By scoring 60 points in a 121-119 win over Memphis on Thursday, Kobe Bryant became the first player since Michael Jordan in April of 1987 to score 50-plus points in three straight games.

At this rate, Bryant has a chance to become the greatest scorer the NBA has ever seen.

Let that marinate for a minute.

The G.O.A.T. of the NBA. Top of the totem pole. Best of the bunch.

Bryant has the opportunity to be better than Wilt with his 50-point single-season average. More accomplished than Kareem and his 38,387 total points. Even more prolific than MJ who dropped 63 points in the playoffs and caused another guy who wasn’t too shabby at scoring himself, Larry Bird, to say it was like playing against James Naismith, er, God, disguised as Michael Jordan.
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March 24, 2007

Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times reports, "He'd just heard someone in the Lakers' locker room say he needed 118 points Friday against the New Orleans Hornets to tie Wilt Chamberlain for most points ever in a four-game span. He weighed the comment with a slight smile, shook his head, and buried his face back under a towel."

John DeShazier of The Times-Picayune writes, "We don't have to like Kobe Bryant to love what we're seeing, don't have to acknowledge him as one of the greats to understand we're seeing a once-in-a-lifetime show, don't have to be students of the game to understand class is in session and Bryant is a professor, schooling kindergartners."

Ross Siler of the L.A. Daily News makes this observation, "If Kobe Bryant can step on the court and score 50 points as if on command and play 47 minutes in the second game of a back-to-back set, then the greatest show in basketball might have a longer run than expected. "

Meanwhile, Bloomberg.com's Dan Bollerman notes that "Los Angeles Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in National Basketball Association history to score at least 50 points in at least four straight games."

Sports Illustrated.com's Kelly Dwyer has Kobe Bryant rising from the fourth to the second spot in the NBA Player Rankings. Check out he had to say:

Finally, Kevin Ding writes in the Orange County Register, "If those old Kobe Bryant comparisons to Michael Jordan were too numerous and premature, perhaps this is the point in Bryant’s career when the discussions should resume in earnestness."

March 23, 2007

John DeShazier of the New Orleans Times-Picayune says the denizens of the Delta are fortunate to have the Kobe buzz in the New Orleans Hive tonight, "Because the deal we get tonight still is a pretty sweet one. First off, the extraterrestrial that is Kobe has landed and if nothing else, he's worth the price of admission a few times over."

Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman notes that Bryant's three-game tear bloomed from the one thing Kobe despised most: losing, "The Lakers' star guard helplessly watched the Nuggets throw garbage-time alley-oops that only added embarrassment to what ultimately resulted in the team's seventh straight loss and 13th defeat in 16 games."

Mike Bresnahan of the L.A. Times writes, "Just when you think you've seen it all from Bryant over the last year or so — an 81-point game last season, a share-the-ball mind-set this season — he jumped into history again with three consecutive games of 50 or more points. The big question that nobody can answer: Will it continue?"

Meanwhile, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Sekou Smith is changing up his postseason hardware opinions, "Kobe went bonkers again (more in a minute), the NCAA Tourney games were sick, and a late night call from Tyronn Lue has forced me to rethink my MVP stance."

Sure Kobe is great, but what about his teammates? Steve Springer writes in the L.A. Times, "Mychal Thompson isn't about to compare this Laker team with the squads he played on. Kobe Bryant is probably the only current Laker who could have started on the 1987 and 1988 championship squads on which Thompson played."

Finally, Ross Siler writes in the Daily Breeze, "Who would have guessed when Kobe Bryant made the jump to the NBA out of Lower Merion (Pa.) High back in 1996 that he would redefine March Madness all these years later?"