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Date and Time:
Wednesday, April 13th, 2016
7:30 PM
Where:
Staples Center
Los Angeles, CA
Tonight, we here at WWE Forums will celebrate the career of the biggest star in the NBA today in as he takes part in a game for the final time in his career, as the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Utah Jazz. After 20 years in the NBA, Kobe Bryant has certainly and undoubtedly left his mark on the Lakers and the rest of the league and tonight will be on the court for the final time in his career. During his time, he won five NBA championships, had a career total of 33,464 points, and made the very best of the difficult task of acquiring the torch from the likes of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, the now head coach Byron Scott, Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, and of course, Michael Jordan. Kobe’s first point on a free throw in his second game against the Knicks was when others began to see in this kid the same things Jerry West saw, skills and no fear. They could see his killer instincts and desire to be great. Kobe played limited minutes his first couple years and his third year he started. There was a game in Orlando where Kobe went off in the second half but it wasn’t that he got hot, it was how everyone finally saw the smarts applied. He pulled up in the key instead of trying to dunk on everyone. He could get any shot he wanted and not the one the defenders wanted him to take. Then the first championship, the second, the third, fourth and fifth, his greatness each year was getting even better. He could cover any 1, 2, or 3 in the game and lock them up. The clutch shots became routine. The rim-rattling dunks and amazing contortion layups and his ability to draw contact and finish in the key. And he rarely back then got knocked off his feet.
Through pain, through injuries, through multiple surgeries, he just kept getting better and better. He literally became unstoppable although Bowen, Patterson, Kirilenko, Prince, Bell, Christie, and Allen all tried. The 30 point games, the 40 point games, the 50 point games, the 60 point games, the 81 point game, triple doubles, etc. He always made you feel he was going to do something you’ve never seen before and did not think was possible, like the three point shot against Portland over Theo Ratliff. He could adjust his shot by arching it higher over long-armed defenders. He had the best mid-range touch I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen him hit left handed three point shots, reverse dunks, 35 footers, hook shots, etc. He could do it all and even the improbable. He did all that not from god given ability but from the best work ethic in the game. The highest basketball IQ in the game, study of the greats before him and his peers. He loves everything about basketball. His fundamental perfection made all the impossible possible. 20 years I’ve enjoyed every moment Kobe has taken the court and although I love the game and it’s in great hands with the players today, it will never be the same. The process of the end was there since the beginning and it’s time, so after tonight Kobe Bryant will turn the lights out. And for me the game will always be slightly dimmer without him.
WWE Forums would like to wish Kobe the best of luck with all he does after basketball and thanks him for helping all those that watched him find the game that much more enthralling.
LD will take place in the LD portion of the chat.
