Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash Sunday morning. Here is a look back at 20 defining moments of his brilliant 20-year career.
81
Asked about it last year — how it happened, how it felt, what he remembered 10 years down the line — Kobe said that scoring 81 points against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006, felt like “a blur.” Luckily, cameras were rolling. Footage exists. There’s proof of Sasquatch, a game so monstrous that only Wilt’s sainted 100-point game tops it in NBA history, so we can go back, revisit, and sharpen what’s gone blurry:
When you run the tape back, you find yourself slack-jawed by that Raptors defense — second-worst in the NBA that year, all soft zones and slow feet and half-hearted reaches — that allowed Kobe to build up a head of steam that would turn him into a runaway train, hellbent for the basket with no brakes in sight.