On this date (Dec. 20, 2005) 16 years ago, Kobe Bryant scored 62 points
against the Dallas Mavericks in three quarters. The Mavericks would go on to
play in the NBA Finals that season but on this night, Bryant outscored the
Mavericks by himself through three periods, 62-61. The Lakers were blowing
out Dallas 95-61 and with the game in hand, Bryant took a seat on the bench
after playing just 33 minutes.
16年前，2005/12/20，Kobe Bryant 在對小牛的比賽中，前三節就攻下62分。
儘管小牛最終殺入總冠軍賽，但這個晚上，Kobe前三節得分62比小牛前三節總得分61
硬是多一分。
而兩隊分數前三節打完是95:61，Kobe僅出賽33分鐘後就回板凳休息了。
Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw, who was Bryant’s teammate from 1999-2003,
told me later for an ESPN.com story that he asked Bryant if he wanted to stay
in the game to score 70 points. Only three players in NBA history (Wilt
Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and David Robinson) had ever scored 70 points in a
game but Bryant declined and sat out the entire fourth quarter.
當時湖人助教 Brian Shaw，是Kobe在1999-2003的湖人隊友。
Shaw後來在一篇ESPN的報導中提到，他當時詢問Kobe是否願意上場拿到70分再下來休息。
而那時的聯盟拿70分以上的球員只有3位：張伯倫、貝勒爺、海軍上將。
但Kobe拒絕在第四節再度上場。
“After the third quarter, the players were on the bench and the coaches went
out and huddled on the court. Phil (Jackson) asked me to go ask Kobe if he
wanted to stay in the game and try to get 70 and then come out. So, I went up
to Kobe and said, ‘Hey, Coach wants to know if you want to stay in for the
first few minutes of the fourth quarter, get 70 and then come out.’ He
looked up at the scoreboard, and he said, ‘Nah, I'll get it another time.’
I looked at him and I kind of got mad. I said: ‘What?! You have a chance to
get 70 points. How many people can say they scored 70 points? Just stay in
the first few minutes and get another eight points, get 70 and then come out
of the game.’ He said: ‘I'll do it when we really need it. I'll get it when
it really matters.’
Shaw回憶起當時：
「第三節打完後，球員都在板凳上休息，Phil(Jackson)讓我去問一下Kobe，是否想繼續
留在場上拿個70分。
於是我走到Kobe面前說『教練讓我問你，你是否願意第四節再上去拿個8分湊滿70分，
然後我們就換你下來休息。』
Kobe抬頭看了下記分板，說『不了，下次吧』
我當時的反應有點不太高興，我說『什麼？你今晚有機會拿70分耶，有多少人能有這種
機會你知道嗎？你就等下前幾分鐘留在場上，再拿個8分，我們就換你下來休息。』
而Kobe當時回答『等到球隊真正需要的時候，我會去做。』」
Bryant smiled when I relayed that story to him.
“Brian was mad. He was like: ‘Man, are you crazy? You know what you could
score tonight?’ I just said, ‘I'll do it when we really need it.’ Brian
was like, ‘What?!’ It was something that just rolled off my tongue because
I trained extremely hard and the physical tools were there. I just felt like
I could have a game like that again.”
我把這個故事告訴了Kobe，他笑了。
Kobe表示：
「那時Shaw很生氣，表情就像『兄弟，你瘋了嗎？你知道今晚你能得多少分嗎？』
而我只是回他『當我們真正需要時我會去做。』
對我來說，那問題根本不需要思考，因為我的訓練極其刻苦，
身體能力已到達那個層級了，我只是覺得我能再次創造出那樣的比賽。」
One month later he did; scoring 81 points against the Toronto Raptors.
一個月後，就像他說的那樣，Kobe在多倫多暴龍頭上砍下81分。
來源：https://reurl.cc/r1NQl4 (本文為原文內第3大段)