One Final Game: The last great performance for NBA legends

One Final Game: Kobe Bryant

Date: April 13, 2016

When you first read the headline for this post, it’s possible you thought immediately of Kobe Bryant and his One Final Game. For most NBA legends we are combing through their final season to find their last great game some time before the end. For Kobe Bryant, he walked off in his final game in the most Kobe way possible.

On the final night of the regular season, on the same evening that the Golden State Warriors were winning a record 73rd game, Kobe Bryant took the court for the final game of his career. He shot 22-of-50 for a whopping 60 points, chipping in four rebounds and four assists in the process.

Bryant shot almost every time he touched the ball, determined to go out firing. He shot 21 3-pointers, only three off the most in NBA history and his personal most by three. In a tight game that the Lakers ultimately won by 5, Bryant scored 60 of his team’s 101 points. He scored or assisted on the Lakers’ final 21 points.

It was the purest distillation of the Kobe Bryant experience, shots and shots and shots as Bryant recaptured the magic, using every trick in his bag to gain enough space to get off his patented jumper. He went out on his terms, in his way.

Mamba Out.