Kobe Bryant goes vintage in 38 point performance

Everybody knew the vintage Kobe Bryant game was coming. After a horrid start to the season he was starting to get his legs under him, and even though he’s still a shell of his former greatness, there have been flashes of the old Kobe here and there. Tonight, against the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves, Byrant went vintage. Ironically enough, his vintage performance came against a Sam Mitchell coached team. For those that might not know, Mitchell was the coach of the Toronto Raptors team that Bryant dropped 81 against.

Bryant’s 38 is a season high, and his seven three pointers was something he hadn’t done since he was tearing the NBA apart in 2008.

He even managed to tack on five rebounds, five assists, and two steals in a game that had everybody thinking about the good ole days. Even towards the end, as Minnesota made a run, Bryant was firing up heat checks just like he always has. In a funny moment, Kobe was simultaneously shooting the Lakers out of the game and keeping them in the game with his scoring. He took so many bad shots late in the game that, if he had been D’Angelo Russell, Byron Scott would have benched him for a week straight. But it’s Kobe, and everybody knows what he does. Just fire up shots.

This game also featured a passing of the guard moment of sorts. With time running down, Andrew Wiggins posted up Bryant and faded away in a way very reminiscent to Bryant. Turns out that he was the inspiration.

This might be the last great Kobe moment we get as his time is pretty clearly running out. We may get some more flashes, but it’s hard to see him repeating 38 points again this season. If this is Bryant’s true last hurrah then at least we got one last great game to remember him by.