It is one of those days that is marked in the calendars of all fans National Basketball Association (NBA), because exactly 15 years ago, January 22, 2006, his name Kobe Bryant he certainly entered the history books, consuming his best performance appearing Los Angeles Lakers.
It all happened in front of a crowded Staples Center in California. Mamba Neagra led a team without big gold and purple franchise figures, where only Lamar Odom and the Slovenian Sasha Vujacic; in front of, Toronto Raptors, who also had a young man Chris Bosh, a veteran Jalen Rose and to Spanish Jose Manuel Calderon, among others.
It is true that in that 2005-2006 NBA season, Bryant led the scorers’ list, with an average of 35.4 games per game; But not even most experts in the field expected a day like this, in front of the astonished eyes of 19,000 fans in the stadium and millions on TV.
Kobe Bryant’s masterpiece
The numbers he recorded on that historic day were epic from where you look at him: 81 points in 42 minutes on the field, I understand 28 of 46 field goals (60.9 percent effective), with seven of the 13 3-point attempts (53.8%) and 18 out of 20 in free throws (90%).
“Not even in my dreams; that was something that just happened. It’s hard to explain. It’s just one of those things. It became something special. To sit here and say I understand what happened would be a lie.”, Bryant said after the historic game with the Lakers.
The story behind Bryant’s miracle
While the then owner of the lagoons, Jerry Buss, said that “It was like seeing a miracle unfold”and the announcer Staples Center, Lawrence Tanter He told the participants to save their tickets as a sample of history, what no one can believe is that this stage was a few minutes away from happening.
He’s the then Lakers coach, Phil Jackson, got Bryant out of the game with a few minutes left, when he had 77 points, remaining one of the brands Wilt Chamberlain in 1968; then his assistant Frank Hamblen He warned the strategist that if he did not put him back “it would be a revolt”. Thus, Kobe reached its historic mark.
In this way, with this performance that gave his team the victory with 122-104, Mamba Neagra he set a record that never managed to match Michael Jordan, and which so far has not even been matched by LeBron James.