A scorer's scorer

With Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant is Michael Jordan. A fearless competitor who truly believes the ring is the only thing, and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it.
Without Shaq, he's Tracy McGrady. A superlative scorer who brings little to the team game.
There are definite reasons to be impressed with Bryant's 81-point outburst against the Raptors Sunday night. There are also reasons to stop short of erecting a statue of Bryant in New York Harbor.

Reasons to be impressed:

It is the second-highest single game total in NBA history
Prior to last night, the late Wilt Chamberlain had the market cornered on single-game scoring efforts, with the top four single-game performances in NBA history. Now, Bryant has cut a swath through the record books that only Chamberlain's historic 100-point effort in 1962 avoided.

Bryant is a 6'-6" guard
Chamberlain was a 7-foot center in the days when 7-foot centers just weren't that common. Chamberlain was a heck of a basketball talent, but his height gave him a great physical advantage. He was Shaq in his time.
Bryant, by contrast, is a 6'-6" guard who relies on athleticism and outside shooting instead of physical girth. It is far less likely that a player the size of Bryant can dominate the way he did, as opposed to Chamberlain.

Bryant did his damage in less than a regulation game
For all his dominance, Michael Jordan needed overtime to drop a career-high 69 on Cleveland. Chamberlain needed three overtimes to score the previous second-best mark of 78.
Bryant did his damage in 42 minutes, six less than a regulation game. That's almost two points per minute.

Reasons to be less impressed:

The rest of the Lakers roster
Kobe scored 81 on 28-of-46 shooting. The next-highest Laker was Smush Parker, who scored 13 on 5-of-11 shooting. Chris Mihm was the only other Laker in double figures with 12, which means the likes of Devean George and Lamar Odom were all but silent. Granted, when a guy is on fire like Bryant was, who can be blamed for getting him the ball and getting out of the way? But this game was artificially tilted toward Bryant, who didn't have a backup band. Heck, he didn't even have a tinny speaker creaking out old Neil Sedaka records.

C'mon, it's the Raptors
Mike James (not to be confused with LeBron James, or Henry James for that matter), scored 26 points Sunday. No other Toronto player managed 20.
The Raptors are 14-27, in a virtual tie with the Knicks for last place in the Atlantic, the NBA's weakest division.
If Kobe drops 90 on the Spurs, then he can apply for the "Michael Jordan Greatest Player Ever Club."

Seven three-pointers
Chamberlain scored all his points in an era without a three-point shot. Sunday, 21 of Bryant's 81 came from beyond the arc. It doesn't mean it's easier to score 81 points, but having that arc back there is a great way to stack up points more quickly for a great shooter like Bryant.

"It's all about the W"
Or so Kobe said after the game, stating that he didn't really know how many points he'd scored until after the game because he was so focused on winning.
Excuse me, but when you score 81 points, you have to at some point consciously think "man, I'm really pouring it on tonight."
If you score 81 and are only thinking about the win, it means one of two things: you are trying to singlehandedly win the game because you are monumentally selfish, or you are trying to singlehandedly win the game because your supporting cast offers the support of balsa wood. Either way, it's not a good reflection on your team.