For all of his great talents and skills, Kobe Bryant was never really known as a great 3-point shooter during his career.
He had a lifetime accuracy of 32.9% from beyond the arc, which was considered mediocre back in his era and would be considered pretty bad by today’s standards.
However, Bryant was also a streaky 3-point shooter, and when he got hot, he was as great a 3-point shooter as anyone who has ever touched a basketball.
On Jan. 7, 2003, the Los Angeles Lakers took on the Seattle SuperSonics, and Bryant showed off the damage he could do from the outside when his shot was on.
He started slowly, scoring just four points on 2-of-7 shooting in the first quarter. But in the second quarter, he started to go into volcano mode, putting up 18 points on 6-of-7 from the field, including 6-of-6 from downtown.
That marksmanship helped the Lakers take a 60-45 lead at halftime.
Bryant continued his onslaught with 20 third-quarter points by hitting five more treys. He hit his 12th 3 in the fourth quarter, setting an NBA record for the most such shots made in a single game.
His 45 points on 16-of-28 overall shooting gave L.A. a much-needed 119-98 victory.
Bryant’s record of 12 made 3-pointers in a game stood for more than a decade until Stephen Curry broke it during the 2016-17 season. Curry’s teammate Klay Thompson claimed the record by hitting 14 in a contest two seasons later.
