On Jan. 22, 2006, Bryant scored 81 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' 122-104 victory over the Raptors. Wilt Chamberlain, with his 100-point performance for the Philadelphia Warriors in 1962, is the only player to score more in a single NBA game.
The significance of the achievement isn't lost on Bryant as he traverses his 20th and final NBA season. When he wrote a letter to fans this past November announcing his retirement, the photo behind the text was of him walking off the court after scoring 81 points -- his right arm stretched high with his index finger pointing to the sky. When he introduced the "Channel the Villain/Unleash the Hero" slogan for his final season with an online video, the opening scene featured him scoring his 81st point at the free throw line.
"It's really a testament to the power of imagination, honestly," Bryant told ESPN.com earlier...
This is essentially my response to the Pelton/Ford piece claiming that the Lakers have no young players aside from Russell who can become above average starters.
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Trying to make it as a professional athlete is inherently stressful. Jobs are scarce, competition fierce, and each and every mistake could be the one that costs you your spot and the millions of dollars that come with it. Factor in that most athletes are in their early twenties — or younger — when this mountain of pressure is heaped upon them, and it’s a wonder that we don’t see more crack under the strain.
The young players on the Los Angeles Lakers certainly aren’t exempt from the stress. Their coach, Byron Scott, practices “tough love,” believing that these moldable young men need to be pushed rather than nurtured. Public criticism outpaces compliments,...
LOS ANGELES — Someday, someone might recall the visual of D'Angelo Russell, relaxing outside the team hotel during his first year, reclining on a bellman's luggage cart of all places.
And the caption to the mental picture might be something about how unbelievably cool and unique Russell has always been—how even as a rookie he was perched like a rare bird on that cart, his creative flow unstoppable at any body angle and his confidence caged only when he so chooses.
Someone might bring up how Julius Randle
spent so much of this same season—his second, but really his first, in the NBA—with his powerful frame folded into the Los Angeles Lakers bench with his arm curled up for his hand to hold his chin, a regular pose not unlike that of Rodin's "The Thinker."
Except Randle's face openly and consistently showed what he was thinking: frustration. And so the story might go that we could see back then how Randle was always uncommonly...
The contracts of Metta, Tarik, and Huertas have a deadline some time this week - if they remain with the Lakers, their contracts become fully guaranteed. The report is that the Lakers will decide by Friday.
This bit of news coincides with the availability of the 10-day contract.
Peace has the most minutes at 294, but he hasn't set foot on the court since December 7th.
Huertas has logged 232 minutes, and he has appeared in 11 of the last 16 Lakers games.
Black has appeared in only 8 games, the last on 11/24. Black has dominated in the D-league, averaging 21.4 points, 13.2 rebounds, and shooting 60% from the floor in five games.
Reading a bit into recent comments from Mitch, it doesn't sound like Black is seen as part of this core going forward. Black seems like the most likely candidate to be removed from the team. I think it's a colossal mistake, mind you.
