Rare footage surfaced a couple years back of a high school playoff game from 1996 between Pennsylvania’s Lower Merion High and Norristown High — of course, featuring Kobe Bryant, then a senior in high school. Kobe, whose stat line consisted of 30.8 points, 12 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 4 steals and 3.8 blocks per game, led Lower Merion to a state title that year, and was eventually selected in the 1996 NBA Draft just a few months later. While plenty of highlights exist from Kobe’s high school days, rarely do we get a chance to watch an entire game to see how truly dominant he was.
Glenn Erby of Black Sports Online provides some tidbits on the game:
Norristown trotted out some excellent players of their own like Joe Green, Ty Crutchfield, Lafton Thompson and the late-great Omar Jenkins.
Norristown was still stinging from having watch Bryant erupt for 29 in a half the year prior… With Kobe’s retirement we felt it best to give this video some more love.
…Scalpers could sell tickets to those ballgames for a $100 or more easily.
[BSO]
