2. Dec. 15, 2009
Location: United Center
One of just two 40-point outings for Kobe in his career against the Chicago Bulls came back in the first half of the 2009-10 regular season. In a Dec. 15 win over the Bulls at the United Center in the Windy City, Kobe went off for 42 points on 15-of-26 shooting from the field to go along with two rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
His defensive play was solid in this game too, where his defensive rating finished up at 97. His offensive rating was lower than expected, sitting at 102, largely due to his whopping eight turnovers against the Bulls. But his insane usage rate in this game of 48.4 percent was a large reason why he had so many turnovers.
Barring the turnovers, this was a magical game where Kobe nearly amassed half of his teams points. The Lakers scored under 100 points, and Kobe still shot better than 50 percent from the field and 11-of-15 from the free-throw line. He couldn’t be stopped, especially down the stretch. Whenever the Bulls would seem to get closer with the Lakers here, Kobe would go nuclear.
Kobe was largely left out on his own to get the Lakers the win. The next-highest point total came from former Lakers center Andrew Bynum, who finished up with 11 on the game. Former superstar power forward Pau Gasol also had 10 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
A sophomore Derrick Rose was leading the Bulls at point guard, finishing up tied for a team-high with 21 points.