Another 3-pointer, then a few other Lakers score – but with 1:10 remaining, Kobe puts home a dunk, giving the Lakers the lead, 87-85. He has scored 27 points in the period, giving him 53 for the game. Not quite 62 in 33 minutes, yet just as amazing to watch.
The fourth quarter is no different from the third. Kobe hits a triple; Kobe hits a fadeaway jumper; Kobe gets a three-point play. It’s almost too easy. The fans are hypnotized. Is what they are seeing real? Can the numbers on the “jumbotron” even go that high? 65 points, 70 points, 75 points – they continue to rise.
1:47 left, the game is in the bag, but Kobe gets fouled on a three-point attempt and cooly nocks down all three, sending the crowd into an even deeper, more drunken frenzy than the Staples Center’s redcoat security staff even thought possible.
43 seconds left, however, Kobe doesn’t care – he’s pissed off; and as the entire nation learned that night, you never want to piss Kobe Bryant off. He gets fouled on a shot attempt. Chants of “MVP” have been echoing throughout the stadium the entire period, so it’s almost as if the arena is silent as he steps up to the line. 80 points on the line – will he reach it? Cool as ice, knocks down both free throws, completing the final cut into the Raptors’ heart, breaking it into two pieces on the Staples Center’s floor.
Four seconds to go and there is finally a dead ball. Devin Green checks in and Kobe receives a standing ovation that feels as if it should never end.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeXZY4eVLlo
Five years ago today, one of the greatest offensive performances was put on display. It could be described as a freak incident, as no one can really explain how it happened – not even the man who did it.
“I still don’t know how the hell it happened, to be honest with you. It’s just one of those things, I guess,” Bryant told ESPN earlier this week.
However it happened, all that needs to be remembered, is that it did. There’s never going to be another Kobe Bryant – he’s a once-in-a-generation type of player.
He’s still 19 points shy of Wilt’s 100, but it does not matter, he’s on top of the basketball world – and at moments – he appears inhuman; similar to how the kids in the “Sandlot” described Babe Ruth: “Less than a god but more than a man.”