"It was something very simple": Kobe Bryant once dropped 63 points when he was 8 years old because he figured out one thing
Kobe Bryant, the legendary LA Lakers player, had numerous 60-point games during his remarkable 20-year NBA career. However, according to Bryant himself, his first 60-point game came long before he entered the professional basketball world.
In a dug-up interview, Bryant said that the first time he scored 60+ points came when he dropped 63 points at just eight years old:
“I scored my first 60-point game when I was eight,” Bryant said.
Bryant’s revelation left the interviewer in shock, after which she confirmed if she had heard him correctly:
“Yeah, I had 63 when I was eight,” Bryant reiterated.
When asked if he was aware of his exceptional basketball abilities at that young age, Bryant attributed his success to a simple strategy. Recognizing that most eight-year-olds struggled with dribbling using their left hand, he focused on exploiting this weakness when playing defense.
By forcing opponents to switch to their weaker hand, he was able to steal the ball and score easy transition baskets, resulting in impressive point totals.
“Nah, it was something very simple that I figured out at eight years old, it was that other eight-year-olds can’t dribble with their left hand,” Bryant said.
“So, it was something that simple for me. And so, when I was guarding the ball — I always made sure to guard the ball during the game — I would just let them have a couple of dribbles with their right hand and then jump on their right hand and make them change over to their left. And they would bobble the ball and fumble the ball. I’d pick it up and go lay it up. I just did this all game and so, I wound up with 63.”
@LakeShowFamily)Kobe talking about how he dropped 63 points when he was 8 years old;
“It was something very simple that I figured out at 8 years old is that other 8-year-olds can’t dribble with their left hand.”
(🎥 @LakeShowFamily)
pic.twitter.com/IW9hPWLOPJ
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How many 60-point games did Kobe Bryant have in the NBA?
As for how many times Kobe Bryant scored 60+ points in the NBA, he did so on six occasions.
Bryant’s first career 60-point game came on Dec. 20, 2005, when he scored 62 points in just three quarters against the Dallas Mavericks.
His last 60-point game then famously came during his final game on April 13, 2016, against the Utah Jazz. Bryant was 37 years and 234 days old at the time, making him the oldest player to reach the 60-point mark by a considerable margin.
In between, Bryant also famously dropped a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006. To this day, Bryant’s 81-point game marks the second-highest scoring game in NBA history behind only NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain (100 points).
Bryant’s total of six career 60-point games also ranks second behind Chamberlain, who finished with an NBA record 32 60-point games over 14 seasons.
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