Kobe Bryant: Best Game Ever?

A lot of writers have brought this up today, including (but not limited to!) Marc Stein and John Hollinger of ESPN, and I think it's an interesting discussion.

Hollinger's argument that Bryant's 81 was greater than Wilt's 100 is basically the following: Bryant was more efficient in his scoring (17 less FG attempts and 12 less FT attempts... in 6 less minutes). In Wilt's game, the Warriors fouled with the game out of hand in order to get the ball back for Wilt. And last, the game was totally different. When Wilt scored 100, it was a very fast paced game (169-147 was the final score), and Wilt was playing more against short white dudes.

And what's all this I hear about Kobe being a ballhog in this game? The man shot over 60% from the floor, his teammates shot 33%. The Lakers were down by double digits at the half, until Kobe went into "screw this, I have to win this by myself" mode, scored 55 second half points, and they won the game. Awesome.

Best performance ever? I don't know that I'd disagree.