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Kobe Bryant Tried to Let Jalen Rose Off the Hook for His 81-Point Game

Jalen was more responsible for the 81 than Kobe thought. 

Dan Gartland

Kobe Bryant Tried to Let Jalen Rose Off the Hook for His 81-Point Game
Kobe Bryant Tried to Let Jalen Rose Off the Hook for His 81-Point Game /

Kobe Bryant and Jalen Rose spoke Thursday at a Nike event and of course, the topic of Kobe’s 81-point game came up. 

Jalen is still super salty about being the guy tasked with guarding Kobe when he scored the second-most points ever in an NBA game. If you so much as tweet the number 81 at Rose, he’ll block you. 

Face to face with Bryant on Thursday, though, Rose couldn’t help but bring up the subject. Kobe tried to take some of the blame away from Rose by saying he thought they were only matched up twice. Rose, who’s clearly thought about this a lot, admitted it was much more than twice. 

Even if it was 19 times, Kobe still put up 46 shots in that game. Maybe we should start clowning on Morris Peterson more. 

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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