Bryant took fifty shots Wednesday en route to the League-high in points this season, and for one final time, dragged the Los Angeles Lakers to an improbable 101-96 victory against the Utah Jazz.
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“You can’t write something better than this”, he said while standing center court. Bryant played his last game as a Laker and retired from basketball. You’ll always be in my heart, and I sincerely, sincerely appreciate it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
And the reactions? There were plenty.
I’m an east coaster whose favorite National Basketball Association team (that shall remain nameless) has been the literal opposite of the Los Angeles Lakers for the vast majority of my lifetime, so I’ve disliked Kobe mostly out of jealousy, but also because he kind of gives me the creeps. It was also the 25th time he scored at least 50 points and 122nd he has scored at least 40.
Described on the night by fellow Lakers legend Magic Johnson as “the greatest” to ever wear the purple and gold, Bryant alone outscored the Jazz in the fourth quarter by 23-21, stunning the crowd in this much-anticipated farewell match. The Golden State Warriors broke the Chicago Bulls 1995-1996 record for most wins in a season in their last regular season match-up.
It’s the longest any player has stayed with one team. “I can’t believe how fast 20 years went by”, he laughed.
Who does that? Who walks away from the game by summoning up one of the all time great Kobe performances on 37-year old legs that have more mileage than all the other Laker players have on their bodies combined?
It was surprising that the Lakers game came very close to drawing more viewers than the Warriors game, because there is typically a big disparity between viewership on ESPN2 and ESPN.
“He could not end without something like that, so I think he threw my shoes in the trash, but yeah, that’s Kobe for you”.
“I need 50 [points] that night”, O’Neal said.
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“The feeling was like we won a championship or something”.
