Kobe: 'I should have had 90 points or more' in historic outing

The 2005-06 Toronto Raptors were not a good basketball team, but the Los Angeles Lakers of the same year weren't exactly world-beaters either. They did have Kobe Bryant at his apex, however. On Jan. 22, 2006 - 10 years ago Friday - he dropped the second-most points in a game in NBA history - 81 - on those Raptors.

To this day, Bryant believes he could have hit 90 - or maybe even entered Wilt Chamberlain territory with 100 points.

"I should have had 90 points or more," Bryant told Arash Markazi in an oral history of the game for ESPN. "I missed two free throws after making 62 straight. I had some open looks. I had some really open looks that I missed. I could have had more. There's a lot of easy opportunities I missed. I think 100 is possible. I absolutely do. If I hadn't sat out those six minutes in the first half, maybe I would have had it."

Beyond Bryant, the '05-'06 Lakers were a below-average squad at best. Their second-leading scorer was Lamar Odom. After that, it was Smush Parker. That's why a 27-year-old Kobe took 27.2 shots and scored 35.4 points per game that season - both career highs.

The Raptors actually led the game by 14 at halftime. Bryant had scored 26 of the Lakers' 49 points in the first half before dropping 55 of the team's 73 second-half points. The inability of Toronto defenders to stop him, coupled with then-coach Sam Mitchell's refusal to double-team him sealed the Raptors' fate.

"There were discussions about who should guard Kobe," Jalen Rose - a former Raptor who has been vocal about his experience in the game in the past - said.

"But how about this? Look at their roster, and who are they? There's not too much to talk about. My opinion - and I said it multiple times during that game - how about we consider double-teaming him? As a matter of fact, triple-teaming him? Allow Smush Parker, allow Luke Walton, allow - how about this? We didn't get the memo. Once he got hot, it was curtains."