Kobe Bryant scores 81, the second-highest total in league history

January 22, 2006
Staples Center
Los Angeles, CA

TOR (14-27)-104 pts
LAL (22-19)-122 pts

In the entire 62-year existence of the National Basketball Association, only one player scored more points in a single game than Kobe Bryant did in front of an elated Staples Center crowd. His unbelievable 81-point explosion was second only to Wilt Chamberlain's incredible 100-point game 46 years ago.

Chamberlain hit the century-mark for Philadelphia, while playing against the New York Knicks at Hershey, PA, on March 2, 1962. Wilt shot 36-of-63 from the field and 28-of-32 from the foul line in 48 minutes of play.

Bryant, the league's leading scorer, scored 27 points in the third period and 28 in the fourth, and departed to a standing ovation with 4 seconds left in the game. He shot 28-of-46, including 7-of-13 on 3-pointers, and 18-of-20 from the foul line.

Laker great Elgin Baylor held the previous Los Angeles franchise record of 71 points at New York on Nov. 15, 1960. Chamberlain's second-highest scoring game was 78 against Los Angeles in triple overtime on December 8, 1961. Michael Jordan's highest scoring game was 69 points in a contest against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 28, 1990. Before Bryant, only four players had ever scored more than 70 points; Chamberlain, Baylor, David Thompson and David Robinson.

At the time, Bryant's previous career high was 62 points in a 112-90 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 20, 2005, when he sat out the entire fourth quarter of the blowout win. In the record-breaking game against Toronto, the Lakers trailed by as many as 18 points early in the third quarter, prompting Bryant's scoring binge. He scored a total of 51 points after the Raptors extended a 63-49 halftime lead to 71-53. The Lakers outscored the Raptors 38-14 to move ahead in the third quarter for good. Bryant accounted for all but 15 of his team's 42 points in the third quarter, every point but three of their 31 in the fourth period.

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