Kobe Bryant’s Last Game In Oakland

January 14, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant (24) waves to the crowd before the game against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
January 14, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant (24) waves to the crowd before the game against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Kobe Bryant‘s last game at Oracle Arena was last night — and he went out strong.

Last night was his last game at Oracle Arena.

He felt an obligation to play for his fans and his teammates.

Even with injuries to his right shoulder and his Achilles opposite the one he has surgery on.

The Lakers training staff want to rest Kobe and give him one to two weeks rest and off.

After one quarter, the Lakers only trailed by one point — and at halftime they only trailed by three.

Even in the third quarter, they were in the game — then the fourth quarter happened and the Warriors took over.

Everything the Lakers did right the first three quarters they did wrong in the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, they turned over the ball multiple times, were not contesting any big shots, could not box out for rebounds, and let the Warriors control the game with their up pace tempo not allowing the Lakers to slow the tempo even thought they could.

They just didn’t slow down the game.

The whole time in this game it looked like neither team was trying to win.

Golden State was not earning any points in the point; all they did was shoot three-pointers and jump shots in the first half.

They didn’t score much points in the paint. either.

They didn’t even make it to the foul line that often in this game.

Los Angeles made it to the foul line in this game more often than in previous games.

In the fourth quarter the Warriors finally took advantage of the Lakers and scored in the paint.

They just easily scored points like it was nothing and made it look like the Lakers weren’t trying.

It was as if the two teams switched roles after halftime.

The Lakers were not contesting the three-point shots or protecting the paint and the Warriors were scoring from everywhere and out rebounding them.

Here are my thoughts on the game about the Lakers, Warriors, and Kobe.

In my previous article I did state that the Lakers had a great chance of defeating the Warriors and handing them another loss.

As I watched the game it looked like that was what was going to happen.

When the fourth quarter started I noticed that was not going to happen.

Here are some of my thoughts on why the Warriors kept the game close and then ran away with it in the fourth quarter.

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My dad came up with the thought of whether or not they purposely were not trying.

What he meant was what if the NBA  and the commissioner told them to stop blowing the Lakers out and just let them play; since everyone knows where the Lakers are at and the team now has some games under their belt and knows where each other is at.

Do this as a sign of respect for Kobe and I told him they could be doing it for business an revenue as well.

We both agreed.

He said they probably told them instead of blowing them out, keep the game close then in the in fourth quarter close the game out.

This is also to be respectful to Kobe since it is his last season and he is visiting lot of the arenas for the last time.

With that being said after he came out fro the final time the whole crowd Warriors and Lakers fans chanted his name and gave him a standing ovation.

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Hence as a sign of respect for him.

He is one of the greatest players to ever play the game in his ever and a standing ovation at your opponents place says it all.