Wayback Wednesday: Kobe Bryant’s 81-Point Game, 20 Years Later

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game, ahead of its 20th anniversary.

Tomorrow marks 20 years since Kobe Bryant torched the Toronto Raptors with an 81-point outburst, setting a new mark for the second-highest points scored in an NBA game. It always sounds cliché when we talk about how the years seem to fly by after we’ve taken a few more trips around the sun, but it’s absolutely true! Our perception of time undoubtedly changes. When Kobe dropped 81 on January 22nd 2006, I was only 21, so 20 years felt like a long time to me; basically a lifetime, in fact! Things that happened 20 years before that – or 20 years before I was even born – felt ancient.

For example, 20 years before Kobe had his 81-point game, Larry Bird and the Celtics were the 1986 Champions. To me, that felt like something from another time. And yet, because I remember it, Kobe’s 81-point game feels contemporary despite it being as old today as the Celtics’ 1986 title was in 2006! Again, it doesn’t feel like it’s been 20 years; or perhaps more accurately, 20 years doesn’t feel the same. It doesn’t feel like eight years since I last reflected on Kobe’s big game, or indeed, six since his tragic passing. As that game is turning 20 though, let’s take a look back…way back…

Beyond marking the big round milestone of 20 years, I didn’t want my previous article to be my only reflection on Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game. I’m happy enough with how it turned out, but on top of the 12th anniversary being an unorthodox one to celebrate, the article was mostly a brief recap of my efforts to achieve the feat in NBA Live 06 PC. Admittedly that was the focus of the feature, and it allowed me to discuss how something that could be described as a “video game performance” can actually be difficult to replicate on the virtual hardwood! However, I didn’t really reminisce about the 81-point game itself, or my memories of seeing what Kobe accomplished that day.

I was at work on Monday as that game was being played Sunday evening in the US. Although we weren’t allowed to browse the internet during work hours, I often did – apologies to my old boss – and would check in on the live scores, either on NBA.com or Yahoo!’s NBA website. On this occasion though, it had been a busy day, so I didn’t catch up on the news until the late afternoon. Unsurprisingly, the lead story on Yahoo! NBA was Kobe and his 81-point game. I’d be creatively embellishing if I said that I distinctly recall my jaw dropping and eyes growing wide, but the news was definitely shocking. I never expected to see an 81-point game in real life, from Kobe or anyone!

While I marvelled at what had seemed like such an unthinkable accomplishment in the modern era, I also felt some dismay. I’ll admit that although I appreciated and acknowledged his talent and skill, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Kobe Bryant. It was a combination of lingering annoyance at the “Next Jordan” talk, fanboy obnoxiousness in the wake of the Lakers’ threepeat at the beginning of the 2000s, and the mere fact that Kobe was a threat to torch our favourite teams on any given night. It was also around 2006 that a laughably biased writer argued that anyone who disagreed that Kobe was superior to MJ was a hater; a preview of today’s terrible hot take discourse.

And now, Kobe had achieved something that Jordan hadn’t, topping MJ’s career high of 69 with an 81-point game and coming closer to Wilt’s 100 than anyone else. Even though that alone doesn’t (or at least, shouldn’t) settle any debates, it definitely did sting my lingering inner fanboy that Kobe now had this over His Airness! Looking back, it was silly – and also pales in comparison to the ridiculous rhetoric parroted by puppets posing as analysts nowadays – but I hated that it had become a talking point in the debate. 20 years later, I can better appreciate Kobe’s legendary feat. In fact, given that he’s now often pushed aside in historical debates, I feel compelled to celebrate it!

Look, you can try to downplay the accomplishment of Kobe having an 81-point game against a lousy Raptors team that defended about as well as a turnstile that year. In all fairness, it very likely wasn’t happening against the Spurs or Pistons! Nevertheless, it still came against NBA competition. More to the point, Kobe’s Lakers weren’t exactly a stellar team themselves in 2006, though they were above .500 at 21-19 entering the game. Los Angeles trailed Toronto 63-49 at the half, at which point Kobe had scored 26. He then poured in 55 points in the second half to hit 81 on the night, erasing an 18-point deficit in the third quarter and carrying the Lakers to an epic 18-point win.

This has often been observed as a key difference between Kobe’s career night and Wilt’s 100-point game. While the latter is still unquestionably one of the NBA’s most iconic moments, it’s well-documented that Wilt was being force-fed the ball in the midst of a blowout in an effort to hit 100. Conversely, Kobe put a struggling team on his back, willing them to victory with his 81-point game. Bryant was also creating his own shots and knocking them down from all over the floor, whereas Chamberlain was being set up for attempts inside. Again, this isn’t to discredit’s Wilt’s legendary feat, but Kobe’s 81 was more organic, as well as an all-around impressive shooting display.

Of course, beyond scoring a single game career high of 80+ points, there are some other parallels between Kobe’s 2006 season and Wilt’s 1962 campaign. Both players achieved their highest points per game averages in those seasons, sprinkling some huge scoring nights throughout the year. Wilt’s Warriors fared a little better, but both he and Kobe lost out on the MVP to players on more successful teams. Indeed, both Kobe and Wilt would lose to the MVP – Steve Nash and Bill Russell respectively – in the Playoffs. Kobe in particular was criticised, not only because the Lakers blew a 3-1 lead to the Suns, but for only taking three shots in the second half of the Game 7 loss.

In the wake of the defeat, Kobe’s passiveness in that game was seen as being petulant malicious compliance with Phil Jackson’s instructions for him to be a facilitator after splitting the first two games with the Suns. It was certainly uncharacteristic for Kobe, who’d scored 40 or more in 27 games that year, dropped 50 in the Game 6 loss, and was willing and able to carry them to victory with an 81-point outing. Just as Wilt’s 100-point game and 50.4 ppg average were countered by a Playoff loss to Russell’s Celtics in which he “only” averaged 33.6 ppg, Kobe’s apparent protest performance as the Lakers lost the series cast a shadow over his 81-point game, and incredible year.

If nothing else, like Wilt before him, it allowed Kobe’s critics to paint him as a great player who was nevertheless too selfish to lead a winning team. It definitely didn’t help that Shaquille O’Neal – traded to Miami after the culmination of his feud with Kobe – won the title that year with the Heat. Since then, there have been compelling arguments that Kobe wasn’t sulking or giving up, and that such a reputation wasn’t deserved long before he silenced his critics in 2009 and 2010. Moreover, while Kobe and the Lakers losing that series mattered more at the end of the season than beating a lottery-bound team in January, it didn’t render his 81-point game totally meaningless.

On the contrary, it’s a timeless example of how fun and exciting the regular season can be! It shows that on any given night, something incredible and historical could happen. This is why I’m baffled at so many fans finding the regular season boring nowadays, and suggestions that the NBA Cup is needed to maintain interest to be a damning indictment of the current generation. Granted, not every game is going to be one for the ages, and Kobe having an 81-point outing stands out even among classic contests. Once again though, that potential to see something great, or maybe even truly incredible, is why I’ll never understand the indifference to the regular season.

I really must emphasise how video games actually offer further proof of how amazing Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game was. As I said, it’s the kind of game that we’re inclined to describe as a “video game performance”, which makes sense as inflated stats are not uncommon on the virtual hardwood. However, as I discovered eight years ago, it isn’t necessarily easy to successfully and faithfully replicate that 81-point night with video game Kobe! It depends on the game and the settings of course, but matching or besting his efficient 28-of-46 from the field, 7-of-13 from downtown, and 18-of-20 from the foul line, and picking up the victory, can be a worthy challenge on the sticks.

To that end, a few days after the 81-point game, NBA.com threw down that challenge, tasking gamers to top the new second-highest single game mark for points with virtual Kobe. The challenge could be undertaken in any of the 2006 season sim games: NBA Live 06, NBA 2K6, or NBA 06.  In the case of NBA Live, we could play on either PC or console. Any quarter length setting up to eight minutes was permissible, while the difficulty needed to be at least one level above the easiest option. After tackling the challenge, gamers were invited to email their results – along with screenshots of the feat and other relevant details – so that the best performances could be spotlighted.

There’s something really nostalgic about looking back at that challenge on NBA.com. Obviously there’s the choice between multiple sim games, but there’s also something magical – innocent, even – about inviting gamers to set up the scenario themselves and tackle it for fun, rather than a specific title offering it as a challenge with an in-game reward. NBA Live 06 being the highlighted game, as well as PC being mentioned so prominently, is likewise a fun throwback to a bygone era. And of course, challenging gamers to jump on the sticks and replicate a recent performance with a player’s virtual counterpart shows how sim games were once all about enthusiasm for the real NBA.

That’s not to say that I don’t believe challenge modes and live service content have a place in modern games. Greed is an issue – particularly with the latter – but they keep a game fresh and engaging throughout its release cycle. There’s something undeniably nostalgic about the idea of seeing an amazing game in real life and then eagerly firing up your sim game of choice to re-play your own version of it, though. It speaks to an intertwined love of basketball and video games that isn’t necessarily true of the entire NBA 2K userbase these days. Not to gate-keep here, but NBA 2K’s rise in popularity has drawn a contingent of gamers that don’t care about realism, or even the NBA.

As for the 81-point game, it was oddly absent from NBA 2K24’s Mamba Challenge that celebrated the career of Kobe Bryant. Matching or besting the 81-point game with Kobe was an Achievement/Trophy in NBA Live 10, despite the fact he was the cover player for NBA 2K10. Ironically, NBA 2K10 didn’t feature such a challenge, though there was an Achievement/Trophy for scoring 50 or more with Bryant. Beyond video games, the 81-point game is a fond memory for countless Kobe fans, and basketball fans in general. I remember it being one of the classic games that ESPN broadcast during the pandemic shutdown, which of course was only weeks after Kobe’s passing.

20 years ago, I didn’t appreciate Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game as much as I should’ve. To be completely honest, I could say that of Kobe in general. Again, outside of Lakers fandom, he was frequently cast as the villain; a role that he clearly relished as it rarely prevented him from playing his best and silencing hostile crowds. Even with many fans warming up to him later on in his career or after he retired, Kobe will always be a controversial figure, for reasons that go beyond basketball. When it comes to hoops though, Kobe Bryant’s resume is impressive even without that 81-point game. On that January night 20 years ago however, he added something truly special to his legacy.

The post Wayback Wednesday: Kobe Bryant’s 81-Point Game, 20 Years Later appeared first on NLSC.