On Dec. 7 (IST) in 2000, the Golden State Warriors pull off an upset over the defending champion-Los Angeles Lakers in an overtime thriller.
Golden State was led by Antawn Jamison's 51-point career-high performance. By doing so, he became one of 12 players (eight at that time) to record consecutive 50-point games in NBA history.
On the other hand was young superstar guard Kobe Bryant. He went off for his career-high and first 50-point game, scoring 51.
The duel was the first time in nearly 38 years and only the third instance (at that time) in NBA history that opposing players each scored at least 50 points in an NBA game.
The duo really went at it, trading six straight high-pressure scores in the final two minutes of the game.
“I never imagined me doing this,” Jamison said after the game. “I think this is going to open a lot of people’s eyes.”
For the 6-foot-8 forward, just in his third year, this was his second straight 50-point game having scored 51 a couple of days earlier in a loss at Seattle. Playing all 53 minutes of the game, Jamison also recorded 13 rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Bryant tried his best to carry the Lakers to victory, scoring 12 of the team's 15 points in the extra period. Flirting with a triple-double (8 rebounds, 7 assists) he even had a chance to force double-overtime but he missed a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer which resulted in a 125-122 loss for the Lakers.
“It was a shootout. We played no defense,” Bryant said. “It’s disappointing.”
Bryant would go on to register 24 more 50-point games, six of which were more than 60.
Other notable events on Dec. 7
- In 1984, the Milwaukee Bucks retired the #14 jersey of center Bob Lanier. Currently, he is one of only nine players to have their jersey retired by the franchise but at that time, he was the fourth.
- In 1986, the Seattle SuperSonics recorded a 136-80 win over the Houston Rockets at The Summit in Houston. The 56-point win was and remains the largest margin of victory by a road team in NBA regular season history. It was tied in the 2018-19 season when the Boston Celtics defeated the Chicago Bulls 133-77.
- In 1997, the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets played the first regular season game in Mexico City at the Palacio de los Deportes. Houston won the contest 108-106.
- In 2016, John Wall erupted for a career-high 52 points but the performance was in vain as the Washington Wizards lost to the Orlando Magic 124-116.
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