Twenty years ago, Kobe Bryant did the unthinkable.
On Jan. 22, 2006, the NBA legend took the court for the Lakers at Staples Center in Los Angeles and dropped 81 points in a stunning performance against the Raptors.
He heaved up 46 shots and made 28 of them, including seven 3-pointers. He tacked on 18 free throws as well.
Bryant also logged six rebounds, two assists, three steals and a block during the jaw-dropping day on the hardwood.
Two decades later, the NBA world is still in awe of what he did, with the league’s YouTube account calling it “immortal” while encouraging hoops fans to “relive” the evening with a 28-minute highlight video.
The Lakers, too, encouraged fans to remember all 81 points by resharing some of the live tweets Bryant penned while watching a replay of the game on its seventh anniversary.
In one of the posts, Bryant wrote that he had missed some “easy shots” and “could of had 100 pts!”
In another, he wrote that he was so hot, he “wouldn’t pass a kidney stone.”
When he was ultimately asked what it was like to rewatch the game, Bryant wrote, “I felt like I was looking at a Salvador Dali painting.”
The Lakers erected a permanent homage to the feat in February 2024, when they raised a statue outside Crypto.com Arena that featured an image of Bryant from the historic game.
