With the Lakers playing against the 76ers on Tuesday night, the Sixers used the opportunity to make a wonderful video tribute to Bryant, appropriately called “Dear Kobe”.
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The 76ers said good riddance to the longest losing streak in major US professional sports: 28 games dating to last season.
But a 23-point haul from forward Robert Covington laid the foundation for a deserved 103-91 Sixers victory as Bryant and the Lakers tumbled to 2-15, the worst record in the Western Conference.
The report said the team believes Scott is not responsible for the Lakers’ bad record (2-15) or the awful performance of Kobe Bryant in his final season.
The Sixers play the second game of a back-to-back on Wednesday night when they take a short trip up the New Jersey Turnpike to face the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. However, they lost to the miserable Sixers team as well as giving them their first win this season.
After the game, Byron Scott, who has been one of Kobe’s biggest supporters through his rough season, said he wasn’t surprised by the heroics.
Despite having wishes of a not so formal retirement, those plans were out of the circle when Bryant was brought to the centre court where he was presented a framed No. 24 Lower Merion jersey from Dr. J and his high school coach. Even if he missed the next 20 shots, Bryant had given the crowd its money’s worth.
The first clutch shot came with 58 seconds left and the Wizards up 99-98 after a pair of John Wall free throws.
Yes! Really they did.
In the evenly contested final quarter, Los Angeles defense managed to hold on, and the team scored 30 points, one more than the hosts.
“We’re lucky it was a four-point game”, coach Randy Wittman said.
Marcin Gortat added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who have dropped five of six despite erasing an early 19-point deficit. The Lakers defense has conceded to second-highest points, 107.5 per game this season.
“I’ve just got to figure out how to solve getting stiff as the game goes on”, Bryant said. Finally, it paid off. Now we’ve got some momentum and some confidence knowing we can close out games.
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“I’ve been disappointed this year because you guys treated him like sh*t”.
