52- cans, I just did a post myself, must have been while you were writing yours.

I see he's got 58 before 3 quarter time, we better re-assess to 70!!!

62 in three quarters!!!!

3 Quarter Time Update!!!

This guy is going nuts man! Who can stop him?

3 quarter time 62 points!!!

62 points!!!

18-31 FG 4-10 3ptfg 22-25Ft

62 POINTS AT 3QTR TIME! NUTS!

has one player ever scored more than the entire other team?

Shows taht the difference between posting Ok numbers and BIG nuimbers is getting to the line. Iverson has been doing it all season and now with Kobe at 22 of 25 he is looking to beat teh Mavs on his own......will Phil puit him back on in teh 4th though?

Phil is a tool

Phil is a tool

Yep.

Hmmm...good question! I think perhaps asking the player what he wants to do would perhaps be a good idea. Who knows, Kobe might have been that rooted from chucking up so many shots he may have wanted to sit out! No sorry, let me take that back...we are talking about Kobe!!!

Got to disagree 52-Cans, Phil's job is to get Lakers into the play-offs, not get Kobe the scoring record.

Not only that but they are playing in Florida against Orlando in 2 days time (23rd) then at Miami on Christmas Day, so any chance to rest Kobe for a whole quarter must be taken.

Having said that, it would have been sensational for Kobe to get 70, but just not in the interest of the Lakers.

Yeh I agree with you shut up, but how would MJ have felt with his 69 point game? 50 odd at 3qtr time then benched? Or The Adrmiral David Robinson with his 71 point game? I guess there games could've been closer I don't know but oh well.

Would've been good to see Kobe break a record, I mean if you're watching a game from any sport, if a player is just on fire dominating, I mean we all agree we want to see them keep dominating right?

Well I guess Phil Jackson did the right thing from the Lakers point of view, but I wondering if Kobe is unhappy? He could've easily have gotten 75!

Why do you need to pass off for an assist when your not missing the basket??

Anon.....how many assists do u reckon Wilt got when he scored 100

Who cares.......when his that hot...give the man the Rock and clear out

Lakers have the wood on Dallas

Or should i say Kobe does...LOL

I agree with that assists stat. He is the biggest hog and ever since Shaq left all he has does is try prove to everyone that he can win by himself and doesnt give his other teammates any respect at all.

Last season Kobe averaged the most apg in his entire career.....

At 3 quarter time Kobe had 62 while the entire Mavs had only 61. Unbelievable!! Would have been interesting to put him in in the last to see how many he could get but I think it was probably a good move for the team to leave him out. The highest score in the league in 11 years and he did it in just 3 quarters, even Kobe haters have to respect that effort.

Twen Four.....who gives a shit....the Lakers, with all the NO-NAMES on the Roster apart from Odom, are 14-11

Shaqs Heat with Wade, Jay Williams, Payton, Ant Walker, Zo, Posey are 15-11

In a god damn weaker Conference may i add.....lol

WHO Gives a shit if he scores 60+ to win the game......they won.....a WIN is a WIN....no matter HOW u get it

Make sure you see the video on the NBA site of the highlights from this game. There's one part where Kobe gets on a break against four Mavs and still scores with a lay-up. Amazing.

Thanks Issac.....the man is a Great player

I know he brushed aside a legend like Karl Malone in a All Star game to take his man 1-1 but really

Kobe himself is a legend and will be in the Hall of Fame

My god, AI sucks compared to Kobe, Kobe should be elevated to Godly status, GO TIMBERWOLVES

Hey, phil is no tool.

He offered to put Kobe back in, and Kobe declined:

"Bryant did not play in the fourth, declining Jackson's invitation to reenter the game if he so desired.

"That's not what we play for," Bryant said. "That's not what it's about. It's not to score 70 points. We wanted to win the game, and the game was in the bag. It was in the refrigerator." "

From: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers21dec21,1,3490622.story?page=1&coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=1&cset=true

I'm a dedicated Kobe-basher, but I will say awesome game from him, 62 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 22-25 from the line and 18-31 from the field is def a special night.

Interesting article by Nick Prendis on nbadraft. He's usually a pretty good writer.

link: www.nbadraft.net
_______________________________


Did you see the Kobe game?

Me, I missed it. It wasn't on in my market. I caught the, "Bryant: 62 points (new career high)," blip on the bottom-line ticker and immediately did a quadruple take. Did Kobe take 60 shots? Did the Dallas Mavericks throw the game? I had dozens of unanswered questions.

I quickly jumped on my laptop and found the box score while I flipped between ESPN and NBA-TV for any possible highlights. It turns out Kobe only needed 31 field goal attempts to amass his 62 points. Typically, 31 shots isn't usually preceded by the word "only," but when a player is in a zone like Bryant was on this night, 50 shots would've been entirely acceptable. He made a mind-boggling 25 trips to the foul line, connecting on 22 of them. He shot 58% from the floor and forced Josh Howard into one of the roughest games of his young NBA career. And he did this all in 33 minutes of play.

With the Lakers up 95-61 after the end of the third quarter, Kobe took a permanent seat through the final period, despite the crowd chanting for his re-entrance. In the interest of good sportsmanship and karmic alignment, coach Phil Jackson sat his superstar. There was no logical reason for Kobe to risk injury in such a lopsided affair.

But here's the thing. I don't care.

Kobe was in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime night. Few players have ever been as hot as Kobe was on December 20, 2005. Four players in the history of the league have ever scored over 70 in a regulation NBA contest: Wilt (six times), Thompson, Baylor, Admiral. Jordan never did it. Neither did Larry or Magic. The 70 point plateau is some seriously rarified air.

No player in today's NBA is more aware of his potential place in history than Kobe. Obviously, he's not going to demand to re-enter a game where his team is up by 30 just to accumulate more points, but he knew he was on the cusp of achieving something no professional basketball player not named Chamberlain had ever done. Judging by his 30-point outburst in the third quarter, he could've dropped 80. Eighty!

Nights like tonight are what make the NBA regular season worth following. Every game has the potential for notoriety; only a select few deliver. When a player has an opportunity to do what Kobe was in the process of doing on Tuesday night, he has to go for it, "sportsmanship" be damned. If the Mavericks had gotten upset that the Lakers left Kobe in the game during such a lopsided affair, that's their fault for not double or triple-teaming him throughout the contest. Remember when David Robinson dropped 71 on the last day of the season to overtake Shaquille O'Neal for the 1994 scoring championship? He played 44 minutes against the lowly Los Angeles Clippers and kept jacking up shots when the game was out of reach. When you have a chance at history, that's how you have to approach it. Let the opposition stop you from etching your name in the record books.

Sadly, Kobe's 62 points in 33 minutes won't likely be remembered by anyone but hoops die-hards and Laker fans a year from now. Instead of being a lasting legacy, this game will be a very interesting footnote at the end of Kobe's career. The night that could have been.

My conspiracy theorist side can't help but think that Phil Jackson knew Kobe had a chance to obliterate all the non-Wilt scoring marks, but wanted to pull the plug before he got there. Do I honestly think Jackson is petty enough to sabotage a potentially legendary performance over whatever personal and philosophical differences they might have? Of course not. But I did read his book.

Put it this way. How much different would the basketball landscape be if Frank McGuire had benched Wilt for the last 10 minutes of his legendary 100 point game in 1962?

Phil and Kobe will say that these scoring marks "don't matter" and that "the win was the most important thing" and all sorts of other polite BS, but this particular game set forth a layered, complicated set of extenuating circumstances. Was Kobe frustrated that he wasn't able to continue his hot streak into the fourth quarter? Will he resent Jackson for not allowing him to chase immortality? Will that resentment open up old animosities in an already tenuous working relationship? Did Kobe's teammates get tired of watching him take the Dallas defense on by himself, or were they simply happy to be along for the ride?

Look, I completely understand that sitting Kobe for the last 12 minutes of this blowout victory was the rational, intelligent move. Had he suffered any kind of injury, that would've been inexcusable. But as a selfish basketball fan that has absolutely no rooting interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, I wanted him to shoot until his arm fell off. I wanted him to have the opportunity to score on every trip down the floor. I wanted him to make history.

Most of all, I wanted to be able to watch the game on TV. I heard it was almost something special.

start a mini poll, either AGREE-yes, phil should have benched him. or DISAGREE- phil should have let kobe go for a shot in the record books.

Just read this from Kobe in the LA Times, which you can access from hoopshype.com.

"Bryant did not play in the fourth, declining Jackson's invitation to reenter the game if he so desired.

"That's not what we play for," Bryant said. "That's not what it's about. It's not to score 70 points. We wanted to win the game, and the game was in the bag. It was in the refrigerator."

So it looks like it was Kobe's decision not Phil's to sit out the final quarter.

After reading TR's post I still stand by saying Kobe should've had a shot for the records....

Jordan got 69 in an overtime game.
Kobe got 62 in three quarters.

I'm not saying Kobe is better than Jordan just in a few years an average bball fan will read about Kobe's 62 points and not even know that it was done in 3 quarters.

This game should've gone in the record books! Awesome performance!

Agree with you Cans, as the posted article said no-one will remember his 62 points which I honestly believe will occur, even though it happened in only three quarters.

Maybe I'm a little different, but if I was a team mate of Kobe I would of wanted him on the court and I would of been content to stand aside and watch the man in action. Definately a 'once-in-a-life-time' performance, and it would of been enough it say "yeah, I played in that game. I remember" regardless of my own stat line.

What the capacity of Staples??? Cause what's the bet in LA everyone would be saying "yeah I was in the stands" for it. Capacity of 20,000, but somehow 80,000 attended.

lol, sorry, my bad. i shouldve probably read a few more of the posts on this topic first...