Jeremy Lin: The Five Best Moments in his NBA Career

Dueling Kobe: February 10, 2012

There weren’t many people who could’ve gone bucket-for-bucket against Kobe Bryant, whether he was in his prime or not. The 2011-12 season was one of Kobe’s last dominant ones, and he hovered around 28 points per game the entire season. When he met Linsanity, however, he got a run for his money.

The Mamba had gone for 34 points and ten boards in this outing and had issues with efficiency early on and made just one of his first 11 shots; by the game’s end, Bryant had connected on ten of his final 18. The two guys were keeping pace with each other, and Lin finished as the leading scorer with 38 and connected on 56.5 percent of his shot attempts. In the fourth, Kobe was Kobe. He poured in 14 points that quarter by way of a myriad of turnaround jumpers and fadeaways, but Lin wasn’t far behind with 11.

Even though they never formally matched up against one another, the unlikely duel was fantastic, and the Madison Square Garden crowd was raucous as their phenomenal point guard led the Knicks to a 92-85 victory.

Box Score: LAL 85 – NYK 92