Kobe amazing in farewell game

Leandro Quintana

APRIL 13, 2016 will live in basketball lore as one night of record breakers and unforgettable NBA moments. Kobe Bryant capped his 20-year NBA career with a dizzying display of shot making that culminated in a 60-point total, 23 of which he made in the 4th quarter that actually outscored the entire Utah Jazz team at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. And as perhaps fate would have it basketball nirvana was also unfolding some 400 miles north as the Warriors led by wunderkind Stephen Curry broke several NBA records as they manhandled a tough Memphis Grizzlies team up in Oakland.

Indeed on this night of hoop wonders and dizzying display of talent, California was the “Golden State” of global, world-class basketball.

The beauty of the evening is that the two separate games, wittingly or unwittingly, exposed and displayed the two contrasting styles in which the game is played. Kobe robustly exhibited amazing individual talent that one often sees mostly in the NBA’s annual “all-star” game while Stephen Curry’s Warriors displayed the beauty of team work and a cohesive approach to winning basketball resulting in a 73 win season record breaking Michael Jordan’s Bulls 20-year 72 win record.

The Laker fans at Staples and the millions watching the games on TV almost did not care if Kobe’s otherwise hapless team would win or lose, they just wanted to see him  in full “black Mamba mode” and sink the baskets in every which way possible just as he has done in the past 20 years. And he obliged. So did the entire Lakers team on the floor who kept feeding Kobe the ball. In fact, in the post-game media interview he laughingly pointed this out. Through his entire career, he said, “teammates always asked me to pass them the ball. Tonight they seemed to be saying to me, don’t pass me the ball.”

And it was a full, standing room only media room with sports reporters from around the world in attendance. The interview session  provided the audience with a glimpse of a Kobe Bryant not many people often see. The responses he gave and statements made were articulated with much intelligence and finesse and hardly the type one would expect from a man who jumped from high school at age 17 into the pro ranks.

He not only answered questions in English but also directly replied in Spanish. And if need be he also is conversant in Italian. “Como un sueno.” (like a dream) he said when a Spanish language journalist asked him how he felt throughout the night.

The night, however, was purely basketball and record making. Kobe’s 60-point performance was the highest ever scored by any NBA player in a last or “retirement” game. The 23-point 4th quarter was a record as well. Stephen Curry scored 46 points but sank all the points in the first three quarters. As has happened all season long Warrior coach Steve Kerr lets Curry sit out the 4th quarter if the team had the game in hand at the end of the 3rd period. Curry’s 10 three-point completions in the game capped a year wherein he scored 402 triples, breaking his own previous record by 116 shots.

At both the Lakers and Warriors games were record breaking insofar as ticket pricing as well with courtside seats going for a reported $25,000. At Staples, the “nosebleed” seats, the ones at the last row of the cavernous stadium were going for $700 apiece.

The crowds in Los Angeles started lining up on Figueroa St. some six hours before the doors were opened. Every parking space in the many lots surrounding the stadium were closed and full early. Up in Oakland, there were reported traffic jams for several hours as fans made their way to the Warrior’s Oracle Arena.

It was a wondrous night for basketball indeed. The Lakers and Warriors, mortal enemies for the past half century, gave basketball fanatics a lifetime of memories in one evening of unparalleled excellence that will be talked about and written of for years and decades to come.