Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas was one of the league’s best-scoring point guards during his time. At his best, Arenas averaged 29.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists during the 2005-06 NBA season. The following season, he averaged close but had one of his best games.
On Dec. 27, 2006, the Washington Wizards played against the Los Angeles Lakers, who had Kobe Bryant, the eventual scoring champion that season. In the game, Arenas finished the night with 60 points eight rebounds and eight assists to give the Wizards a 147-141 win over the Lakers.
On Thursday’s episode of “Gil’s Arena,” the topic of having a high-scoring night was brought up. Aside from the 60 points that he had, the amount of shots he took in the game stood out. He took 32 shots from the field and made 53.1%. Arenas explained why he had to be aggressive and take at least 30 shots against Bryant in that particular moment.
“Everybody knew, this was about to be a one-on-one night. I’m taking 30 something shots,” Arenas said. “Because if I don’t he’s going to look at me like, ‘You didn’t even step up for the challenge. It don’t matter if I miss 20 shots, I got to take them.”
“I don’t care, I’m still letting them go. That’s why I said, I’d rather you’d be 1-for-20 than 1-for-5. 1-for-5 says you gave up, 1-for-20 says you just didn’t have a a good night. But you still gave it a go.”
“[Kobe] going to look at me like ‘you didn’t step up to the challenge.’”
Gil breaks down why he had to take 30 shots against the Lakers in his 60-point game. pic.twitter.com/LJQibKcThG
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) December 26, 2024
His co-host, Josiah Johnson, asked if he would rather have 60 points and the win over Bryant or 70 points but suffer a loss. The three-time All-Star said he’d rather take the second option. However, former NBA player Brandon Jennings argued that having 70 points in a loss would easily be forgotten. Arenas answered and said this:
“I can say this right now, when you got to [the] history of top scorers, they don’t got win or losses next to it.”
How did Kobe Bryant perform against Arenas?
While Arenas had a big night and secured the win for Washington, that doesn’t mean that Kobe Bryant didn’t take the challenge. Against the Wizards star, Bryant ended the game with 45 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. Additionally, he was efficient on the floor as he made 62.5% of his shots from the field and 63.6% from deep.
That season, the Lakers star averaged 31.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists. After averaging 35.4 points in the previous season, Kobe Bryant also took home the scoring title.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen with Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
