Kobe Bryant is retiring after this season, and when he does the game will be losing one of its all-time greatest players. The longtime Laker, 5-time NBA Champion, 11-time first-team All-NBA selection, and former MVP ranks only slightly behind Michael Jordan in terms of greatest shooting guards in NBA history.
Sure, Bryant wasn’t always regarded as the best teammate or most likable player, but he delivered on the court. Here are his seven best moments.
7. Dec. 20, 2005: 62 in Three Quarters Against Dallas
With Shaquille O‘Neal a member of the Heat by this time, the Lakers were unquestionably Kobe’s team—and not much else. Suddenly in a mediocre squad, Bryant won a pair of scoring titles in 2006 and ’07, and this was his second-greatest scoring performance during that time period—18 of 31 from the floor and 22 for 25 from the stripe in a win where the Lakers held a 34-point lead after three quarters. There was no need for Bryant to play in the fourth, and so he didn’t.
6. April 30, 2006: The Game 4 Winner Against Phoenix
Up 2–1 in the series as the seven-seed against the second-seeded Suns, the Lakers needed to make every shot count in Game 4 to keep momentum on their side and Bryant was up to the task. Down 90–88 with 7.9 seconds left and with Phoenix inbounding the ball, the Lakers got a steal. Bryant ended up with the ball at the other end and hit an impossible-looking, high-arching layup over and around a pair of defenders to force overtime. Then in the extra period, the Lakers trailed 98–97 with just 6.1 ticks left when Bryant ran down a loose ball at mid-court (following a jump ball) and ran down and hit the game-winning jumper as time expired.
5. March 28, 2003: 55 Against Jordan
Bryant was always compared to Jordan, and in MJ’s final season the 24-year-old Bryant salivated at the opportunity to play against him one more time. Although Jordan was 40 by this point, he put up 23 in the loss as Bryant torched him and the Wizards for 55 big ones while draining nine threes in a 108–94 Lakers win.
