The definitive power rankings for every made shot in Kobe’s 81-point game for the Lakers
10 years ago to the day, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers took the floor at the Air Canada Centre to take on the Toronto Raptors. With the NFL Playoffs dominating the sports world for the day, not many fans had their attention directed at the game.
But they should have.
What happened in Toronto on Jan. 22, 2006 is one of the greatest individual performances in NBA history as Bryant unleashed the second-highest scoring game ever by putting up 81 points. In fact, he became the only person in the top-five individual scoring games in NBA history that isn’t Wilt Chamberlain.
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What’s even more incredible is that Kobe put up the 81 points after scoring only 26 points in the first half. He was scoring well, but he came out of halftime and was just unconscious from every spot on the floor. No matter what the Raptors threw at him defensively, he had a way to beat it on that day.
Going 28-46 from the floor and 7-13 is going to be impressive no matter which way you slice it, but there were obviously some buckets that were more impressive than others as Kobe was getting to his 81 points.
Subsequently, let’s take a different look at this historic performance and break it down frame-by-frame in terms of ranking each point. These are the definitive power rankings of every point in Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game on the game’s 10-year anniversary.
(Note: The source video for these GIFs used can be found on YouTube at this link.)
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