Roundtable: What Was Your Favorite Kobe Performance?

The OTG team came together to celebrate the life and career of Kobe Bryant with a 3-part roundtable series.

What was your favorite Kobe performance?

Jeremy Freed/@JeremyFreed3: My favorite Kobe memory was an early one -- winning the Slam Dunk Contest in 1997. The 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland celebrated the 50th anniversary of the league, so the stars were out in force. The league had the 50 greatest players in league history all in town, a heady accumulation of basketball greatness.

I was in 8th grade at the time and was lucky enough to be in attendance. This rookie who had just graduated from high school was intensely interesting -- it was the first time I viewed a professional athlete as a peer.

Kobe just owned the place. Sauntering, strutting, throwing down a winning through-the-legs dunk -- at a time when dunk contests were pretty sub-par -- it blew away the other players, stars, adults. And that kid wearing the #8 jersey? Of all the stars there, he stuck with me the most.

Jonathan Ebrahimi/@awrashoo: Of course, the first thing that came to mind was the 81-point showing against my Toronto Raptors in 2006. That game, in my opinion, is the single greatest regular season performance of all time. Then there was the 2009 All-Star game where Kobe and Shaq shared MVP honors and really seemed to bury the hatchet publicly.

However, I can’t say either was my favorite.

The final game of Kobe’s career was the perfect embodiment of the Black Mamba. Despite the injuries, despite the poor season, Kobe gave us all one last iconic performance that made even his most vicious haters smile.

The fact that it came against the Utah Jazz, the team he played when he air-balled those three-point shots in the playoffs 20 years prior, seemed so poetic and was just the perfect ending to his storybook career.

The fact that it came against the Utah Jazz, the team he played when he air-balled those three-point shots in the playoffs 20 years prior, seemed so poetic and was just the perfect ending to his storybook career.

Charles Allen/ @yourguycharles : My favorite Kobe performance was December 20, 2005, against the Dallas Mavericks. I was watching that game at home, and was in disbelief watching Kobe single-handedly outscore the entire Mavs team through three quarters. My team got stomped but watching Kobe that night was mesmerizing.

Alec Liebsch/@OwlecNBA: Many will put Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game against Toronto here, but I’ll go outside the box. His affair at Madison Square Garden on Feb, 2nd, 2009 was no less masterful, as Kobe poured in a Garden record 61points on just 31 shots.

He and Pau Gasol combined for 91, a ridiculous tally that few duos have outscored.

What made it more impressive was that the Lakers needed every single bucket from Kobe; they only won the game by nine. His aversion to 3-pointers on this night wouldn’t fly in 2020, but he got to the line 20 times...and made all 20 free throws.

Oh, and he also did this:

Musaab Nadeem/@mnadeem824: Kobe in Game 6 against the Suns to win the West in 2010. Boston had already punched its ticket to the Finals the night before, so Kobe had to vanquish the Suns if he was to get another crack at Boston.

Kobe finished with 37 that night, but it was the way he closed the game out that I’ll always remember. Like quintessential Mamba, he demanded the ball, was draped by the defense, and still nailed two impossible shots down the stretch to end the series. Phoenix could throw everything at him and he was still going to score. (He gave Alvin Gentry a smack on the rear to let him know.) The shots were stunning, the reaction was so cocky. And it was all so very Kobe.

Cody Kluge/ @cskluge757: There are so many great moments to choose from in Kobe’s career, but my favorite is the one he left us with. Kobe’s final NBA game against the Utah Jazz on April 13, 2016, defined who the Black Mamba was as a player and a person. Sure, the Lakers were not playing for anything, and people can argue that Gordon Hayward helped Kobe out, or that Bean shot 50 times, but to score 60 points in your last NBA game at age 37 is truly amazing.

Not only did Kobe score 60, but with his team down double-digits most of the game, he single-handedly willed the Lakers back for a victory. There just could not have been a more perfect note for one of the NBA’s greatest and most influential players to go out on.

Even growing up in Wisconsin, Kobe was my favorite player throughout my childhood. I will never forget sitting in my dorm room as Kobe captivated all of us in his final game. Tears of joy seeing my childhood idol performing so well filled my eyes. While the tragic events on Sunday turned those to tears of sorrow for many of us, the impact Kobe had on the NBA, the game of basketball, and the world as a whole will never be forgotten.

Khaleel Abdullah/@its_khaleel: I could name many, but as a Suns fan I’m going with January 10, 2012. The Suns played the Lakers and Kobe Bryant, who always came to play. But that night he was playing through injury, and not a minor one, a torn ligament in his shooting wrist. That didn’t stop him, as our D had nothing for him.

Bryant scored 48 points and the Lakers won 99-83. Kobe was 33 years old at the time. I hated him for it at the time, however, looking back on it, it was a special work of art.

Karin Abcarians/@KarinAbcarians: My favorite Kobe Bryant performance is when he scored 60 points in the final game of his incredible career. I remember all my emotions flowing that day as I was waiting for this game. I didn’t want it to come because it meant we’d be seeing Kobe in the Purple and Gold for the last time. As soon as Kobe began heating up I knew we were about to witness something special.

Seeing the fadeaways, threes, assists from teammates and so on was mesmerizing. The most incredible part of those 60 points was seeing how he just kept going, even though he was visibly exhausted. Seeing the Baby Lakers having the time of their lives, being part of this historic game was beautiful. When they hugged Kobe at the end, I was so happy. When he talked to the crowd and embraced former teammates and basketball legends, I couldn’t stop smiling. I was tearing up and felt so lucky to have witnessed a career like his.

Marc Cantave: Kobe Bryant had many great performances during his NBA career. It’s easy to choose nights like his 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors or his 62-point game in three quarters against the Dallas Mavericks, but one of my favorite performances from Kobe was in the 2006 playoffs.

In game four of the first round, the Lakers were up 2-1 on the Phoenix Suns. In the fourth quarter, the Lakers were down four points with 40 seconds left to play. I remember watching and thinking the game was over and the series would be tied 2-2, but Kobe had other plans.

Thanks to a steal by Smush Parker, Kobe was able to get the ball in his hands in the finals seconds and force the game into overtime with an unbelievable shot. In overtime, Kobe took over and hit one of the best shots I’ve ever seen. Kobe shot a fadeaway over two defenders to win the game at the buzzer.

The shot. The clenched fist. The eruption from the crowd. As a person who was rooting against him at that time, even I was in amazement. That was one thing about Kobe Bryant, love him or hate him, he was exciting to watch. One of my favorite Kobe performances ever.

Cam Wright/@CameronLeft_: Who could forget the 81-point night against the Raptors or the 60-point career finale followed by those hallowed words, “Mamba out”? However, there is one game that in my mind, was the tipping point for Kobe’s legacy that solidified him as the face of a generation, and that was Game 5 of the 2009 NBA Finals.

No, it wasn’t the 2010 rematch against the Celtics or the 2000 Finals against the Pacers, it was Kobe’s fifth game that gave him his fourth ring. In the game, Kobe recorded 30 points, six rebounds, five assists, four blocks, and two steals which at first glance seems to be a solid enough performance, but doesn’t seem to be anything special in the scope of Kobe’s career. This game held more than just statistical importance, it held Bryant’s legacy in the balance.

Kobe had won three rings with Shaq at the turn of the century, and an MVP in 2008. Yet, there was still a looming idea that Kobe had not reached legend status because he had not won a championship as the sole leader of a team. In typical Kobe fashion, he stepped up to the challenge and crushed it with a 4-1 shutdown of a talented Magic squad. It was a giant step for his status not only as an athlete, but an American icon of success and hard work.

Kobe may be gone, but he as well as his daughter Gigi live on in the hearts of millions across the globe. He lives on the park-courts to the professional arenas, from youth camps to World Championships.

Kyle Russell/@kbrheatnation: I will always remember Kobe’s final game. The first player in decades to take 50 shots in a game. Ending his career with a 60-point explosion for the win. His final points coming off free throws, as his first points did. For someone that didn’t grow up seeing Kobe, I felt like that game gave me an idea of what he was like, an absolute gunslinger that was always willing to shoot. I’ve gone back and seen plenty of highlights to know how great he was, but the final game of his career is what sticks with me. He went out the way he came in, shooting with no hesitation.