Dwight Howard: Kobe ‘took like 80 shots’ to get his 81 points

Friday March 2 marks the 50-year anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game. We already presented the comments of Kobe Bryant, who is second on the list for most points scored in a single NBA game with 81, that someone else will break the century mark for points in a game.

ESPN played a tribute to Wilt Chamberlain Friday where some all-stars were asked if they thought anyone would break Wilt’s record. In one of his responses, Dwight Howard got in a little jab at Kobe.

“I don’t see anybody doing it,” Howard said of someone breaking Wilt’s record. “Kobe had 81 … and he took like 80 shots.”

Kobe was also quoted in the video saying he believed the record would be broken. “Why wouldn’t they? I think in time, that day will come,” Bryant said, “Somebody will do it. Eventually it will happen.”

We’re pretty confident ESPN sat down with a bunch of players at All-Star Weekend and that this was one of the questions they asked them. Normally we wouldn’t put much stock into a short quote that seemed to be heavily edited, but this has significance.

Dwight Howard reportedly was deterred from joining the Lakers by Kobe. Kobe reportedly told him that the Lakers were his team, and that Dwight would have to wait in line. I’m not saying that Dwight’s jab means the report is accurate (though our sources tell us it is), but the minor shot shows there is some friction between the two. If Dwight had nothing but respect for Kobe, he wouldn’t have detracted from the impressive feat.

And for the record, Kobe achieved his 81 points on 28-46 shooting, going 7-13 on threes and 18-20 on free throws.