The late Kobe Bryant’s 2005-06 season was one of the greatest individual seasons in NBA history.
That year, he averaged 35.4 points a game, leading the league in scoring, and although he was a volume shooter all season long, he still managed to hit a solid 45.0 percent of his field goal attempts and post a 55.9 true shooting percentage.
It was a season in which Bryant had six games with at least 50 points, including a December game in which he outscored the Dallas Mavericks 62-61 through three quarters, and of course, his 81-point masterclass versus the Toronto Raptors in January.
But one that may have been forgotten was a late season contest against the Portland Trail Blazers.
With just three games left in the schedule, L.A. was 42-37, and after it looked like the team was in danger of missing the playoffs for the second year in a row, it was starting to round into shape.
To help ensure the Lakers would indeed return to the playoffs, Bryant went off for 50 points on 17-of-28 shooting and 5-of-10 from 3-point range in a 110-99 win.
In all, the team won 11 of its last 14 games, allowing it to finish with a 45-37 record and the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
The Lakers would fall just short of upsetting the much-superior Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs, but Bryant had taken his already-incredible game to an even higher level.
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