A day after defeating the Los Angeles Lakers’ arch rival Boston Celtics by hitting a fifteen footer over guard Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant had a chance to repeat his heroics against the Memphis Grizzlies and their former GM Jerry West.

It couldn’t have been a more storybook, climactic scene, as West was instrumental in Kobe’s development and left the Lakers organization to pump life into the fledgling Grizzlies during the mid 2000s.

Alas, it was a bittersweet loss for the Lakers, who ended their eight game road trip 5-3 in Memphis on a low note.

Kobe did his part to keep the Purple & Gold afloat, coincidentally passing his former mentor on the all time Lakers scoring list.

Kobe went into the game needing 28 points to pass Mr. Clutch and torched the Griz for 44, ironically, the Logo’s uniform number.

L.A. Lakers All-Time Leading Scorers
Kobe Bryant – 25,208
Jerry West – 25,192
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – 24,176
Elgin Baylor – 23,149
Magic Johnson – 17,707

West on Kobe