The Sixers had lost their first 18 games this season, matching the record for worst start in National Basketball Association history.
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There was an unusual amount of hype leading up to the game but not because it represented the 76ers’ best chance to win in quite some time.
And if there were about 10 seconds that epitomize the 37-year-old’s 20th season, it would probably be this one from late in the second quarter in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 103-91 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night. Four the Lakers’s first shots were Bryant’s threes.
Robert Covington led the Sixers with a game-high 23 points.
NOTES: Lakers C Roy Hibbert, Sixers G JaKarr Sampson and Philadelphia F Jerami Grant were all assessed technical fouls after a shoving match with 6:54 left in the third quarter, which began with Sixers G Isaiah Canaan fouling Hibbert…. “The layers around Jahlil have been solid”, Brown said. The chants picked up again upon game’s end and Bryant walked off the court waving and tapping his chest.
General manager Mitch Kupchak has spent his entire career building rosters around Bryant, but the executive acknowledged frustration with the Lakers’ incredible struggles in Bryant’s final two seasons. It was emotional. You can’t script that stuff. “The amount of respect and appreciation and admiration I have for the city, and to have this here…it just means everything to me”. The Lakers is at the bottom of the Western Conference standings and he is shooting a career worst with 31.5 percent.
An eight-game road trip is serving as the start of Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour.
The three-time league MVP helped the Sixers to an NBA championship in 1983, when he was named NBA Finals MVP.
Philadelphia has a straight number in front of their record.
Grant had four blocked shots, Noel had nine rebounds, T.J. McConnell had six assists.
The Los Angeles Lakers snapped their seven-game losing streak with a 108-104 victory over the Washington Wizards.
Ever since he made the announcement to retire from National Basketball Association, he seems to be the most talked about player.
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Sixers: At the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
