50

 

Regarding the scoring, it seemed Kobe has done everything in his career. Yet he accomplished last night something he never did before.

Following his 65pt performance vs Portland, Kobe scored 50pts to lead L.A to a 109-102 victory over Minesota. He became the 1st Lakers player to record back to back 50pt games since Baylor in 1962.

He said: "I'm just being more aggressive at both ends of the floor. At this point in the season, it's important that I stress the sense of urgency that we have to have, and the type of emotion and energy that you have to play with."

The reigning scoring champion made 17 of 35 shots including 4 of 8 behind the arc. His 17pt 3rd quarter helped his team to lead by 19. But Minesota used a 16-4 run in the 4th and get within 3 in the closing minutes. But they never got closer after that and Kobe reached the 50pt mark for the 16th time in his career on a two handed dunk with 8 sec remaining.

Regarding his performance, Kobe gave credit to the return of Odom & Walton: "Luke and Lamar both make my life a lot easier when they're out there because they're so good at recognizing situations on the floor."

Both of them had strong games just like Smush. Each of the three starters almost had a triple double, something I guess has never happened in the league history. Odom finished with 16pts 9rbds 8asts while Walton recorded 10pts 8rbds & 11asts; Smush added 19pts (8/10) 7rbds & 9asts. L.A's 36asts beat Minesota's 25.

One more word on Kobe. With back to back 60-50, KB24 became the only player ever - other than Chamberlain - to accomplish the feat.