Former New York Knicks wing Quentin Richardson shared that film icon Spike Lee had a lot to say to Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant during Bryant’s 61-point performance at Madison Square Garden years ago.
"Spike Lee was out there on the sideline talking crazy to Kobe Bryant." 🗣️@QRich tells story about the time Kobe Bryant dropped 61-points against the Knicks in MSG 🗽@RunItBackFDTV | #NBA pic.twitter.com/OVw10DxlUS
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“I remember it bein’ Spike Lee’s fault ’cause Spike Lee was out there on the damn sideline talkin’ crazy to Kobe Bryant while they got Wilson Chandler, our rookie, guardin’ him,” Richardson said while recalling Bryant’s legendary performance. “And he was goin’ crazy.”
Bryant torched the Knicks for 61 points in a regular-season game back in February of 2009. He shot 19-of-31 from the field against New York and also made the most of his opportunities to score the ball from the free-throw line, as he made every one of his 20 shots from the charity stripe.
The showing ended up being the fourth-highest scoring total in a single game in his pro career. During his playing days, Bryant also dropped a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, 65 against the Portland Trail Blazers and 62 against the Dallas Mavericks.
But he wasn’t the only Laker who had a big scoring night versus the Knicks in that iconic game. Big man Pau Gasol also chipped in 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the floor.
Behind the scoring outbursts from Bryant and Gasol, the Lakers defeated the Knicks by nine points to improve their record to an impressive 38-9 at that point in the 2008-09 season, including 15-5 on the road.
Los Angeles proved to be the NBA’s best team during the 2008-09 campaign. First, the Lakers finished the regular season with a record of 65-17, which was the second-best in the league behind only LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers.
Then, after a remarkably successful regular season, Los Angeles was able to carry its success into the 2009 NBA Playoffs. The team reached and won the NBA Finals, with Bryant helping the Lakers eliminate Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic in five games in the championship series.
Bryant ended up winning the Finals MVP award for the Lakers after he averaged 32.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per contest against the Magic.
In hindsight, perhaps Lee made the wrong decision by talking “crazy” to Bryant when his Knicks faced off against the Lakers over a decade ago, as Bryant had already developed a reputation for responding to trash-talk by raising his level of play.
