But Kobe faked three or four times, got me standing on my feet and as soon as he went up and I knew it was coming, he already had the angle he needed to have. Usually, if a guy pump fakes once or twice, there’s another guy calling for the ball. Peterson: When I was checking Kobe a few times, his patience was so beyond other guys. Our thinking was, “Do we try to stop the player or try to win the game?” It seemed like at the time what we were doing was working okay. Shouldn’t we change what we’re doing? But we were like no, we’re still in this game, we’re still ahead. Triano: At one point we were like, man he’s got 50. Swirsky: Kobe’s mentality was such that he refused to lose. Kobe’s going down the other end and knocking ‘em down. I was passing more, not shooting, but nobody’s making shots. James: In the second half, I was thinking, let’s get Chris Bosh more into the game, get Jalen and Mo Pete some plays instead of trying to make plays for myself. It probably rubbed Kobe the wrong way that the Raptors weren’t a particularly good team, and they were off to a good start in his house. Mike James was having himself a game, hitting five threes in the first half, had 19 points at halftime and the Raptors were up 63-49. REMEMBER THAT NIGHT WE WENT FOR A DRIVE TVNorma Wick (Raptors TV host/sideline reporter): The Lakers were looking pretty lethargic in the first half. They were like, “What’s going on here? We’re not winning and we should be winning against the Raptors.” Triano: I remember the Lakers crowd not being into the game early on. Paul Graham (Raptors TV producer): I do remember that first half and the Raptors were pretty good in it and our storyline at that point was honestly the Raptors had a chance to beat the Lakers. James: We had a really good first half, but what I did notice was Kobe had a relentlessness in his eyes, like a weird look in his eyes. I came back in the game and got another foul, so I couldn’t be as aggressive on defence as I wanted to be. Morris Peterson (Raptors guard): I was defending Kobe, but I got two fouls early in the game so I was never really in the mix of the game like I would have wanted to. We thought the best way is probably to just stay at home and guard him one-on-one, don’t double-team him. We had talked about it as a coaching staff and it was like, how are we going to beat this team? Kobe Bryant is so good. Jay Triano (Raptors assistant coach): I remember the strategy. Phil Jackson came back with his board and it said: Kobe 62, Dallas 61. I’m sure he was thinking, “Ooh, I can do that in three quarters? I’m going out soon to get me 100.”Īlex McKechnie (Lakers athletic performance co-ordinator): In December against Dallas, at the end of the third quarter the score was 95-61. Mike James (Raptors guard): Kobe had a 62-point game against the Dallas Mavericks right before that and they only had to play him for three quarters in that one. Paul Jones ( Raptors radio/TV broadcaster): I asked the Lakers communications guy, “Hey who’s here tonight?” And he was like, "On a Sunday night in January against Toronto?” That’s when all the celebrities are off skiing in Vail. Most players that time of year are sore, tired and their bodies and minds are just dragging. It was up against NFL conference-championship games, as the Seattle Seahawks were battling the Carolina Panthers and the Pittsburgh Steelers were fending off the Denver Broncos to claim their spots in Super Bowl XL.Ĭhuck Swirsky (Raptors radio/TV play-by-play voice): And it was late January, the dog days of the NBA season when the all-star break is just around the corner. BROWN/The Associated Press THE FIRST HALFĪ game between the 21-19 Lakers and the visiting 14-26 Raptors got low billing that day in the sports world. Toronto Raptors' Matt Bonner can't stop Kobe Bryant from getting to the basket in the first half of their historic clash in Los Angeles.
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