| Pierce says he's going to shoot 46 times [message #808857] |
Tue, 24 January 2006 16:07 |
|
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/200 6/01/24/he_score
d_points_here_too/
Eighty-one points. It's still mind-boggling.
Less than 24 hours after Kobe Bryant's otherworldly performance Sunday night
in
Los Angeles, the talk before last night's Celtics-Hornets game was dominated
by
the Laker star's showing. Only Wilt Chamberlain, with 100 points, has
scored
more in one game. Bryant had 55 in the second half alone. He took 46
shots.
And he rallied his team from an 18-point hole in the second half to win by
18
over the Toronto Raptors.
Almost to a man, the words were the same.
"Unbelievable, " said Hornets coach Byron Scott.
"Awesome, " said Celtics coach Doc Rivers.
"Impressive, " said an envious Paul Pierce.
"Oh, my goodness, " said Hornets rookie Chris Paul.
Then there was the inimitable Cedric Maxwell, who offered the following gem.
"There's no way he's getting 81 on me, not without going to Mass. General
first, " Maxwell said. "Everyone on our team [the 1980s Celtics] would have
felt the same way."
Maxwell authored the memorable line "no way the [expletive] is getting 50 on
me" when someone asked him how he'd contain the ultra-hot Bernard King in
the
1984 playoffs. King didn't get 50 -- until the series moved to New York for
Games 3 and 4.
Pierce, who said he never scored as many as 40 points in high school or
college, said he watched the entire game.
"I thought I'd never see that happen, " he said about the 81 points. "It
was
probably the greatest individual performance I've ever seen."
Asked if he could envision taking 46 shots in a game, Pierce paused for
effect,
then said, "I'm going to have to do that one day and see what those 46 shots
do."
Rivers said he never could have scored that many points in a game. For good
reason: "I had Dominique [Wilkins] on my team."
Scott said he'd get 46 shots in his Laker days -- spread over three or four
games.
As for topping Chamberlain's 100, Rivers said, "I think it's possible. I
don't
think it's going to happen, but, remember, [Bryant] didn't play well in the
first half."
|
|
|
