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ESPN.com - NBA - Recap - Raptors at Lakers

when kobe outscored the mavs solo through three quarters a few weeks back, i think everyone had that little tingle in the back of their minds. what if he hadn't sat the fourth? he was on pace for 80 for god's sake, would that have been possible? would he have made it?

alas, it simply became more fodder and speculation for the talk radio shows.

now there's nothing to wonder about.

81 points.

against the raps last night, kobe dropped 81 in 42 minutes, tallying the second highest total in NBA history. yes, really -- since dr. naismith invented basketball using peach baskets in a Canadian Heritage commercial.

if the stats themselves don't floor you (81 points on 28-46 shots, with 7 treys while going 18-20 from the line) then watch this game again on ESPN classic -- they could replay it tomorrow and it would be fitting -- and notice the manner in which kobe performed during his record breaking 42 minutes.

this was not just a perfect storm of circumstances. sure, the raptors aren't a great team, but they aren't exactly pylons either. it's not as if kobe was just throwing it up, sinking them, then laughing and shrugging his shoulders as if in some sort of magically annointed trance. no, he did this conciously, and the scary part is that he did it with relative ease.

the dallas game and his league leading scoring average only further the evidence that this performance confirms what that mavs game had us wondering but not truly considering -- could it be that.....this isn't simply the case of a player getting ridiculously hot? are we finally just seeing what he knew all along but we refused to believe? are we simply just witnessing kobe in his prime?

watching last nights game, you got the impression that number 8 could go out and do this every single night if he wanted. it was no fluke that he scored 81, every point was earned. and that's frightening.

not long ago, kobe was in the same league as OJ and Michael Jackson -- crazy ecentric rich black guy.

but in 42 minutes, kobe managed to turn himself into a living legend. the way that people now talk about oscar robertson, jerry west, wilt, kareem, and yes -- michael jordan, is how people will now one day remember kobe.

tomorrow kids in playgrounds everywhere will be pretending they're kobe, fading away and raining jimmy's on their friends all over the world. when i'm old, i'll still be able to say to my grandkids "i remember watching that game kobe dropped 81 on our asses, back when toronto had a team".

and i'll tell them about how it looked like he was a video game with a cheat code on, driving at will, pulling up and hitting seemingly every shot he took from anywhere on the court. drawing fouls, breaking down double teams and shrugging off collapsing defenses as if they were school girls trying to tickle him.

do i like kobe? no. actually i hate him as a player. but what he did last night was nothing short of epic. and just in time for his new signature shoes to come out.

most will say that this won't be the last legend written in kobe's storybook career. but it was the first. and anytime you get to witness that unfold -- it transforms from just being a game, into something magical.

in other news, the sixers beat the timberwolves at the buzzer last night on a game winning shot by andre iguodala. the final score?

86-84.