Kobe Bryant 55pts Vs Michael Jordan Wizards 02/03 NBA

The Staples Center crowd saw a memorable performance in Michael Jordan's last game in Southern California. But it was Kobe Bryant who provided the memories.

In a superlative performance, Bryant scored a franchise-record 42 first-half points and finished with an NBA season-high 55 as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Washington Wizards for the 10th straight time at home, 108-94.

"This is a performance I've never seen before, not even on PlayStation," Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal said of Bryant's
outing. "Kobe's not really the type to back down, but in every good karate flick, in order for the student to become the man,
he has to kill the teacher. He played aggressive, shot the ball well and scored a lot of points."

Bryant, whose performance caused even the legendary Jordan to smile, finished one point shy of his career high set in just 34
minutes against Memphis on January 14, 2002.

"He definitely has a share of the torch," Jordan said of Bryant, who shot 15-of-29 despite going only 1-of-10 in the second
half. "There's a couple of guys that carry it as well."

Asked after the game if he felt Jordan passed the torch to him, Bryant said, "No. The way I feel right now, I'm happy with the
way I played tonight and that the team got the win."

The Lakers trailed, 22-15, before Bryant scored 12 points in the last 2:42 to pull his team within 28-27 at the end of the first quarter. Bryant then added the next 11 Lakers points, giving them the lead for good, 38-35, on a shot from the arc three
minutes into the second quarter.

"He was draining them the whole night," said Wizards guard Jerry Stackhouse, who was matched up against Bryant for part of the contest. "I wasn't really guarding him. He would pull up and hit shots before the defense even got to him. He was raising
up, taking threes two or three feet behind the 3-point line and making them. It didn't really matter what you did."

"Kobe shot it like crazy," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "That was an incredible demonstration."

The basket - his sixth 3-pointer in seven attempts - gave Bryant 30 points, and he had 40 when he sank a jumper with 4:45 left
that made it 52-41.

Bryant finished the half with 42 points, five more than Elgin Baylor had at New York on November 15, 1960 en route to a 71-point night. The explosion included 8-of-10 from the arc as Los Angeles took a 59-48 lead into the break.

Bryant added eight points in the third quarter as the Lakers extended their advantage to 87-69, and it appeared as though he would finish the game with 50 points. But Bryant re-entered the game with 6:02 left after Washington pulled within 96-83.

"It came to a point where there was that curiosity factor. Was he going to hit 80?" Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "I'm sure
it went through his head, 'Maybe I can hit 55 or 60, who knows?' At the level he even started the second half, there is always
that chance. But they did a great job of just making it impossible for him in the second half."

The superstar promptly sank two free throws, then surpassed Allan Houston's league-best 53-point effort against the Lakers on February 16 with a pair from the stripe with 4:12 remainingthat made it 100-87.

O'Neal added 26 points and 13 rebounds for the Lakers, who won their third straight game and remained one game behind sixth-place Utah in the Western Conference standings.

Jordan - who received standing ovations in both pre-game introductions and when he exited with 2:34 to play - scored 23 points and Jerry Stackhouse 22 for Washington, which remained one-half game in front of Milwaukee for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff berth.

"I had a great time," Jordan said. "I love LA. But we ran into a guy that was really hot."