Kobe Bryant ended his career as one of the NBA’s all-time great scorers. Antawn Jamison’s career didn’t close with quite the same accolade. For one night in 2000, though, both players looked like two of the greatest scorers in NBA history.
The Dec. 6, 2000 showdown between Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers and Jamison’s Golden State Warriors featured both players going for 51 points. For Jamison, it was his second straight 50-point game, as he dropped 51 points on the Seattle Supersonics two days before. In accomplishing that feat, Jamison became one of eight players (Rick Barry, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Bernard King and Bryant are the others) to score 50 in back-to-back games.
For Bryant, it was an equally notable feat as this was the first 50-point game in his career (he’d go on to notch 24 more in his career, including six games of 60-plus points).
The Warriors wound up winning this contest 125-122 as Jamison and Bryant traded six straight high-pressure scores in the final two minutes of overtime.
“I never imagined me doing this,” Jamison said after the game. “I think this is going to open a lot of people’s eyes.”
“It was a shootout. We played no defense,” Bryant said. “It’s disappointing.”
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