In January 2006, Kobe Bryant, of the Los Angeles Lakers, stunned the NBA and scored 81 points in a 122-104 win over the Toronto Raptors at the Staples Center, home to the LA Lakers. His tally of 81 marked the second-highest scoring total in a single game in NBA history, only to be bettered by Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game for the Philadelphia Warriors in a 169–147 win over the New York Knicks in March 1962.
Bryant’s feat, which is all the more remarkable when considering that he sat out the first six minutes of the second quarter, saw the Lakers turn an 18-point second-half deficit into an 18-point victory. As of 2016, nobody has come close to beating the 81 points set by Bryant since the 2005-06 season.
LOWLIFE MAGAZINE 