Kobe Bryant's record-breaking scoring night at Madison Square Garden is often attributed to Spike Lee. However, during a recent episode of the Garden Party Podcast, former New York Knicks forward David Lee revealed another reason why the Black Mamba was ticked off that night.
According to Lee, the Knicks dubbed those days the Dream Week' because their team hosted three big games—Kobe's Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday, and the 2008 NBA champions Boston Celtics on Friday.
However, New York media talked the most about LeBron and the Cavs coming to town, which didn't sit well with Bryant. So Kobe hears this, and he's like, 'Wait a second. You mean to tell me we're coming to New York to play, and they're talking about LeBron?
That's what everyone's talking about right now? We're the best team in the West right now,'" Lee recalled. The Lakers had the best record in the Western Conference (37-9) going into that game and were tied for the second-best in the league, right behind the 40-9 Celtics.
To LeBron's credit, the Cavs were also 37-9. James, meanwhile, was having an MVP season (he won it that year), and the Cavs went on to finish the campaign with 66 wins, the most in franchise history.
The hype around James coming to NY was obviously justifie So I go back, Mike D'Antoni's our coach. I said, 'Mike, man. I don't know what's about to happen, but it's not gonna be good.' Mike's a really fun-loving guy, and he goesd. However, Kobe still didn't like it, and he decided to vent his anger on the Knicks.
Well s***, David, he can't beat us by himself.' So I go, 'OK.' So he gets the jump ball and walks right in, and makes a three. Then he makes like another driving layup. He's got like seven points in the first few minutes. Coach calls a timeout, he goes, 'I may have been wrong. He might be able to do this by himself," David recalled.
The Lakers entered the contest without injured Andrew Bynum. Spike Lee was also in the building, adding more fuel to the Black Mamba fire. Without Bynum, Kobe took charge and electrified the Garden crowd. With 3:54 left in the game, the Lakers legend broke Michael Jordan's opponent record of 55 points with two free throws.