In the NBA, today marks the final game in the remarkable career of Kobe Bryant, who is retiring after this season. That meant he and the LA Lakers would go all-out to win their last game of the campaign against the visiting Utah Jazz, in hopes of leaving the fans at the Staples Center with one more great memory of the five-time NBA champion, before he hangs up his shoes for good.
Bryant scores 60 points in final game of remarkable NBA career? |
Kobe would receive a moving tribute and introduction before the game, as the capacity crowd chants his name before he takes the floor in Los Angeles for the final time, in what's been an illustrious 20 years with the Lakers.
The first quarter would be like Turn Back The Clock Day as Bryant blocks Trevor Booker from behind, and then starts a fast-break the other way.
With nobody open, he drives into the paint before pulling up for a jumper that ties the game at six. And that leads to approval all the way around.
More vintage moves from the Black Mamba in the second Q, as he goes baseline for the lay-up, and helps LA close the deficit to five.
The Man of the Moment doesn't slow down after half-time, as he drives the lane and lays the ball up and in with his left hand, but his team is trailing by 13.
It's a different story with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter. The Lakers battle back, and then Kobe drills a three-pointer that cuts the gap to just one. Superfan Jack Nicholson is loving it, as is pretty much everyone but Utah.
And Bryant's not done as he pulls up for the long J to put the home team in from 97-96 with just over 30 seconds left on the clock. He's got 58 points after sinking that shot.
Kobe adds two more at the free throw line to finish with 60 as LA starts to pull away, a performance for the ages in the most storybook of circumstances, as the Lakers win Bryant's faerwell game by five points.