Let me preface this by saying you’ll never forget history. You may forget what you learn in history class, but when you witness history, you never forget it.
Last Friday, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers came to town to take on the New Orleans Hornets in the final game to be played in the New Orleans Arena in the 2006-07 NBA season.
It figured to be just a normal basketball game with no immediate impact. However, this night proved to be so much more for the 18,535 in attendance.
It became history.
Bryant became the first guard, and only the second person ever, to score 50 points in four consecutive NBA games. The only other person to do it was Wilt Chamberlain, and he averaged 50 points for the entire season, and since no one will ever come close to doing that again, let us focus on how amazing Bryant’s achievement was.
In a time when his team started to struggle, Bryant put the Lakers on his back and proceeded to go on a scoring tear. He scored 65 against Portland, 50 against Minnesota, 60 against Memphis the night before the Hornets game and then 50 again.
His 50th point came on a tough fade-away jumper from the edge of the free throw line over the Hornets’ Rasual Butler.
It was a shot that wasn’t supposed to go in. But Bryant made it look routine. Just as he did with various other shots throughout the night that would make a normal player’s head hurt. He shot from all around as he appeared to be playing a game of “Around the World” with his first four or five made baskets.
What made this night special was despite the fact he dropped 50 points, you wouldn’t have known it unless you were following his stats all night. It was the “quietest” 50-point game in NBA history.
When my friend Mike nudged me in the third quarter and said, “Dude, Kobe’s already got 37,” I wouldn’t believe him even if the scoreboard above my head said he did. It just didn’t seem as if he had that many. It just shows you how good he is.
For Bryant, the four consecutive games come after Bryant was suspended for the second time this season for throwing an elbow after a shot. There was some speculation around the league that Bryant’s outburst had something to do with him not wanting to “be a dirty player.”
Whether or not he was dropping 50 like it was nothing because he needed to get his team back in the playoff race or because he was trying to make quick waste of the dirty player comments, watching Bryant do it was an amazing moment.
No one there will dispute that. Not me. Not Mike. Not the two Loyola students who will remain nameless and were holding “Kobe 4 MVP” signs. Not the Loyola’s Women’s Basketball Team who was honored before the game. You know why?
Because we saw history, and we’ll never forget it.
