LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant has great respect for the man whose franchise records he keeps breaking.

Bryant broke Elgin Baylor's single-season scoring record with a flourish, getting 50 points Friday night in a 110-99 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night. But he won't sit by his cell phone waiting for any congratulatory response from the Clippers' general manager, who set the mark during the 1962-63 season.

"I don't expect him to. I mean, he's with the Clippers and I'm with the Lakers," Bryant said. "But if he picks up the paper and reads about it, he should know that I owe a lot of it to him and to the other great players as well, because I really learned a lot about the game from watching them."

Bryant has been aware of Baylor ever since age 6, when his grandparents sent him a tape called "Golden Greats of the NBA." He didn't just watch it, he studied it — over and over, year after year.

"I just steal all of their moves and incorporate them into my game," Bryant said. "I copied Elgin's first step. It's actually a 'rocker' step, which is kind of a stutter move."

Bryant, closing in on his first NBA scoring title, reached the 50-point mark for the sixth time this season and 11th time in his career. The Lakers are 8-3 in those games.

He eclipsed two other franchise records this season that Baylor held — most points in a game and most 40-point games in a season. Bryant, whose 81 points against Toronto on Jan. 22 were second-most ever in an NBA game, came in needing only 16 to surpass Baylor's mark of 2,719. He did that with 9:06 left in the third quarter, draining a 3-pointer after missing two free throws 44 seconds earlier.

"It means a lot to me because we're playing well and we're in a position where we can get into the playoffs and make some noise," Bryant said. "We've achieved everything we have as a team, and the individual stuff just makes for a more pleasant journey."

Bryant