Kobe Bryant’s last game was my kids’ first game

Wednesday Night the Celtics and Lakers faced off at the TD Garden for the only time this season, and it would be Kobe Bryant’s last trip to Boston as an active player.

In a battle of two of the worst teams in the National Basketball Association, the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers both sit at the bottom of their respective conferences with a combined 9-58 record.

As unusual as the night sometimes seemed, as weird as “Ko-be” chants sounded in Boston, Celtics fans enjoyed having Bryant around.

Bryant wasn’t very successful in the 2008 NBA Finals, helplessly watching Boston players dance on the bench when they won the series-clinching Game 6 by 39 points.

The win improved the Lakers record to 6-27.

“This place was always special to me from the first time I came into the league”. Smith has led the Sixers to a pair of wins in his brief tenure, while the team was just 1-30 before he arrived.

“It’s really just the memory”, he said.

Brandon Bass also makes emotional return to Boston: Kobe Bryant wasn’t the only one savoring the Garden experience last night. Numerous expressed sentiments have praised Kobe for all of the good he has done for the game, his work ethic, his success, his utter greatness, and any other praise that came to mind. I said ‘listen, it’s fine, it’s fine. Bryant tied as the Lakers’ fourth-highest scorer of the game, while taking the most shots.

“I can’t remember the win without remembering the loss, and I say that in the most handsome way possible”, Bryant said. Why would you do that to me? Michael Jordan also retired three times, in the last instance joylessly playing out a string of games for the hapless Washington Wizards.

But those cheers quickly turned to boos the first time he touched the ball, with numerous fans reminding him that he remains a big part of perhaps the NBA’s best rivalry.

Added Bryant: “I’ll gaze up a lot”.

“For the second half of my career, it’s the most important piece because when we lost in 2008, that was the turn for me”, Bryant told NESN.com. That was when I said, ‘I have to figure this leadership thing out.

So which Finals matchup stands out more for Bryant?

After almost 20 years, Bryant played his last road game against the team that drafted him, the Hornets, last Monday and after the contest shared how the team did not really want him back then. (Though I think we can all agree that support for Garnett and support for Bryant are a bit different in this city.) Regardless, the Celtics said Bryant got the reception that he deserved. While he may have not been hitting his shots, his team found a way to get it done without him, defeating the Boston Celtics, 112-104.