Kobe's 81 PT. Game

[yeahwho]

So what? Ballhog? Why the lack of media, even on ESPN. It's weird. They won that game due to his individual performance, some say at the cost of a team performance, yet the Laker's are still a dismal 22-19 and would be seventh seed in the playoff's if held today.

What do you think of Kobe's game?

[monkey]

it's all over the sports pages on the newspaper. theyre hyping it to wilt chamberlain (sp?).

[jabumbo]

22-19 is 7th seed? shit man, thats terrible...



as for kobe, its amazing he could do such a thing. sucks for him that it had to happen over a big football weekend. i did see on espn about the game, they did reasonable coverag on it. but football playoffs always overshadow everything...


all in all, i don't really like kobe. and i'm not really a fan of anybody who takes 30 or 40 shots a night, thats just crazy

[abcdefz]

...one of the players interviewed was talking about how they just had to keep giving the ball to him, because his hands were hot or some such thing.

It's not like he pulled a Kelly Leak or something.

[yeahwho]

perhaps your right when you say the NFL playoff's overshadowed this Kobe thing.

Kobe's attitude, coupled with the other "me-first," "show me some respect" personas in the NBA have slowly chipped away at my interest to the point where I only tune in late in the playoffs. And when I do watch, you know I'm pulling for the team(s) that play a team game, led by team-first players.

Kobe et al. can garner all the personal glory they crave. I don't give a shit, because for me basketball has never been a one-man show.

[adam_f]

Chamberlain had no three point line, he was in the frontcourt, and there was no shot clock, enabling his opponents to keep the ball as long as they pleased. And he still reached the century mark.

This Kobe thing is nothing.

[Tompz]

So what? I get like 200.000 points when i play super mario on nes.

[abcdefz]

Obviously, Chamberlain's record means a lot more. I'd still go home happy after a night like that, though.

[jabumbo]

i used to score 200 points in techmo super nba on snes with larry bird in a game. i would usually win 300 some to around 100. once you got up so much, it was hard to keep them from making shots

[yeahwho]

After the rape thing and the loss of endorsements Kobe really has nothing to lose by being real. Why bother being nice and teamy if your not going to ever be a role model? I sense some anger coming out of Kobe. Something to watch anyway.

The other real tip to other NBA'ers is that if you make Kobe angry, be sure to step up to him face-to-face.

I hear he (allegedly) likes to attack from behind.

Maybe this is what the Lakers need to get back into "Showtime".

[TurdBerglar]

Chamberlain had no three point line, he was in the frontcourt, and there was no shot clock, enabling his opponents to keep the ball as long as they pleased. And he still reached the century mark.

This Kobe thing is nothing.


wasn't the shot clock around in the 60's?

[mickill]

There was 46 seconds left in that game Wilt played. But that stupid ass crowd had to get all crazy and rush the floor. Just think! He coulda had 102!

[adam_f]

Originally posted by TurdBerglar
wasn't the shot clock around in the 60's?

Hope not. Or my point is worthless.

[TurdBerglar]

yeah the shot clock was first introduced in 54

[abcdefz]

yeah the shot clock was first introduced in 54



...that's 1,952 years ago! :eek:

[TurdBerglar]

well you're good at the math

[abcdefz]

(y)

[abcdefz]

...shoes, pants, and ski mask. (y)

[yeahwho]

...shoes, pants, and ski mask. (y)

error, "Wilt the Kilt" wore a man dress when he played, not pants

[mickill]

I really didn't think that this joke could get any more lame. Yet, here you guys are, over an hour later, proving me wrong.

[paulb]

81 points, thats pretty impressive. The day it happened it was the first thing they showed on the sports update. Its usually hockey, but that came after. Obviously Wilt's 100pt performance is much more respectable. But no one has come close to doing it other than Wilt himself and Kobe. I think he deserves major props.

[g-mile7]

that is crazy. But the whole league as a defense been down though, but damn 81 for a 2guard is ridicolous.

[TurdBerglar]

i have a feeling iverson will take this as a challenge and explode soon

[g-mile7]

i have a feeling iverson will take this as a challenge and explode soon

woudlnt doubt it or Tmac

[TurdBerglar]

tmac has been terrible


he needs like a back transplant or something

[yeahwho]

I'm not religious or anything, but I can't help thinking that Kobe got a little support that we mere mortals couldn't see.

And then it hit me. Looking at Kobe's stats (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kobe_bryant/index.html?nav=page), I noticed that this modern day record performance was Kobe's 666th game.

So, did Kobe actually make a deal with the devil? I can't say for sure, but it is one hell of a coincidence.

[YoungRemy]

tmac has been terrible


he needs like a back transplant or something


tmacs TEAM has been terrible, TMacs back has been terrible, TMac has been on fire...

Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy has no idea why Tracy McGrady is so tough on the road.

McGrady scored 41 points, including 14 straight in the fourth quarter, to lead the Rockets to a 97-80 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night.

He is averaging 30.7 points in 18 road games -- including 38.0 in the last seven -- and 19.1 points in nine at home.

"You can't explain it," Van Gundy said after his team improved to 11-13 away from Houston. "He's the best road player in the league."

McGrady, who had scored 35 and 43 in his previous two games -- both on the road -- since missing five with severe back spasms, began to take control at the start of the third quarter.

"It feels good to be healthy," McGrady said. "It's just a great feeling from where I started out at the beginning of the year with my back injury."


Houston is 14-13 with McGrady in the lineup and 0-13 without. ...



as for Kobe, second only to Wilt in NBA HISTORY, this will be talked about for years to come, one of the best performances ever...

he has my vote for MVP

[TurdBerglar]

mcgrady is only shooting 42%

he'll be on fire when he shoots around 50% or starts killing games like iverson or kobe.

[g-mile7]

mcgrady is only shooting 42%

he'll be on fire when he shoots around 50% or starts killing games like iverson or kobe.



hahaha you list Kobe and Iverson and there infamous for shooting low % shots/game

[g-mile7]

When did it happen?

Not the 81 points. Not the 51 he dropped last week in Sacramento. Not the game against Dallas, where he outscored the Mavericks 62-61 through three quarters before not playing in the fourth.

None of that.


Kobe fired himself up -- and enough shots -- to rain an amazing 81 on the Raptors.

It needs to be known when it happened. When did something inside Kobe Bryant snap? When did he get so angry that he decided to take it out on the court? At what point did he reach that point? That point of no return. That Tupac point. He against the world.


Was it the Mike Miller moment? Is that where we begin this? Is it that game against Memphis, when Miller gave Kobe one shot to the dome that opened up a Manny Pacquiao cut above Kobe's left eye? Is that when Kobe lost it? Because ever since that game, ever since he got suspended for two games by the league for a blow-to-the-throat retaliation, Kobe Bryant has lost his *&%#@ mind.

Or was it before that? The game before that Dallas game. The game that he said made him sick. The one the Lakers lost. When they scored only 74 points against Houston on Dec. 18. Kobe was scoring 31.3 points per game, trailing Iverson, who was averaging 33.4 at the time, and there was little discussion of a scoring race.

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Maybe that's when that something else entered his body. Taking it over. Linda Blairing it. Making him the simultaneous combination of Jordan, Baylor and King. Making us see things we've never seen before; making us watch Lakers games that last year we'd totally dismiss for "Nip/Tuck" or "Grey's Anatomy."

Was it after he sprained his wrist in the game against LeBron in the first quarter, then made himself hit the final eight points to win the game? Was it when AI came to town and he knew a casual 40 was not going to be enough? The game when before the tip he said ultra-sarcastically, "Oh, so this is a [scoring] race?"

Or was it at halftime of this last game? The one when Lamar Odom said, "He was ticked off." Was that when it all came out? Made him straight lose control and empty 81 rounds on a team so bad that former Georgetown coach John Thompson said on his radio show that if Wilt Chamberlain played against that Raptors team he'd have scored 200 points.

To pinpoint the time is essential to understanding why Kobe Bryant is doing what he is doing. In order to get a grasp, to get some type of comprehension of what is really going on, we need to know when -- when! -- did Kobe get so heated at the world that he decided to take his frustrations out on the game of basketball?


Kobe '06 vs. Jordan '87
How does Kobe's 2006 season compare to Michael Jordan's 1987, when MJ scored his career-high 37.1 points per game?
Category Bryant Jordan
Age 28 24
Points 35.9 37.1
Minutes 40.5 40.0
FGA 27.74 24.79
FG pct. 45.2 48.2
3PTA 5.4 0.8
3PT pct. 34.6 18.2
FTA 10.7 11.9
TS pct.* 55.4 56.2
Rebounds 5.6 5.2
Assists 4.3 4.6
Team W pct. .537 .488
TS pct.= true shooting percentage (what a player's shooting percentage would be if we accounted for free throws and 3-pointers)

Because until we get to that point, we may not appreciate exactly what it is he's really doing. Until we discover that day, none of us are going to truly understand what this vengeance of his is all about.

Eighty-one in the same season that he scored 62 in three quarters -- with two other 50-point games (so far).

Brotha's mad about something.

*****


He has become "Must-See-TV." Alone, win or lose, Kobe Bryant has made it essential that we not miss him play a game of basketball this season.

The Lakers versus the Raptors? Whatever. The Lakers against the Kings? Two years ago, maybe. The Lakers are playing the Mavericks? Cool, homey. I'll catch the highlights on "SportsCenter."


That was the apathy.

There were more things important than watching Kobe Bryant chuck up shots while the other nine guys on the floor stood around watching the shot clock.

Even the great Spike Lee, after a game against the Knicks, said he couldn't watch it anymore. I think his words to me after that game were, "That's not basketball."

He was right. But there were glimpses of it being something you didn't want to miss.

Even in the arrogance of a 9-for-33 night in San Antonio on Nov. 29, when Bryant belligerently said his "missed shots provided shot opportunities for his teammates off the offensive boards," you could sense in Bernie Mac-ology that "something different was goings on."

For better or worse, richer or broke, wins or losses, it made you want to pay attention to what may happen next in the book of Kobe.

And this is what Jerry Buss had in mind when he made the decision to keep No. 8. It wasn't about winning games or getting another ring or embarrassing Shaq or Phil. From a business standpoint, all Buss wanted to do was make the Lakers relevant, make us want to pay attention to everything that happened inside the Staples Center, make us never want to miss a game.

81 Ain't Nothing
Kobe Bryant's 81-point game was the second-highest in NBA history, but as Jeff Merron points out, the NBA isn't the only league. From Bevo Francis' 113 for Rio Grande College to Cheryl Miller's 105 in a high school girls to somebody named John Barber scoring 188 in college game, we have a list of some of the highest-scoring hoopsters in history.



It was a "watch a car wreck on the 110 or watch a Bentley roll slow down Crenshaw" mentality. Either way, Buss wanted our attention. And he had the guy who was going to grab it.

He wanted Kobe to deliver that to him last year. Kobe didn't. The shots weren't falling.

But this year, the Bentley is pushing 120 mph on the Santa Monica Freeway. Kobe's making Buss look like a genius.

*****


Michael used to do this. The same thing.

One of the things that Jordan used to do was invent drama to get himself mad so he'd have something to take out on whoever was guarding him that particular night. Or whatever team. Most nights he didn't need to create the pseudo-press clippings to get him started, but every now and then he'd turn a non-compliment into a spit in his face. And for 48 minutes (or however long he was able to hold on to that self-inflicted contempt -- sometimes it lasted for days or months) he had you in front of him, doubting him, hating him. He had you. At his mercy.

Kobe is doing the same thing … but only bigger. In almost never missing a game of Kobevison this year, I've noticed a similar tactic of motivation, but to a degree that $ never dared go.

MJ wanted to be loved; KB could care less.

Kobe has decided to pit himself against the world, not just those he's playing basketball against. Kobe has made himself believe that the entire world is against him. Players, coaches, GMs, media, fans, friends, strangers. All are out to get him, all are waiting for his downfall. That, as one magazine secretly wanted to publish, he is "the most hated athlete in the world."

To me, right now, this is what Kobe Bryant believes.

This has become his motivation.

He doesn't hear "MVP" when the Lakers crowd is chanting. He probably hears, "We hate he," or "Kobe leave," or "You ain't Thee."

When Greg Anthony or Marc Stein says he's the best player alive, Kobe somehow hears LeBron's name instead. He hears Tim Duncan's name instead, or Dwyane Wade's.

The McDonald's slogan to him is, "We Hatin' You." The Wal-Mart smiley face is a frown when he watches television. He can't -- won't -- push the Easy button.

He's probably already taken Vince Carter's comments about the effect these 81 points will have on kids ("The only bad thing about it is that younger kids, whose minds are easily warped, are going to think, 'Ohhh! I am going to go out there and do it instead of [honoring] the team concept first," Carter told the Newark Star-Ledger. "That is what is missing in the game, guys understanding how to play as a team.") so personal that when the Lakers play the Nets on March 17, VC might want to come up with another 'injury' so that Kobe doesn't break Wilt's other record on him.


I'll take it eight steps further: I'll say that everything in Kobe's life (outside of what went down inside of that Colorado hotel room) since he missed those shots against the Jazz in the playoffs his rookie year has been a calculated move to make the world despise him. He can take out his anger, his frustrations -- self-inflicted as they may be -- on not just the defenders and teams he faces, but against the game he loves so much just to show the world how wrong we've been about him.

Think about it. Watch five games.

He's turned the game into another sport. What he's playing is not basketball, but something closer to golf. Not in that he's playing alone, but he's playing against the game itself, as opposed to an opponent. Trust me, Kobe doesn't see the Mavs, the Kings or the Raptors when he's out there anymore. He sees that black cloud that's on "Lost." He sees the F.A.M.E. tattoo on Iverson's back that stands for "F--- All My Enemies." He sees the anti-Kobe.

That's why he's doing things no one has ever seen before.

He sees hate.

*****


So what are you going to do now?

Are you going to miss another Lakers game this season? Is "k-o-b-e b-r-y-a-n-t" going to be highlighted on your TiVo menu listing?

Over the last 10 games he's averaged 45.5. For the season, he's at 35.9. As ri-dope-ulous as that is, it's still less than the 37.1 Jordan averaged in 1987.

But even in that season, was Jordan this spectacular? Did Jordan have us on flat-screen lockdown like this? Rearranging our schedules, canceling vacations, thanking a higher power than David Stern that we don't have to chose between Kobe and the Super Bowl this year. Knowing that on any given February he may make history … again.

Did Jordan ever send us through something like this?

Was Jordan ever this angry?

Kobe gets to rest four days before he has to come back and continue this. Four days to hear how much the world hates him. He said he'd have been "sick to his stomach" if the Lakers had lost that game against the Raptors. Golden State should feel blessed.

But a funny thing happened one night on the way to the Staples. A teammate's compliment was made public. Lamar Odom recently said, "It's like God put Kobe here for us to watch him play basketball."

Umm.

I wonder how Kobe took it. I wonder what went through Kobe's mind when he heard about it. I wonder what Kobe's interpretation was of it.

I wonder was that when it happened?



good read if you get time by Scoop Jackson

[TurdBerglar]

hahaha you list Kobe and Iverson and there infamous for shooting low % shots/game


i know that but they can steal/finish games

[YoungRemy]

i know that but they can steal/finish games

you were the one who posted the thread last season, Tracy Fuckin McGrady, after he dropped 13 points in 35 seconds on the spurs...

by the way, he shoots 42.9 and kobe shoots 45

[g-mile7]

you were the one who posted the thread last season, Tracy Fuckin McGrady, after he dropped 13 points in 35 seconds on the spurs...

by the way, he shoots 42.9 and kobe shoots 45


hahha I remember that one!

[TurdBerglar]

i can't denie that he's good he just can't routinely finish games like he should be able to. im just saying he's not all the great as a lot of people make him out to be. it matters more when you score points and not how many you score. and the 13 points in 30 seconds is amazeing no matter who did it.

[g-mile7]

i can't denie that he's good he just can't routinely finish games like he should be able to. im just saying he's not all the great as a lot of people make him out to be. it matters more when you score points and not how many you score. and the 13 points in 30 seconds is amazeing no matter who did it.


most these superstars aren't that good in terms of the old school

[TurdBerglar]

well no shit

[g-mile7]

well no shit


(lb)

[TurdBerglar]

i wasn't even talking about older generations of players


what are you trying to get at?