Kobe Bryant Goes Off For 60 Points In His Final Career Game

Kobe Bryant made sure to go out with one of the best curtain calls we’ve ever seen.

After looking at how the Los Angeles Lakers started their game against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night for the first half of the first quarter, anyone who said that Kobe Bryant would go on from that kind of start to score 60 points would be out of their mind.

Well, as it turns out, those people would be completely accurate.

In nothing short of a storybook ending, the world said good bye to one of basketball’s greatest players of all-time. It’s not easy be good on a team like the Lakers, but to be remembered as one of the storied franchise’s best ever has to have a special place in Bryant’s heart.

Before the game even got started, there were plenty of theatrics, including a performance by Flea of the national anthem and more than enough tribute videos to go around.

To be honest, it didn’t start to feel surreal until there was under five minutes remaining in the game, at which point the end of Kobe Bryant smacked all of us like a ton of bricks.

It looked like we might get to see Bryant give us a game-winner as his way of going out, but instead we got to see a torch-passing moment unlike any other.

With the Lakers looking to try and sneak one past Utah, Bryant, who’d been given the ball most of the game, stepped back and dropped a huge three-pointer that sent Staples Center into a complete bonanza.

After that, we got to see the last points that we’ll ever see Kobe Bryant score in a professional game — free throws.

The final moment for Bryant after those free throws was a full court assist thrown to second year star Jordan Clarkson, who went up and slammed the ball down with authority as the perfect exclamation mark — hard to argue Bryant would’ve had it any other way.

With his last game, Bryant showed us that he was willing to shine, even if that meant being the best player on a not-so-great team like the Lakers have been the last couple of seasons.

The youth-based investment from the Los Angeles front office will hopefully pay off sooner than later, especially with the upcoming NBA Draft in which the Lakers will get one of the top selections overall.

Even as the team, league, and fans from around the world try to process and put into words what it means to say good bye to Kobe Bryant, it’s important to note that he accomplished anything and everything he set his mind to.

Next: Chris Paul Propels Clippers To Victory

In his own way, he was our own favorite villain.