For all of his great talents and skills, Kobe Bryant was never really known as a great 3-point shooter at any point in his career.
He had a lifetime accuracy of 32.9 percent from beyond the arc, which was considered mediocre back in his era and would be considered pretty bad by today’s standards.
However, Bryant was also a streaky 3-point shooter, and when he got hot, he was as great a 3-point shooter as anyone who has ever touched a basketball.
On Jan. 7, 2003, the Los Angeles Lakers would take on the Seattle SuperSonics, and Bryant would show off the damage he could do from the outside when his shot was on.
He got off to a slow start, scoring just four points on 2-of-7 shooting in the first quarter. But in the second quarter, he started to go into volcano mode, putting up 18 points on 6-of-7 from the field, including a perfect 6-of-6 from downtown.
That marksmanship helped the Lakers take a 60-45 lead at halftime.
Afterward, Bryant continued his onslaught with 20 third-quarter points by hitting five more treys. He then hit his 12th triple of the night in the fourth quarter, setting an NBA record for the most such shots made in a single game.
His 45 points on 16-of-28 overall shooting gave L.A. a much-needed 119-98 victory.
Bryant’s record of 12 made 3-pointers in a game would stand for over a decade until Stephen Curry broke it during the 2016-17 season. Curry’s teammate Klay Thompson would then break his record by hitting 14 in a single contest two years later.
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Story originally appeared on LeBron Wire
