Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant made a running jump shot with 1:11 remaining in the third quarter against the New Orleans Hornets to move him past Oscar Robertson for ninth place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
Bryant finished with 25 points in the Lakers’ 101-97 win over the Hornets on Friday and now has 26,720 points. Next on the list is Hakeem Olajuwon with 26,946 points.
Top 10 after the jump…
“It’s a huge honor,” Bryant said after the game. “So much of my game is built on those that came before me, Oscar in particular. It’s a huge honor to be moving up that ladder.”
When Lakers coach Phil Jackson was asked before the game whom he thought Bryant was targeting in front of him on the all-time scoring list he didn’t waste any time in saying, “Michael Jordan. I would imagine that would be the one.”
“I don’t know, we’ll see what happens,” Bryant said when asked how high he will go on the all-time scoring list. “The ladder I’m more focused on climbing is Bill Russell’s ladder, so we’ll see.”
Russell, the Boston Celtics’ Hall of Fame center, won 12 NBA championships during his career. Bryant currently has won five titles.
Kobe Bryant’s climb on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Along with Bryant, Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain, O’Neal — and to a lesser extent — Karl Malone wore the Lakers’ purple and gold:
| Player | G | PTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1. K. Abdul-Jabbar | 1,560 | 38,387 |
| 2. Karl Malone | 1,476 | 36,928 |
| 3. Michael Jordan | 1,072 | 32,292 |
| 4. Wilt Chamberlain | 1,045 | 31,419 |
| 5. Shaquille O’Neal* | 1,195 | 28,504 |
| 6. Moses Malone | 1,329 | 27,409 |
| 7. Elvin Hayes | 1,303 | 27,313 |
| 8. Hakeem Olajuwon | 1,238 | 26,946 |
| 9. Kobe Bryant* | 1,058 | 26,720 |
| 10. Oscar Robertson | 1,040 | 26,710 |
| * denotes active player | ||
Arash Markazi is a columnist and writer for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Follow him on Twitter.
