Los Angeles Lakers: 30 greatest individual performances in team history

Los Angeles Lakers: 30 greatest individual performances in team history:  10. Kobe Bryant torches the Blazers

For a guy who’s often described as an inefficient gunner, Kobe Bryant sure has a ton of extremely efficient high scoring games. During a mid-March outing in 2007, Bryant did it again. This time, at the expense of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Before he established himself as a winning player post Shaquille O’Neal, and after he had already collected three NBA titles, Bryant was putting in serious work. Coming into town on this night, in particular, was Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Zach Randolph.

Unsurprisingly, the Lakers came out cold, trailing by 8 points in the first quarter with Bryant only providing 4 of those points. He picked things up in the second quarter, dropping 19 in the period. Bryant saved his best for last though, as he scored a combined 33 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. It wasn’t just that he scored 65 points on 59% from the field and 66.7% from distance, nailing 8 from 3-point land on the night, but it was when he scored. He cooked LaMarcus Aldridge late in the game from behind the arc to seal the deal to give the Lakers the five point win.

Who could forget about his defense? He held one of the best players in the league at the time in Brandon Roy to 28.6% shooting and 14 points. Lockdown defense and ridiculous scoring? Yup, that was prime Mamba.