Kobe - 60 pts

[loco_91]

It really sickens me that even today, on the last game of the career of an undebiable all time great, people still need to hunt for excuses to hate on Kobe and undermine his accomplishments.

On one side it's people complaining that he could have had more rings if he kept Shaq around...on the other side it's people complaining about how many shots he took to get his points today.

People - Kobe Bryant is 37 years of age.  When was the last time you saw a 37 year old score 60 points, under ANY circumstances, in an NBA game, against NBA defence?

Has it ever happened? If so it can't have been many times. 

I am 30 years old and i start struggling with my shot after about 40 minutes of slow paced basketball, in a pickup game, against complete amateurs.  My legs go, my arms go, and i struggle to even get shots off.

That Kobe even has the energy and athleticism to get 50 shots off against an NBA defence (and a pretty good one too) at the age of 37 is simply mindblowing.  For him to actually MAKE almost half of those shots (and go 10-12 from the line) is rediculously impressive.

You look at the best scorers in the game today - Curry, Cousins, Davis, Lebron, Durant, Harden, Melo, Westbrook.  Those guys are the absolute elite offensive players in the NBA and in their physical prime, and everey one of those guys would have a very hard trying to score 60 on 44% shooting against ANY NBA team on ANY night.

This guy just did it at the age of 37, in the final game of his NBA career, against a playoff calibre team.

I don't care what anybody days, that is godlike.

Agreed. I don't like the guy, but you gotta respect the hustle. I read that the 2nd oldest player to ever score 60 was Wilt at age 32... so yeah, to do it at age 37, vs a good defense no less, is insane. This has been one of the most memorable NBA regular seasons in a long, long time.

[Celtics18]

Didn't see his sixty point game.  That's nice and all for him, but I've got to say that overall this whole yearlong Kobe Fest thing has seemed kind of embarrassing and cringey.

I hope guys like Duncan, Garnett, and Dirk have the good sense and decency to go out in a more dignified manner, sans 82 games of Lifetime Achievement Award Honorary Basketball Games.

Embarrassing.

[Neurotic Guy]

Well, good for Kobe Bryant!   He definitely needed some good recognition after a career in the shadows and only one year of  farewell celebrations.  If only there could be more opportunities to say goodbye and thank you.  60 points - wow. The grand master leading  his team to its 17th victory of the season. Hail Kobe.

Does anyone really deny Kobe's greatness as a player? I hope not. But enough is enough.  I am already tired of the Big Papi farewell tour. But the endless fury of praise, ceremony, and fawning over a Laker is an even more profound stomach turner.  He's a basketball player for the hated rival.  I don't need to praise or condemn him.  I didn't like him because he wore hated laundry. The dislike is meaningless and moronic, but it remains just as strong today as ever.

60 points....maybe  just one more farewell year? Please Kobe?

[LarBrd33]

Well it wasn`t a real game.... I don`t know if Utah needed the win but to me it was more of a tribute game than an actual nba game

It was an exhibition, basically.  Nobody takes that many shots in a real game.

Though honestly, I didn't watch the game live.  If you watch the highlights, he was getting some tough defense on a lot of those shots https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlGIkwX4GiE

Good for him.  What a way to go.  The man had game.

[Snakehead]

Take your 60 pts, 50 shots, and don't let the door hit you on the way out!  Like some others said, 60 pts is 60 pts but for me it summed up Kobe very well.  A great player but not a type of player I like and I think the position many seem have him in (best of his era) is just flat out wrong.

Happy to see the season long farewell tour he said he would never do be over.

[LarBrd33]

Take your 60 pts, 50 shots, and don't let the door hit you on the way out!  Like some others said, 60 pts is 60 pts but for me it summed up Kobe very well.  A great player but not a type of player I like and I think the position many seem have him in (best of his era) is just flat out wrong.

Happy to see the season long farewell tour he said he would never do be over.

Really, 60 on 50 shots isn't necessarily completely horrible.  44% shooting.  If he had taken exclusively 2-point shots and made half of them, he'd only have scored 50 points. 

[Redz]

Take your 60 pts, 50 shots, and don't let the door hit you on the way out!  Like some others said, 60 pts is 60 pts but for me it summed up Kobe very well.  A great player but not a type of player I like and I think the position many seem have him in (best of his era) is just flat out wrong.

Happy to see the season long farewell tour he said he would never do be over.

Really, 60 on 50 shots isn't necessarily completely horrible.  44% shooting.  If he had taken exclusively 2-point shots and made half of them, he'd only have scored 50 points.

I ended up watching the game from beginning to end.  Despite my general loathing for Kobe I was drawn like a moth to light.  And I've got to say, I'm glad I watched it.  Yes, Kobe was chucking the hole game, but down the stretch he got in the zone and made some big shots to bring them back for the win.  It was a cool moment.

Now..buh bye Kobe

[Snakehead]

Take your 60 pts, 50 shots, and don't let the door hit you on the way out!  Like some others said, 60 pts is 60 pts but for me it summed up Kobe very well.  A great player but not a type of player I like and I think the position many seem have him in (best of his era) is just flat out wrong.

Happy to see the season long farewell tour he said he would never do be over.

Really, 60 on 50 shots isn't necessarily completely horrible.  44% shooting.  If he had taken exclusively 2-point shots and made half of them, he'd only have scored 50 points.

You're right, I'm not saying it's terrible.  The volume shooting just sums up how I feel about Kobe even at his best.  It was fitting for me.  I do respect the hard work and talent but I don't like a lot of the rest that goes along with him.

And I mean people were there to see Kobe so whatever.  He should take those shots I suppose because he's Kobe and that's what Kobe does on his season long farewell tour/I guess Lakers season.

[dannyboy35]

I don't like Kobe but respect his old school attitude and hard work. I was always on his side of the Kobe/ Shaq breakup even though I disliked both players. At least he didn't let his team down coming in heavy. At least he wasn't  selfish AND lazy. That's probably the best compliment I'm able to give to a Laker.

[Big333223]

50 shot attempts to score 60 in his final game which is totally meaningless because it
s 2 non-playoff teams playing one another. Kind of gross.

If Utah had won the game last night they could have made the 8th seed in the Western conference if Houston lost their game. So it's kind of misleading to call Jazz a "non-playoff" team especially if you put into consideration that they actually played really well this year.

Just to be clear, Houston had already won that day so Utah wasn't playing for anything and they knew it.

[TA9]

50 shot attempts to score 60 in his final game which is totally meaningless because it
s 2 non-playoff teams playing one another. Kind of gross.

If Utah had won the game last night they could have made the 8th seed in the Western conference if Houston lost their game. So it's kind of misleading to call Jazz a "non-playoff" team especially if you put into consideration that they actually played really well this year.

Just to be clear, Houston had already won that day so Utah wasn't playing for anything and they knew it.

Ah. I will take my comment back then ! Didn't really notice that the Houston game had ended before the Lakers game; my bad.

[Csfan1984]

Take your 60 pts, 50 shots, and don't let the door hit you on the way out!  Like some others said, 60 pts is 60 pts but for me it summed up Kobe very well.  A great player but not a type of player I like and I think the position many seem have him in (best of his era) is just flat out wrong.

Happy to see the season long farewell tour he said he would never do be over.

Really, 60 on 50 shots isn't necessarily completely horrible.  44% shooting.  If he had taken exclusively 2-point shots and made half of them, he'd only have scored 50 points.

You havent factored Fts like the 60pts are. If it is 50 points plus the 10 fts made its still 60 pts too. I agree it was a decent last game. We have to understand he was only 3 shots off from hitting at 50% shooting. He also missed 15 of 21 threes, that is Marcus Smart bad. The 3s is what killed his %. If he reduced the 3s he would had an incredibly efficient game. Talk about emptying the tank.

[greece66]

Larbrd33 is right that strictly speaking his shooting efficiency in the last game was OK.

It's also true that 60 points is impressive coming from a 37 yo player that has gone through several injuries.

The other side of the coin however, is that Utah already knew it was eliminated from the playoffs, the win had literally zero value for either team, and the whole scoring hunting thing is IMO emblematic of Kobe's career: great player, not so great teammate.

[slightly biased bias fan]

The only thing I didn't like about the game was the officiating...there was none lol. I have never seen so many moving screens in my life not called especially Randle's, and that push off by Kobe on Hayward to get the ball from the inbounds was so blatant that it has me worried that the NBA does have some influence towards how the refs should call games. Also this game did resemble that of Kobe's 81 point game in that Utahs coach did not send 1 double team at him, I mean if you know Kobe has already take 30-40 shot why wouldn't you just double or triple team him?