In a sea of purple and gold jerseys, a thunderous “MVP” chant filled the buzzing Staples Center as the Laker great took and made his final points in his NBA career on the free throw line. The mixture of absolute exuberance and sadness was palpable throughout the course of the game, but when Kobe Bryant scored his last of 60 points, it drew a deafening roar of gratitude from the Los Angeles crowd, thanking him for everything he’s done for the storied organization over the last twenty years.
Kobe’s final game will (probably) go down as the greatest final performance of NBA history, and will be something I definitely will never forget, an experience that was worth every penny and dime to watch.
As I made my way up to the stadium with my father, looking around it was easy to see how much Kobe meant to Los Angeles. By noon, large crowds had already gathered outside of Staples Center for the game that started at 7:30. Also, ESPN personalities like Steven A. Smith, Ramona Shelburne, Marcellus Wiley, and Max Kellerman were outside filming podcasts and live coverage, and even the experienced reporter Steven A. Smith was stupefied by the amount of people in attendance to catch their final glimpse of the Black Mamba.
By the time the doors opened, thousands of people had converged in front of Staples Center, some of whom had been there since 3 o’clock. But, when the doors opened at 6, the lines were so long that people at the back barely got inside by the time it was 7:30. But, it wasn’t like waiting in line was boring, because, even waiting around, the people at the game felt obligated to chant “Kobe” at any possible moment. And, since I was wearing a Kobe jersey, random strangers would come up to me and give me a high-five or a fist bump and have a conversation about their favorite Kobe moment, or where they were when he scored 81 points.
Once I got inside and the lights shut off and a giant curtain dropped around the jumbotron, showing old Kobe highlights, it finally hit me that this was the last time to watch one of the greatest players of all time. The tribute video hit all of the bases, getting drafted to the Hornets then traded to the Lakers, many, many, game winners, his 4 all-star MVP’s, 3rd most points in NBA history, 81 point game, 2 Olympic medals, 5 championships, and most of all his 20 years playing in a Lakers uniform. Then Magic Johnson came out and stood at center court and called Kobe “the greatest to wear the purple and gold,” quashing any petty disputes about the matter. And when he finished speaking, the “KOBE” chants were deafening. It seemed each and every person in the arena was screaming out their appreciation for him, causing him to have to come to center court to wave and thank the throngs of crazed fans.
Kobe started off the game uncharacteristically cold, shooting an ugly 0-5. However, he somehow summoned some of the youthful bounciness to block Trevor Booker, corral the rebound and sink a high arcing shot over two defenders for his first points of the night. Kobe, with the support of his teammates, had free reign to shoot the ball every single time he touched it. And that sentiment carried throughout the game, with plays where Marcelo Huertas would stop a potential fast break to toss the ball back to Kobe for him to shoot and subsequently make a trailing three. And, glimpses of the pre-Achilles tear Mamba returned, with magnificent footwork and post moves, even a ridiculous contested three over Joe Ingles, with his hand directly in his face (maybe even touching his face), casually fading away and sinking the triple.
Kobe was back, and in the fourth quarter, he completely commanded the Lakers to the victory, individually outscoring the Jazz in the final quarter of play (23 points), and going on a personal rampage with just under 10 minutes to play, scoring 17 straight points. Nevertheless, the Jazz still held a double-digit lead with just under 3 minutes to play, but, the Jazz must have forgotten, clutch time is Kobe time. And Kobe, like so many times in his career, hit big shot, after big shot, willing the Lakers to within one point behind the Jazz, and inevitably, hit a vintage fading two to put them up with 30 seconds to go.
His last points in the NBA came just like the first points, on the free throw line. However, knowing that we were witnessing his last points in his career, roaring cheers rained down from every direction, a sweet ode to his career playing out in the Mamba’s grande finale, as he knocked down the 59th and 60th point from the free throw line. Looking around me, I saw young kids, decked out in Kobe gear, silently crying as they witnessed the performance of a lifetime, their hero going out with 60 points.
Just let that sink in… 60 points, as a 37-year-old man. Granted, it did take him 50 shots to do it, and basically was given every opportunity to shoot. 60 is still phenomenal. But, all of the doubters and naysayers still believe, had [insert present superstar here] had 50 shots they would have scored 60 points. But, to me, the real beauty of Kobe’s last game wasn’t ever about the 60 points. Yes, watching him score huge numbers was nice, but the best part was watching him push his body to the very limit for the fans. But it was time Kobe walked and collapsed on the bench for a timeout, he looked as if he would pass out from exhaustion before trainer Gary Vitti (another retiring Laker great) rushed over and tended to his aches and pains until Kobe dragged himself back onto the court. It was watching Kobe react, in the 6 and only minutes of the game he sat, to the crowd when the chanted “We want Kobe,” grimacing and getting up to the scores table. Kobe didn’t want to shoot 50 times, the fans did, so he did.
Coming back to Dallas, people didn’t share the same respect for what he did. It was mostly, “but he took 50 shots” or “they gave him the ball every time.” And that’s ok, I never expected people to understand, they could never understand, not being able to see it happen live, the fairy tale ending to one of the greatest careers in the Lakers’ storied history. Just like when he responded to critics saying he shot too much earlier in his career, “Mozart … responded to critics by saying there were neither too many notes or too few.” On that special night “there were as many as necessary.”
But more than all, watching former Kobe teammate and bitter enemy Shaq (seriously he hated Kobe, Warning NSFW) sit and stare with utter shock and awe at what he was doing was all I needed to wake me up and understand the full gravity of the situation. Shaq, after the game, stared blankly at the court and told reporters “I challenged him to get 50 and that [expletive] got 60.”
Kobe, for so long, played for himself, driving himself to unfathomable lengths to master basketball. But in his last game, he flipped half of the script, he played for the fans. But by half the script, there’s one thing not even the fans could stop him from doing: shooting the ball. But nobody had to. He did it himself. His last recorded stat was a full court bullet to Jordan Clarkson for a dunk, an assist.
He ended his career in a way nobody could’ve imagined in a night many will never forget, did you expect anything else?
He addressed the crowd one last time before he left the court for good. What else could he say?
“Mamba out.”
