Los Angeles Lakers have reached Atlanta, GA, the third stop of their eight game road trip, to battle the (12-9) Atlanta Hawks. They are only a few matches behind the leaders the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic and since it is still early in the season, expect the Hawks to keep contending for the top spot in the East much like they did last season.
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Bleacher Report first reported the news. The Olympics will be held four months later, between 5-21 August. I was in Philly for the game, and saw hundreds of people wearing Lakers jerseys, as well as a bunch of people wearing Lower Merion High School gear, a shoutout to Kobe’s prep days.
“Kobe Bryant’s career accomplishments speak for themselves”, said Hawks and Philips Arena CEO Steve Koonin.
The game’s outcome was hardly unexpected given Bryant’s age and the state of his underperforming team, but Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer still showed respect by putting his best defender, Thabo Sefolosha, on the 17-time All-Star.
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Leave it to Bryant to not only publish a poem announcing his retirement but to also tell his coach about his decision midway through a game. Although, the Lakers split the two-game season series, with the Hawks, at a game a piece in 2014-15. After making just 21 3-pointers in his previous eight seasons combined, he now leads all centers by hitting 2.1 per game. The 30-year old is 10th in the National Basketball Association in steals and has scored double digits in all but one game this year. “We said we’ll go out there and play our game and that’s what we did”.
