Kobe gives Draymond signed kicks, tells Warriors to ‘make history’
Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour continued Thursday with a visit to Oracle Arena to take on the defending champion Golden State Warriors, who feted the Los Angeles Lakers legend with a video package voiced by Warriors advisor and former Lakers general manager Jerry West, the man who orchestrated the trade on the night of the 1996 NBA draft that brought Bryant to L.A.:
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The Warriors also gave Kobe a very Californian going-away present to enjoy once he slides into retirement after the end of his 20th NBA season:
Warriors presented Kobe with a Napa Valley vacation package & a massive (5L) specially designed bottle of wine from Amuse Bouche winery.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) January 15, 2016
… and the fans at Oracle — whom Bryant said during his pregame press conference “always seems to be a very young and very energetic crowd,” one he wouldn’t have wanted to have to deal with in a playoff series — gave Kobe a standing ovation when he left the court for the final time with 3:04 left in the fourth quarter:
In between the celebrations, Bryant got off to a hot start, scoring six points in the first six minutes of the game:
… before cooling down and struggling against the Warriors’ top-flight defense, finishing with eight points on 4-for-15 shooting with six rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block in 27 1/2 minutes of work, as Golden State cruised to a 116-98 win.
After the game, Warriors power forward Draymond Green — who returned after resting in the Dubs’ Wednesday road loss to the Denver Nuggets, scoring seven points with nine rebounds, five assists and three steals — took to Twitter to show his followers that while Bryant received an awful lot of love at Oracle on Thursday, he managed to give some, too:
Star struck by two players when I entered the league… G Hill and @kobebryant THANK YOU!!! Much respect!!! pic.twitter.com/ygzmaLYI4X
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) January 15, 2016
“Autographed game-worn Kobe 11s from Kobe’s last game in the Bay” seems like a pretty rad keepsake, but it’s nothing compared to the possibility of topping the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ all-time record of 72 wins, which the 37-3 Warriors are remarkably still on pace to do as they near the halfway point of their season. In a post-game chat with Green, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Bryant encouraged the Warriors’ stars to continue charging toward a place in NBA lore, according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com:
“You guys have got to go ahead and make history,” Bryant told Curry.
“I got to chase you,” Curry replied, a response that Bryant said he too would have used.
“Damn right,” Bryant told Curry. “Absolutely. Come and get it.”
After winning the 2014-15 championship and league Most Valuable Player honors, Curry — who scored a game-high 26 points on 9-for-18 shooting, including an 8-for-16 mark from 3-point land, in the win — has blown away his previous performance thus far this season, and his teammates have followed suit. Whether he and his fellow Warriors can maintain their torrid pace in the second half of the season remains to be seen, but Curry, for his part, appreciated Bryant’s well wishes as Golden State continues its push to win back-to-back titles, and so much more.
“He told us to chase history, keep doing what we’re doing,” Curry said after the game, according to Janie McCauley of The Associated Press. “He’s a guy that’s won multiple championships, knows the grind it takes to get that done. So, he’s just passing the torch.”
From Marcus Thompson III of the Bay Area News Group:
Draymond Green said the main reason he played Thursday was to play against Kobe one last time. He was supposed to be resting two games, and it stands to reason the Warriors could beat the Lakers without him. […]
“It was amazing,” Green said. “We’re talking about his last time coming to Oracle. … It’s bigger than just that game. So I thank the fans for the way they supported him. Because I thought that was amazing and well deserved.”
As was Bryant’s praise for the Warriors, a high-flying, hard-charging, swaggering and suffocating club after his own heart.
“It’s their time. It’s their time,” Bryant said after the game, according to Holmes. “It’s their time to step up and play and see how many championships they can win, see how many gold medals they can win. I had my run. Now it’s important for them to carry it forward.”
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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