"A better game than the 81-point game" — Jalen Rose on why Kobe's 62-point outburst against the Mavericks was better than his 81-point game

Much has been said about Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game. It was a pure display of offensive mastery. Bryant’s signature mid-range pullups, fadeaway jumpers, and acrobatic layups were all on display in that one fateful night against the Toronto Raptors. The twist was — it arguably wasn’t his best performance that season.

Jalen Rose prefers 62 over 81

That’s according to Jalen Rose, who has been relentlessly nagged over the years. Though he wasn’t matched up against Bryant the entire night, people still poke fun at him for being Bryant’s crash test dummy for 48 minutes.

Still, amid the terrible slander Rose has received over the years, the former Raptor has remained professional. He even offered a new perspective on Bryant’s 81-point game vis-a-vis his performance the entire 2005-06 NBA season. In his view, while Kobe’s 81-point outburst was great, his 62-point game against the Dallas Mavericks was his best offensive performance.

“Kobe Bryant was already erupting that year in the league,” Rose said, per ESPN. “Multiple games he scored 40-plus points. A better game than the 81-point game — that’s right, because we weren’t a playoff team; we weren’t competitive — was to put up 62 points in three quarters versus the Dallas Mavs, a team that went to the NBA Finals. Now, that’s work.”

The Raptors were actually one of the worst teams that year. They won just 27 games in the 2005-06 season and finished 12th in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors were still trying to rebuild around Chris Bosh and looking to find their identity.

Torching the Mavs

Meanwhile, the Mavericks were a contender that year and won 60 games. The team was led by a perennial All-Star, Dirk Nowitzki, who was surrounded by a solid supporting cast of Jason Terry, Devin Harris, Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse and more. Beating the Mavs, or any contender for that matter, was a big feat for a middling team like the Lakers.

And so Lakers vet Brian Shaw was appalled when Bryant refused to check back into the game to boost his stats. After all, he could’ve reiterated a finer point to his critics by dropping 70 or even 80 against a contender like Dallas.

“Brian was mad,” Bryant recalled. “He was like: ‘Man, are you crazy? You know what you could score tonight?’ I just said, ‘I’ll do it when we really need it.’ Brian was like, ‘What?!’ It was something that just rolled off my tongue because I trained extremely hard and the physical tools were there. I just felt like I could have a game like that again.”

“I felt like that the entire season,” Kobe said. “That season was a rare thing where my physical abilities matched up with the mental part of the game for me.”

Indeed, the 2005-06 season was a magical year for Kobe. When Shaquille O’Neal left LA, immense pressure was placed on Bryant’s shoulders. He dodged all the hate and criticism hurled at him. Rather than sulk in depression, the Black Mamba stayed in the gym for hours on end. The 2005-06 season was the year his hard work paid off. Through those scoring explosions, it dawned on critics that a new and exciting chapter was about to unfold in LA.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 28, 2025, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

“A better game than the 81-point game” — Jalen Rose on why Kobe’s 62-point outburst against the Mavericks was better than his 81-point game

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