Vs. Washington Wizards – March 28, 2003
When talking about Kobe’s performances against the Bulls, we talked about that being the torch-passing moment in 1997 with Kobe against Michael Jordan. However, it was only the first of those moments. The last of them came on March 28, 2003 in Jordan’s final game against the Lakers. Though MJ was on his last legs in the league, that didn’t stop Kobe from emphatically making the statement that this was his league to dominate.
Kobe and Jordan each played 41 minutes in a duel, but the comparison isn’t even close. Where Michael put up a solid 23 points, Kobe was out of his damn mind as he exploded for 55 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Moreover, he shot a solid 15-29 from the field and lit the Wizards up from deep as he hit nine of his 13 three-point attempts on the night as well.
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While the performance itself by Bryant was impressive in its own right, the narrative really makes this a favorite in terms of the history of Kobe’s run with the Lakers over the past two decades. This was Kobe staring down the greatest basketball players of all time and declaring that his time was over and it was now the era of the Mamba. Now that era is coming to a close, but we’ll always have the memories.