Just when you thought you'd seen it all

That's right Kobe, you are #1

Today's entry was going to encompass a lot of things, my weekend, the Michigan basketball win over Minnesota and the upcoming big two games against Michigan State and Wisconsin, the emergence and disappearance of the Michigan hockey team over back to back nights but that was all overshadowed by the one man that is taking over our sports lives, Kobe Bryant. The Lakers blew out the Toronto Raptors 122-104 which is not unusual considering how bad Toronto is, you could call the big comeback the bigger story as the Lakers were down 18 at halftime but no, that was all upstaged as Kobe scored 81 points! Let me repeat that again 81 points! 55 in the 2nd half alone!!!

Come on now, Matt Bonner's gonna try to stop me, are you serious?

Fortunately being in the Los Angeles area, I was able to watch the entire game, while the rest of the country was looking for highlights, and could not believe what was happening in front of my eyes. Kobe has been on a tear putting up almost 42 points a game since his suspension at the beginning of the year, coming into last night. But no one could have expected this. He had 26 in the first half and the Lakers were down 18 so I knew something was going to happen in the 2nd half. But these were the same Toronto Raptors that somehow held him to 11 points earlier in the year and this time he just decided to make up for the lack of points in the last meeting.

No one can stop the Kobe scoring machine!

Let's put this in perspective, this is the 2nd most points scored ever in the NBA. No one else except Wilt has hit 80 and part of me agrees with Marc Stein that this was the greatest performance ever. Wilt was able to just run down court, not worry about bringing the ball up and just get the ball on the low block and go to work. On the other hand Kobe brought the ball up a lot of times, had to do it on drives and on jumpers which are much lower percentage shots, but at the same time Kobe did have the 3 point line which was non-existent at the time, not like Wilt would've been taking 3's anyways. I am just continually amazed by what he can do and what he is doing right now. Kobe is just a scoring machine that cannot be stopped by anyone, I can't wait to see the next game on Friday, as he's ridiculously hot on this roll who knows maybe he could get to 90? 100?

You definitely need more than a double team.

The big thing was picking up the W though which was necessary after blowing the lead against Sacramento and then getting housed on Friday by the Suns. A loss to the Raptors would have been devastating, especially with 4 days off now until their next game against Golden State before they embark on a 7 game road trip which includes 3 back to backs, you'd think the league would do something about that. Next Sunday is a trip to Detroit, we'll see how the Pistons will handle the absolutely on fire Kobe Bryant, a win there would be HUGE.

Mo Pete? No chance, just stay down there and conserve your energy.