The NBA’s 5 Greatest individual performances at Madison Square Garden
By Adam Kester
#2: Kobe drops 61 at Madison Square Garden
An iconic player with a number of iconic games. Kobe Bryant’s 61 points at Madison Square Garden on February 2nd, 2009 was one of his most legendary performances.
The Bernard King 60 point performance was an MSG record for 25 years until Kobe came to town.
This was an electric game from two of the NBA’s most significant franchises. It’s not often that the Knicks get to square off against the Lakers but it’s always special when they do.
This was prime Jack Bauer Kobe. While the show 24 may have been past its prime at this point, Kobe Bryant was still hungry to keep going.
The Lakers hadn’t won a championship since Shaquille O’Neal left town and this would be the year that Kobe Bryant would do it without him, for the first time.
The Knicks would go toe-to-toe with this formidable Lakers squad.
While this was still a transitional year for the Knicks as they moved from the Isaiah Thomas squad into the Mike D’Antoni era, they played the Lakers hard, but it didn’t matter.
You know what Kobe does. Wide jab steps, focused rip-throughs, elite step-back jump shots, unstoppable drives to the rim — he’s unguardable.
It was a balanced scoring outburst all night long. Kobe had 18 points in the1st quarter, 16 in the 2nd, 12 in the third, 15 in the 4th. Slowly twisting the knife all night. He shot 19 of 31 from the field.
Just another day in the office for one of the game’s greatest players.