April 2, 2013
34 years, 222 days
On a night when former teammate Shaquille O’Neal had his jersey retired by the Lakers, Kobe Bryant still managed to soak up much of the spotlight.
Bryant racked up 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to lead the Lakers’ 101-81 beatdown of Dallas.
“I wish I could (have seen the jersey ceremony), but this is a huge game for us,” Bryant told the media. “I had to stay back here and get ready for the second half. We talked when I came in at halftime. We stopped and chopped it up for a couple of minutes.”
Bryant sat just one minute during the 19th triple-double of his career, still finding time to tally four steals and a pair of blocks.
With Steven Nash and Metta World Peace sitting due to injuries, the team relied heavily on its bigs, who delivered.
Dwight Howard (24 points, 12 rebounds), Earl Clark (17 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks) and Pau Gasol (14 points, 10 rebounds, six assists) all tallied double-doubles to complement Bryant’s stat-stuffing.
Meanwhile, no Maverick scored 15 points. The Lakers also dominated the glass, pulling down 19 offensive rebounds to key a 57-37 disparity on the boards.
Dallas trailed for most of the game and chipped the Lakers’ lead to 85-76 with four minutes left. But it was all over from there, as L.A. ended on a 16-5 run.
Kobe performances on this day in history: