Nightly Notable: Kobe Bryant scored 61 points vs the Knickers

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pennyccwnba
February 03, 2009

Bernard King will want to read on, because it was his 24-year-old scoring record at the new Madison Square Garden that fell Monday night at the hands of Kobe Bryant. Michael Jordan will want to r...

Bernard King will want to read on, because it was his 24-year-old scoring record at the new Madison Square Garden that fell Monday night at the hands of Kobe Bryant.

Michael Jordan will want to read this one all the way through, too, because it was his record -- the most points by a Knicks opponent -- that also fell on this night, a surreal evening when the Lakers recovered from a piece of devastating news by riding the back of one of the game's all-time great players, a living legend who put on an absolutely brilliant offensive performance.

The question they'll want answered: What got into Kobe?

What exactly motivated Bryant to score 61 points in the Lakers' 126-117 victory over the New York Knicks?

The answer, actually, is fivefold:

• The need to lift up his team following the news of Andrew Bynum's knee injury, which will sideline him 8-12 weeks, and the accompanying need to show the world that he can still carry the Lakers offensively like he could three or four years ago.

• His desire to not spend the rest of the night being berated by Spike Lee, since the two were scheduled to review Lee's latest documentary into the wee hours of the morning "and I didn't want to hear an earful from him, so that was added incentive. Seriously," Bryant said.

• Throughout the summer he spent with Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni on Team USA, it was a common occurrence for random players to predict they'd drop 50 on D'Antoni's team when they came to the Garden. Dwyane Wade was the only one to outright threaten to drop 50 on the Knicks (if D'Antoni did not give him enough playing time in Beijing), but several of the players chimed in with similar boasts. "Do not underestimate the trash talking that was going on between us this summer," Bryant said.

• The need to teach Knicks forward Wilson Chandler a lesson or two about what happens when an opponent makes Bryant look bad, as Chandler did on an isolation play to end the first quarter when he made a nifty block of Bryant's driving layup attempt. The next five or six times Bryant got the ball matched against Chandler, he buried every shot he took.

• His memory of an early-morning encounter with a Knicks fan in the weight room of the Four Seasons Hotel on Central Park South, where Bryant was working out Monday.

"There's a lot of electricity in this town now. I go to lift weights in the morning, and people aren't talking about how many points are you going to score tonight, they're talking about the Knicks getting a win. So D'Antoni has definitely come here and revitalized this city," Bryant said.

Actually, few if any single-night events over the past decade revitalized Madison Square Garden quite as much as this night did, though Knicks fans who were not in attendance will be sad/appalled/mortified to learn that at least half of the sellout crowd seemed to be favoring the Lakers, and the "M-V-P" chants echoing throughout the building occasionally bordered on the deafening.

Bryant claimed he had no idea the arena scoring record (set by King against New Jersey on Christmas Day in 1984) was within reach when he went to the line with 2:33 remaining and sank his final two free throws -- making him 20-for-20 from the line for the night, including 11-for-11 in the fourth quarter -- to reach 61 points, saying afterward that it was "a blessing" while joking that his career has progressed somewhat since he played his first game in the Garden as a rookie "nervous as heck and weighing about 80 pounds soaking wet."

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andruiab (3 months ago) Show Hide

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does anybody know the name of the song?

JHZ24 (3 months ago) Show Hide

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THE BEST in the nba since jordan left//////////

KGPF21 (5 months ago) Show Hide

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can you remember a good team that allowed 61 points? just askin.

dimedropper1992 (5 months ago) Show Hide

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Lakers allowed gilbert arenas to drop 60

KGPF21 (5 months ago) Show Hide

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hahaha, close, but not good enough XD

dimedropper1992 (5 months ago) Show Hide

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i don't think he needed to go anymore tho

TreyCH11 (5 months ago) Show Hide

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too fundamentally sound

rap08 (6 months ago) Show Hide

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I just love his TRIPLE-THREAT POSITION - JAB STEP - DRIVE BY - PIVOT THEN SHOOT AGAINST Wilson Chandler. :)

bodenga (7 months ago) Show Hide

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and lebron came in a few nights later and dropped 52 pts. so it's really not about the greatness of lebron and kobe or mike d'atoni's 7 seconds or less offense that puffs up everyones stats but a testament to how bad the knicks perimeter defense is. geezz guys you play in the basketball mecca for christ sakes

KobeBryantROXz (8 months ago) Show Hide

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what a night!
KOBE!!!!

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Nightly Notable: Kobe Bryant scored 61 points vs the Knickers

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