Kobe says scoring 101 points 'unthinkable'
Lakers superstar stuns NBA world by pouring in 81, second most ever
 Matt A. Brown / AP Kobe Bryant blows by Matt Bonner toward a basket in the first half. |
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LOS ANGELES - Wilt Chamberlain’s record 100-point game seemed unreachable from the time he accomplished the feat nearly 44 years ago.
Perhaps it’s not.
Maybe Kobe Bryant can do it.
“I guess it’s possible. I don’t know, bro’. It’s unthinkable,” the Los Angeles Lakers’ star said.
So was 81. At least before Sunday night.
But Bryant, so often unstoppable, was better than ever against the Toronto Raptors, scoring 28 of his team’s 31 points in the fourth quarter to reach the second-highest single-game total in NBA history.
“Not even in my dreams,” he said.
Chamberlain scored 100 points when basketball was a far different game, accomplishing the feat for Philadelphia against the New York Knicks at Hershey, Pa., on March 2, 1962.
There was no 3-point shot — not that it would have mattered since Chamberlain was a 7-footer who dominated the middle.
The 6-6 Bryant made seven from outside the arc.
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Defense was generally an afterthought when Chamberlain played, not that the Raptors are much good at it now, ranking near the bottom of the league in that department.
Whatever the case, both performances were astonishing.
Chamberlain shot 36-of-63 from the field and 28-of-32 from the foul line while playing all 48 minutes. He averaged an NBA-record 50.4 points per game that season.
Bryant, playing a little less than 42 minutes, shot 28-of-46 from the floor including 7-of-13 from 3-point range, and 18-of-20 from the foul line. He raised his NBA-leading average to 35.9 points. If the season ended now, that would be the highest average since Michael Jordan scored 37.1 points per game 19 years ago.
Bryant appeared on his way to 80 a month ago, scoring a then-career high 62 in a one-sided win over Dallas. He sat out the fourth quarter because the outcome was decided after three.
Not so Sunday night. The Raptors led by as many as 18 in the third period, and that more than anything triggered Bryant’s scoring explosion, which led to a 122-104 Los Angeles victory.
“We have four days off coming up here and I would be sick as a dog if we would have lost this game,” he said. “I just wanted to step up and inspire us to play well and it turned into something pretty special.”
Indeed, it did as Bryant recorded just the 10th game ever of at least 70 points.
Chamberlain scored 59 in the second half in his big game — the only player with more points in a half than Bryant’s 55 after halftime in this game.
In the second half, it was Bryant 55, Toronto 42.
“He couldn’t be stopped tonight,” Raptors guard Mike James said. “He basically beat us by himself.”
Chamberlain’s second-highest total was 78 against the Lakers in three overtimes on Dec. 8, 1961. That drops to No. 3 on the all-time list.
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Next are the 73 points scored twice by Chamberlain in 1962 and once by Denver’s David Thompson in 1978.
The only other players to reach 70 were former Lakers star Elgin Baylor, who scored 71 points in November 1960, and David Robinson, who also scored 71 for San Antonio in April 1994. Chamberlain scored 70 in 1963.
Bryant broke Baylor’s franchise record with 4:25 remaining on a 14-foot jumper.
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