Sports

Kobe Bryant Drops 60 In Farewell Game

(Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)

Ben Harris Contributor
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After 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant bolstered his place in professional basketball lore with his record-breaking 60-point sendoff Wednesday night.

In late March, TNT analyst and Bryant’s former teammate Shaquille O’Neal asked Kobe to promise him one thing.

“I need 50 [points] that night,” O’Neal said. “Can you do it? Your last game, your last home game at the Staples, can you give us 50?”

Laughing, Bryant replied, “Uh, no. No, absolutely not.”

The Black Mamba outperformed even his wildest expectations. No player has ever scored more in his NBA farewell, and he did so on 22-50 shooting. Yes, he hoisted up more shots than any player in the last 33 seasons, but nothing could have been more fitting for the shot-happy five-time NBA champion.

“It was funny,” Bryant said speaking to the fans after the game from center court. “The thing that had me cracking up all night long was the fact that I go through 20 years of everybody screaming to pass the ball and on the last night they’re like ‘Don’t pass it!'”

Trailing by three with 5:41 to go, the raucous crowd watched Bryant rattle off the Lakers’ next 17 points to earn one final victory and his sixth career game with 60 points or more.

The Lower Merion product, who grew up a diehard Lakers fan, played each of his 20 seasons on the west coast in Los Angeles. He is the only player in NBA history to play an entire 20-year career with one team, and became just the eleventh player overall in the United States’ four major sports to do so, joining legends like Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles, Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees and Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings.

In classic Staples Center fashion, celebrities from all walks of life gathered to take in the final sendoff of the league’s third highest scorer in history. From Jay-Z to Lamar Odom, they dotted the sidelines, witnessing the Mamba’s historic swan song.

Physically, the 37-year-old is a shell of his former self. But his intensity, the trait that made him the player that he is, hasn’t waned. The Lakers legend left it all on the floor, playing 42 minutes, his highest game total since November 2014.

Saying one final goodbye, Bryant dropped the mic, blowing a kiss to his beloved fans.

“Mamba out,” he said.