Kobe Bryant is a legend whose impact on the game of basketball will last centuries after his untimely tragic passing in January 2020. Bryant embodied what it means to make the most of the talent one has, working harder than everybody else as he became one of the greatest to ever grace the hardwood — winning five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in the process.
Alas, Bryant's playing career did not end as smoothly as he would have hoped. He tore his Achilles tendon in 2013 in an ill-fated attempt to will the poorly-constructed Lakers to the playoffs, and he was never the same player again. But on the fateful night of April 13, 2016, Bryant managed to channel his younger self, ending his Hall of Fame career on a high by dropping 60 points, 23 of which came in a fourth-quarter avalanche filled with heroics that we've grown accustomed to witnessing from the Black Mamba.
For D'Angelo Russell, who got to witness that one last barrage from Kobe Bryant, all he had to do was give him the ball and get out of the way.
“When you got the ball and they booing you, you know what that means. Get that ball to that man. He was just trying to score. … He was shooting tough twos, like one-footed side of the three-point line twos. Pull-ups. You just see his face, he looked young, bro. Just looked like he had it,” Russell said in an appearance on the Run Your Race podcast, presented by Tidal League.
Kobe Bryant's final barrage ends Lakers' putrid 2015-16 campaign on a high
The Lakers didn't exactly have the most successful 2010s. After winning the championship in 2010 by avenging their prior NBA Finals defeat to the Boston Celtics, the Lakers went on a steep downturn. They hit their lowest point during the 2015-16 season, when they managed to win just 17 of their 82 regular season games — their worst win-loss tally in franchise history.
Kobe Bryant, however, managed to make everyone forget about how bad the Lakers were, even for just one night. He knew his career was coming to an end, and he wanted to give fans one last treat before he called it quits for good.
“You can see it mentally, he was prepared. Everybody in the world was at the game,” Russell added.
More than eight years have passed since Kobe Bryant's farewell game and yet its memory still remains fresh in the minds of many, including D'Angelo Russell's. And why wouldn't it? Scoring 60 points in your final game after struggling in your final three seasons is the stuff only legends can pull off.
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