JEFF ALLEN: KOBE BRYANT MAKES HIS CURTAIN CALL
One of the greatest players in NBA history straps it up one final time tonight as Kobe Bryant plays his final game
tonight at The Staples Center as the Lakers take on the Utah Jazz. Kobe’s accolades and records are to numerous
to list here but glossing over the highlights are five World Championships, 18 time All-Star, 11 time first team All-NBA
and a league MVP in 2008. He’s also somewhat of an enigma with his sexual assault allegation in Colorado, his
clash with Shaq and perceived arrogance. At the end of the day, he’ll be remembered as a fierce competitor whose
sole agenda was to win.
The Laker season has been a disaster at 16-65, in large part thanks to Kobe’s strangulating contract which made him
the highest paid player in the league the last two years. He’s broken down physically the past several years and thanks
to poor front office decisions, was never surrounded by enough talent for the team to have any prayer of winning during
the last three years in the ultra-competitive West Conference. As Kobe rides into the sunset there is still minimal hope
for the Lakers who managed to preserve their lottery pick by finishing in the bottom three of the league. Los Angeles will
have the second most ping pong balls in the bin but recent drafts have produced Julius Randall and D’Angelo Russell
have been no help to this point and could be bang or bust down the line.
It will be a big night at the Staples Center where the lowest price for any ticket this morning was $975. To put this in
perspective, the cheapest seat 300 miles up the road in Oakland to watch the Golden State Warriors make history was
“just” $350. The Red Hot Chili Peppers will sing the national anthem and Hollywood should be out in force. There will
be the obligatory video presentation by the Lakers honoring Kobe and the city of Los Angeles has gotten in the act by
renaming the metro stop at the Staple Center after Kobe for the day.
In regards to the game (Utah -5, 193), you would think that even this VERY bad Laker team would have the best of it. By,
the time that the game tips off, Utah will have likely been eliminated from the playoffs with the Rockets likely to pummel
the DeMarcus Cousins-less Sacramento Kings in Houston. There will be little reason for the Jazz to do anything but go
out and have fun savoring this moment in history. That said, Utah has won four straight in the series and all three games
this year by double digit’s including a 123-75 demolition (the worst Laker defeat ever in the Kobe era) just three weeks
ago. Should the Kings win, you’ll be getting Utah at a huge overlay and all bets are off on the Jazz doing anything other than
spank the Lakers again. Byron Scott said early in the week that Kobe would play the most he’s played all season and
that will most likely equate to shots and points. Over the total might be a way to look if this winds up a street ball exhibition
game but that ship may have already sailed with total four points higher now than the opener. This might be the perfect
night to get a pizza and beer and relax while jumping back and forth between Golden State making history and watching the
final game of one of the league’s all-time greats.