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  "path": "/i-will-never-forgive-trae-young-for-surpassing-kobe-bryants-career-high-for-assists-in-a-game-eight-times",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-11T18:25:30.000Z",
  "site": "https://defector.com",
  "tags": [
    "Media Meltdowns",
    "NBA",
    "Bam Adebayo",
    "kobe bryant",
    "los angeles lakers",
    "Miami Heat",
    "sam amick",
    "The Athletic",
    "best player",
    "Kobe's] death puts greater weight on every one of his most cherished feats and creates a sense that they should be handled with a certain kind of care,\" as [the Athletic's Sam Amick put it",
    "the Athletic's Sam Amick put it on Wednesday. In his blog, Amick argues that Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat should have stopped scoring points when he scored his 81st point in Tuesday night's win over the [putrid and disgraceful Washington Wizards",
    "putrid and disgraceful Washington Wizards—equalling Kobe's career-high and tying for the second highest single-game scoring total in NBA history—instead of canning two more free-throws to [finish with 83",
    "Jan. 15, 2015"
  ],
  "textContent": "Kobe Bryant was not just some normal NBA player. No indeed: He was the second-best shooting guard in the history of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise, and something like the 11th-best Laker overall, and possibly one of the dozen or so best players who played the bulk of their careers between 1996 and 2016; at his peak, he was almost as good as Tracy McGrady, his contemporary. In some seasons he was debatably the third- or fourth-best player in the NBA, if you feel like being generous. This is not a distinction you can bestow on just any old guy, although it is one you could argue for bestowing on something like eight different players in any given NBA season. Also he died in a helicopter crash at the age of 41. It is for these reasons that Bryant's professional achievements must never be surpassed by anyone.\n\n\"Kobe's] death puts greater weight on every one of his most cherished feats and creates a sense that they should be handled with a certain kind of care,\" as the Athletic's Sam Amick put it on Wednesday. In his blog, Amick argues that Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat should have stopped scoring points when he scored his 81st point in Tuesday night's win over the putrid and disgraceful Washington Wizards—equalling Kobe's career-high and tying for the second highest single-game scoring total in NBA history—instead of canning two more free-throws to [finish with 83 on the night.\n\nOne must not idly displace Kobe Bryant from somewhere near the top of a historical chart! When Kobe dished his career-high 17th assist of the night on Jan. 15, 2015, in a seven-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, he was not just entering into a hundreds-way tie for something like 5,000th place in the NBA record book for most assists in a single game; he was gracing the sport with his _legacy_. Who can forget the moment when he threw whatever type of pass it was, to whichever guy, and so etched his name very tinily somewhere extremely far down on the pedestal of history? No one, that is who. And not only because no one remembered it in the first place, but because when Kobe does it, it _means something_.",
  "title": "I Will Never Forgive Trae Young For Surpassing Kobe Bryant’s Career High For Assists In A Game Eight Times"
}