‘Competitor’ Kobe Bryant asks rival teams to do away with gifts, retirement

Bryant established Kobe Inc. last year, a sports-related venture that invested in Body Armor athletic beverage. “I read up on the animal and said, ‘Wow, this is pretty awesome, ‘ ” Bryant recalled.

What was most striking to Scott was Bryant’s demeanor in the moment.

Restaurants and hotels were also beneficiaries of Bryant’s appearance as they were packed on Friday night.

In other results, the New York Knicks crushed the Philadelphia 76ers 99-87, the Toronto Raptors downed the Atlanta Hawks 96-86, the Detroit Pistons edged the Phoenix Suns 127-122 in overtime and the Chicago Bulls defeated the Denver Nuggets 99-90.

Retiring LA Lakers great Kobe Bryant has said he would love to represent the USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Harden bounced back from a 3-for-12 shooting first-half with 11 points in the third quarter, plus two huge baskets and a terrific assist in crunch time that inched the slow-starting Rockets a little closer to. However surprising that was for fans and those who cover the team, however, it was much less surprising than when Lakers head coach Byron Scott received the news.

Atlanta shot 50.0% from the field 38.5% from three-point range (10-26) and 80.0% from the line (16-20). He’d scored 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting in 15 minutes, 39 seconds of first-half playing time; he went on to score six more on 2-for-8 shooting in 15 minutes, 44 seconds of second-half burn.

“I’m just sitting there going, ‘Wow, ‘” Scott said.

“It’s just been two games”, Scott said. “It was probably the weirdest game I’ve ever coached”.

That did not happen often against Atlanta.

In that second stanza, the man of the hour, Kobe Bryant would score his first four points of the contest.

Kobe Bryant, of course, stole the show with crowd ovations and a scintillating sequence of back-to-back three-pointers in the third quarter, but the 37-year-old could not find his shot and appeared content to defer on this night.

Now that the announcement is out, Bryant has officially written his goodbye to basketball via The Players Tribune, players and fans are crying out their sincerest goodbyes. When asked whether or not he learned anything from Kobe Bryant, Howard replied, “can we move to the next question”? “Equinox pick-up games, dude”.

Of course, Bryant’s scoring struggles did not dissuade the continuous fan support surrounding his final National Basketball Association season. Bryant interrupted both questions and said, “Nope”.

Though he called the gesture “pretty darn cool”, Bryant has his limitations. Defensively, the Lakers yield 105.7 points against the opposing teams.

Of course, a win would mark the best gift.

In a balanced offensive outing for the home-standing Hawks, Paul Millsap (15 points), Jeff Teague (13 points) and reserves Kent Bazemore (15 points) and Mike Scott (14 points) all contributed heavily in Atlanta’s win.

“It just slipped out”, Bryant said.