Recently, the good folks at ESPN.com put together a terrific oral history of Kobe Bryant's 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors for the tenth anniversary of its occurrence, on Jan. 22, 2006. Which made me wonder where the oral history was for the fifteenth anniversary of Tim Duncan's career-high 53 points against the Mavericks on Dec. 26, 2001? Naturally, I had to put on my reporting hat and fill the void.
(I advise you to read the Kobe thing first if you can. It's long but good, and some of the following jokes will make more sense if you've read it.