6. Points 71-72; 4:25 Remaining, 4th Quarter
Morris Peterson is right in Kobe’s face when he gets the ball on the baseline on this possession. Mind you, Bryant had already scored 44 points in the second half alone at this point, which would be why Peterson is trying to stick on him like glue as he tries to get toward his spot on the baseline. However, the genius of Bryant here is that he uses his pump-fake to see if Mo-Pete is going to bite so that he can create some space. When he realizes that Peterson is going to stay down, he uses the fadeaway to create separation and just knocks it down with ease.
5. Points 50-51; 1:12 Remaining, 3rd Quarter
There’s no question that the defensive play leading up to this score plays a major factor in where it comes in on these rankings. Bryant makes a great play to knock the ball out of the Raptors possession and then shows the hustle to chase it down and get loose and left all alone in the open floor. While the dunk wasn’t the most impressive thing of all time, it was still nice and put down with authority. Moreover, Kobe’s dunk here finally put the Lakers ahead of Toronto, showing the fruits of his labors.
Next: No. 4-3