basketball
Anniversary of Bryant’s 81 points: Two NBA professionals outstanding
Strong: Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers set a season record with 70 points in a game. photo
© Matt Slocum/AP
Kobe Bryant’s 81 points are still the second best score by an NBA professional in a game. On the 18th anniversary, two current players achieve great things with returns beyond 60 points.
70 points from Joel Embiid, 62 from Karl-Anthony Towns – on the 18th anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s 81 points, there are two NBA stars created a spectacle. Embiid set a record for this season with his Philadelphia 76ers’ 133:123 win against the San Antonio Spurs – and thus clearly overshadowed the good performance of super talent Victor Wembanyama (33 points/7 rebounds).
Despite his personal best, Towns suffered a 125:128 defeat by the Minnesota Timberwolves against the Charlotte Hornets. The fact that two NBA professionals, him and Embiid, scored at least 60 points in one day was only the fourth time in the history of the best basketball league in the world.
Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in 2020, once had the second-best haul in NBA history for the Los Angeles Lakers. “Kobe has been my role model since I started playing basketball,” Embiid said. “He’s the reason I started. It’s funny that he got 81 on the same day and was my favorite player.”
Only Wilt Chamberlain was better than Bryant with 100 points in a game. Embiid has now overtaken Chamberlain as the Philadelphia 76ers’ record thrower and improved the team’s record by two points.
“My mindset every night is to be aggressive and attack both on offense and defense,” Embiid said. However, the duel with Wembanyama gave him additional motivation. The young Frenchman said he would have preferred to win. “But that was an inspiration, especially on offense.”
Defeats for German players
Things didn’t go so well for the German NBA professionals. The Wagner brothers Franz and Moritz lost with the Orlando Magic 99:126 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. World champion captain Dennis Schröder couldn’t prevent the Toronto Raptors from winning 100:108 against the Memphis Grizzlies. And Maxi Kleber lost with the Dallas Mavericks 110:119 against the Boston Celtics.