What's more impressive? Kobe's 81 points or MJ's 63 points?

[KyleKong]

Kobe's 81.

[andgar923]

MJ had 63 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals in a double overtime PLAYOFF loss to basically a top five team all-time.

Kobe had 81 points, 2 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals in a come from behind regular season win against basically one of the worst teams of that season.

Context I'd give the clear advantage to MJ, even though it came in a loss. He was a sophomore, coming off a broken foot and did all this in a playoff game against Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Dennis Johnson. A team that has argument for GOAT.

Kobe busted up old Jalen Rose, who didn't play defense to begin with, and Morris Peterson, who didn't play defense to begin with.

From my perspective, a playoff performance given the pressure is always instantly a greater feat in comparison to any regular season game.

Hell, Karl Malone had a game in the regular season where he scored like 56 in 3 quarters. He was on pace for 70 plus points. David Robinson had a 71 point game against a similar shit like opponent to the 2006 Raptors.

It's not as big of a deal to me as playoff explosions and performances.

Granted, MJ needed 2 OTs, but hey ... Kobe's lone 50 point playoff game came on a team that didn't play defense, and he needed an OT to do it. One of his more impressive scoring games because it came in the playoffs and not on bum squads like:

2007 Bobcats (58)
2007 Blazers (65)
2007 Wolves (50)
2007 Hornets (60)
2007 Grizzlies (50)
2009 Knicks (61)

Kobe's 62 in 3 quarters against the 2006 Mavericks is probably his most impressive scoring feat. Even though the guy was gifted an absurd amount of free throws in just 3 quarters of play that game. But hey, it was a season where the rules were more tightly officiated on the perimeter to boost scoring numbers.

I guess from a pure volume scoring perspective, the answer is Kobe. The answer from a context perspective is MJ. MJ was still a developing player. Kobe was at his absolute peak, on a selfish scoring binge. Mind you, the Lakers had control of the game as Kobe was reaching the 70 point mark. I remember the last like 10 points, mostly off free-throws as being redundant as the game was in control.

So my answer is 81, but the context of MJ's game is more impressive. Games in mid January should not be compared to anything in April, May, or June. It's almost a different game by that point.

I was actually gonna make a video of this, it was an absolute joke.

[funnystuff]

Why are people saying 81?

[gts]

Why are people saying 81?

Because that's one of the choices in the OP

[inclinerator]

its clearly mjs 63 in the playoffs, now if it was mjs 69 in the regular season, kobe for sure