On January 22, 2006, Kobe Bryant scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors — 55 of them in the second half, with his team down 20. For twenty years it stood as the modern standard for a single-game takeover. Then on March 10, 2026, Bam Adebayo dropped 83 on the Washington Wizards and the record books changed.
On this episode of Circle The Block, hosts Rello and Cunda put the two nights side by side and ask the question the box score can't answer: which one actually mattered?
The crew breaks down what Kobe was working with that night; a roster of Chris Mihm, Kwame Brown, Smush Parker and Lamar Odom; and why \"team ball\" stops being an argument when you're down twenty and nobody else can score. They get into the 46 shot attempts, the 18 free throws, the scoring title he won that season, and the Nick Young story about Kobe wiping a play off the clipboard and telling the huddle exactly what was about to happen.
Then they turn to Bam's 83: 31 points in the first quarter, 62 through three, and a Heat team that was already up close to 30 on a Wizards squad in rebuild. The hosts dig into the uncomfortable part — the late intentional fouls to get the ball back, the 22 three-point attempts from a career defensive anchor averaging 18 a game, and whether a record chased in a blowout carries the same weight as one earned in a comeback. Plus A'ja Wilson courtside, and what happens when the most competitive woman in basketball is in your ear.
The episode also goes personal: AAU summer league in Mason, Ohio, nine threes against OJ Mayo's squad, and the difference between a heat check and a real takeover moment.
As always, the crew runs their odds; Pacific and Southeast Division futures, with a long look at what AD and Bub Carrington mean for Washington before Bishop Cunda takes the pulpit with the line that sums the whole episode up: if Kobe's 81 hits harder than Bam's 83, then numbers do lie.
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00:00 – Cold open: Kobe on the night he scored 81
00:40 – Intro with the crew
02:59 – Birthdays, safari backdrops & a David Attenborough party
05:00 – Does January 22, 2006 ring a bell?
06:02 – Circling the block on Kobe's 81-point game
06:56 – Where were you when it happened?
09:01 – 55 points in the second half
09:48 – \"Give me the ball and move\"
10:49 – Team? What team? The roster Kobe was carrying
11:27 – The Jordan comparison nobody asked for
12:48 – Which side of the fence are you on?
13:46 – The Nick Young story: Kobe wiping the play off the clipboard
14:29 – The scoring title season
15:06 – 46 shots, 18 free throws & what it took
16:12 – Personal takeover moments
17:18 – Nine threes against OJ Mayo in Mason, Ohio
18:00 – Reggie Miller, birthday twins & a 20-year gap
18:47 – Being the glue guy instead of the gunner
19:53 – Odds: Pacific Division futures
21:45 – Back from break
22:09 – Twenty years later, the record falls
22:49 – Circling the block on Bam Adebayo's 83-point game
23:14 – A'ja Wilson courtside
23:56 – 31 points in the first quarter
24:51 – The Wizards, AD & what that roster really is
25:20 – A 150-129 blowout: the stat-padding question
26:56 – Competitive energy at home
28:37 – Kobe at 26 by half vs. Bam at 43
29:43 – \"Y'all really blowing this team out — why are you still playing?\"
30:13 – The free throws at the end of both games
31:11 – 8/24 and why the number matters
31:37 – Where Rello lands on Bam's 83
32:14 – Respecting the effort, questioning the circumstance
33:08 – Odds: Southeast Division futures
34:26 – Trae Young, Bub Carrington & the Washington flip
35:49 – Bishop Cunda takes the pulpit
37:22 – \"I guess numbers do lie\"
38:32 – Less is more: why 81 beats 83
40:08 – Last words & picking on a rookie
42:13 – Outro
ABOUT
Circle The Block is a culture and nostalgia podcast hosted by Rello The Saya and Cunda, where hip hop history, throwback pop culture, sports, gaming, and current entertainment news collide. New episodes weekly.