Mar 23-07: Kobe’s 4th 50+ Game in a Row

On March 15, 2007, the Lakers lost their 7th straight game and 13th of their last 16 games falling to a 33-32 record. Determined to make the playoffs, Kobe Bryant then carried the team through a 5 game winning streak that helped the Lakers tie for the last playoff spot that year.

From March 16-23, 2007, Kobe Bryant became only the second player in NBA history to score 50 points or more for four consecutive games. The streak ended on March 25, 2007 at the Staples Center when Kobe “only” scored 43 in the Lakers 115-113 win over Golden State.

Wilt Chamberlain is the only other player to do so, having had streaks of 7, 6 and 5 games over the 1961 and 1962 seasons. Bryant has had 24 50-point or higher games which is the third most in NBA history behind Chamberlain (118) and Jordan (31).

Bleacher Report rated Kobe’s performance one the 10 Most Dominant performance stretches in NBA History.

I’m not sure we will ever see Wilt’s streak of seven consecutive 50-point games broken. Partly because the game is different now, but mostly because if anyone were to, it would have been Kobe in his prime.

THE STREAK

Date	Opp	Result
3/16		Lakers 116-111 (OT)
Kobe Points	Assists	Reb
65	3	7
FGs	3Pts	Ft
23-39	8-12	11-12

Date	Opp	Result
3/18		Lakers109-102
Kobe Points	Assists	Reb
50	3	6
FGs	3Pts	Ft
17-35	4-9	12-14

Date	Opp	Result
3/22		Lakers 121-119
Kobe Points	Assists	Reb
60	4	5
FGs	3Pts	Ft
20-37	3-7	17-18

Date	Opp	Result
3/23		Lakers 111-105
Kobe Points	Assists	Reb
50	1	7
FGs	3Pts	Ft
20-37	2-5	16-16

KOBE DENIED MVP

Kobe ended the season with a league leading 31.6 points per game. Despite carrying his team into the playoffs with this dominant stretch, Kobe only received 2 out of 129 first place votes for MVP and finished third to Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. He would win the award the following season.