When it comes to covering Los Angeles Lakers games, there are only a few who have been around longer than current play-by-play broadcaster Stu Lantz who has been on the broadcast for about 37 years now. Stu has seen most of the milestones that the Lakers have achieved. One of which was Kobe Bryant ‘s legendary 81-point game, which Stu considers as one of the two best games he ever covered.
“Kobe’s 81-point game sticks out tremendously. Then, Kobe’s last game where he got 60. That sticks out,” Lantz told Sportskeeda’s Mike Medina. “It wasn’t that unusual for him to go off like that. He had that ability. More than anything, he had that mindset. He was so focused on the job. During that game, that “Mamba Mentality” totally took over.”
How Stu knew Kobe was going off
The thing with sports events like basketball is that outcomes, especially individual performances, are hard to predict. Stu admitted that he never imagined himself calling a game where someone would pop off for 81 points. The only time Lantz saw it coming was during the third quarter of Kobe’s 81 point game when L.A. was down 36-29. By the end of that quarter, Kobe was up to 53 points.