Kobe Bryant in the 2006 game against Toronto - SIPA

  • Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter accident this Sunday, aged 41
  • Among his great exploits, Bryant managed one night to score 81 points in the NBA against Toronto. 20 Minutes tells you about this evening

We could summarize the immense career of Kobe Bryant to his record: five NBA titles, two Olympic, one of MVP. But it would be a bit of a shame. Because her most beautiful evening took place in the heart of an anesthetic regular season, exactly when we did not expect it. We are in 2006, and Kobe Bryant, at the height of his art but, surrounded by broken arms - Chris Mihm (!), Smush Parker (!!), Kwame Brown (!!!) - holds all alone of the worst Lakers teams in the positive.

"To him alone" is an understatement. At least that night. In his Staples Center, Kobe sends the Toronto Raptors back to their Jurassic Park by sticking 81 points on their noses. Second best individual performance in history behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100 points in 1962, and twice as many points as all the rest of his team combined (122).

At the end of the match, Bryant himself admits that he never imagined this scenario, "even in dreams". “I didn't even really care, I was there for the win and that's why I started the machine. The thing took on an incredible scale. But to say that I realize what is happening would be to lie. ”

Later, at ESPN, he will explain that he felt "extremely strong" and that he could have scored 100 points. “I understood that if my teammates didn't want to play, I could win on my own. I knew I could pick up the pace quickly, that I could control the game, that I could score when I wanted to. "

The stats sheet is crazy: 28 out of 46 in the shoot, including 7 out of 13 with three points. Record holder of misses in career, Mamba was used to carrying his team while watering, sometimes a little too much. But that evening, everything came back. And for many, it was that evening that Kobe won the right to be a legend.

"This is a game I will always remember and one day I will tell my grandchildren," recalls Ronny. Like him, many supporters of the Lakers have published in recent hours a picture of the tickets for this game of January 22, 2006 in a glowing Staples Center. Just to say they were there, to say thank you to Kobe. He tells :

“I remember I was 12 years old and I often went to Sunday's game with my father. They were my favorites because we were playing in the white jersey. When Kobe reached 50 points, I remember looking at my father and telling him that it was a lot when there was quite a bit of time left. And what people forget is that it was not a jerk. It was a close match and we needed those points. Then he passed 60 and my father told me that he could not reach 70. I told him “look good”. And he continued to investigate the baskets. I remember getting up and cheering after his last free throws when he was replaced. It was crazy. At the time, I had probably not taken the measure of the thing, but when the whole room started to sing “Kobe Kobe” while leaving the place, when all the radios and the front pages of newspapers spoke of him the the next day, I realized that I had witnessed something special, historic. "

The story of Ronny is the story of a kid from Los Angeles fed on Kobe's exploits. But the deflagration of the 81 points exceeds California. In the call for testimony launched this morning by 20 Minutes on the legacy left by Kobe Bryant, one of our readers shared this anecdote of adolescence. "We were hiding to see an NBA game a week at hours abused for kids," says Arnaud. The lucky winner who managed to see a match was the hero in the yard the next day, telling us about exploits, mimicking actions. There were two heroes at that time for us, Iverson and Kobe. No internet to watch the matches so we had tapes and those of the Sixers and Lakers matches were the Holy Grail. And one fine day, years later, Kobe fucked up 81 points (!!!) half of the boys in the school dried the first hours of class to review the game at the CDI, even our sports teacher was there. "

A feat cannot be told without its few legends. It is said that the Lakers' historical coach, Phil Jackson, had planned to get Kobe Bryant out of the meeting a little earlier, but that his assistant would have prevented him to avoid a "riot", his player being only one point from beating the second best total in a match (78). It is also said that an opponent - in reality, it would rather be his teammate Luke Walton - would have asked him for an autograph at the end of the game. RMC even found in the archives of the LA Times this anecdote on the officer of the brand table in the middle of a galley to follow the account of the points marked by Kobe, and who had finally sent to Kobe the handwritten stat sheet as a souvenir.

With his eternal phlegm, Phil Jackson will give without doubt the best quote of the evening. "This kid is incredible. But it's not exactly the way you want to win a basketball game. "Bryant, he will return ten years later in an absolutely incredible article by ESPN on this crazy evening in January 2006." There are a lot of players who these days do not think that 80 points is possible. You say 50, even 60 if you're really hot. I never had this limit. Never. I never, never thought like that. I always believed that 80 was possible, 90 was possible, 100 was possible. Always. Always. Play is a witness to what can happen when you don't put limits on what you can do. "

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