4. Kobe steals the spotlight one last time scoring 60 points in his final game ever
April 13th, 2016 should be viewed as the greatest night ever for basketball fans (at least as far as the regular season goes) as fans were not sure whether to watch the Warriors surpass the 1996 Chicago Bulls all-time record of 72/82 wins in a single season with their 73rd win or watch Kobe Bryant, one of the all-time greats bow out in his final game.
Many fans, pundits and analysts viewed it as a war between past and present as Kobe was slighted with his final game being moved to ESPN 2 in favor of the present history of the Warriors on the line on ESPN. Twitter was blowing up with all-time NBA greats, every current player and all-time greats from the past and present in other sports about how they had to keep flipping their channels.
Eventually, Kobe became the clear star of the show. His night began with an epic tribute from one of his idols growing up Magic Johnson, who many view as the greatest Laker of all time, introducing Kobe as the greatest Laker of all time in Kobe’s final game. A tear-jerking tribute video was played featuring highlights of Bryant from him being drafted in 1996 to his younger days with an afro and jumping out of the gym with Shaquille O’Neal as number 8 to becoming number 24 and evolving into the Black Mamba.
At one point in the video legendary Lakers announcer (they even retired a jersey for him) Chick Hearn interviews a 19-year old Kobe with an afro and says, “you’ve got 19 or 20 years with the Lakers still”, to which Kobe replies “19 or 20 at least”, all while Kobe was closing out his 20-year career as a Los Angeles Laker having fulfilled his childhood dream as the first player ever to spend 20 years with the same franchise.
The video featured NBA legends, teammates, coaches, and celebrities congratulating and thanking Kobe for all he’s done and the motivation he’s provided including Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James, Steph Curry, Phil Jackson and Jack Nicholson (who was also at the game). Video tributes continued throughout the night with the likes of Alexander Ovechkin, David Beckham, Paula Abdul, Justin Bieber, Jack Black, Ice Cube, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg and more thanking Kobe.
Some of Kobe’s heroes including Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, and Kanye West were at the game… so it’s no wonder Kobe had the jitters and missed his first five shots. However, what happened after this was absolutely legendary as Kobe blocked a shot… and then hit his next five with old school dribble moves to get to the rim, high-arcing mid-range jumpers and 3-pointers with a defender’s hand in his face.
By the end of the first quarter after missing his first five shots Kobe had 15 points, putting him on pace for 60 if he could keep up this pace. However, this seemed ludicrous to most as Kobe had not scored more than 50 points since scoring 61 in Madison Square Garden on February 2nd, 2009 (even though he has the third most 50 point games ever), he was 37 years old having not been the same player since suffering an Achilles injury on April 12th, 2013 (almost exactly 3 years prior to the day of this specific moment) and suffering two season-ending injuries after that.
The second and third quarters were amazing too with Kobe scoring in every which way to tally 37 points going into the fourth, but it was in the fourth quarter where arguably the most clutch player of all time showed up to score 23 points (the entire Utah Jazz team he faced only scored 21 in the fourth) in a storybook comeback victory to cap off a 20-year storybook career.
Kobe made his last five shots to single-handedly lead the Lakers to victory one final time including a ridiculous fadeaway 3 to tie and a game-winning classic Kobe mid-range shot to put the Lakers up for good before going to the free-throw line, where Kobe scored his 1st point in his career, for his 59th and 60th point of the night to close his career in a way that could only happen in Hollywood.
Kobe went on the mic after the game to thank his fans and family before dropping the mic and proclaiming, “Mamba Out.”