blazers 46-43 at halftime.
Even though he had 23 points at the half, Bryant knew what every Lakers fan knew: he needed to go bigger for the Lakers to win.
Bryant and Lakers were cold from the field in the third quarter, but the fourth quarter was when Bryant started cooking Portland. Bryant scored 22 points, going four for four from beyond the three-point line that included a game-tying bomb from 25-feet with 17.2 seconds to go.
In overtime, Bryant scored nine points with three of those coming from a mind-blowing three-point shot from the corner. Bryant would finish the game with 65 points and go on a ridiculous run of four consecutive games scoring 50 or more points. The Lakers won all four of those games. Go figure.