1. Nov. 20, 2005
Location: Staples Center
The most impressive game that Bryant ever played against the Chicago Bulls was when the famed “Baby Bulls” were just getting off and running. The Bulls came up with the win over Kobe and the Lakers on Nov. 20, 2005, but it didn’t come without a lot of fireworks. Thanks to Kobe’s career-best point total against the Bulls, 43, in this loss neither side come up with anything easy.
The next best scorer for the Lakers beyond Kobe was seven-foot big man Chris Mihm, with 13 points. This was yet another game where Kobe got a high usage rate and very few assists. He finished up with a 42.7 percent usage rate, six rebounds, three assists, two steals, and three turnovers.
Assist-to-turnover ratio was never Kobe’s strong suit. His usage rates were always very high and his assist rates low. That led to the perception that he didn’t pass much. But this was one of the worst Lakers teams that Kobe ever played with. Many nights he found himself shooting the ball 30+ times, like he did on Nov. 20. He went 17-of-34 from the field here.
The Bulls wound up moving their record to 4-5 on the season when they beat Kobe and the Lakers at the beginning of the 2005-06 regular season. In this game in particular, the leading scorers for the Bulls were Chris Duhon (21 points) and Mike Sweetney (20 points). Hinrich wasn’t too shabby either with 16 points.