Kobe Bryant enjoying his farewell tour at every stop

Before Kobe Bryant took the floor at Oracle Arena for the final time in his career, he heard from a current member of the Warriors organization who has a long history with both the Black Mamba and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bryant left Tuesday’s game against the Pelicans early with soreness in his right Achilles, but was originally ruled questionable to play in Los Angeles’ next game, on the road Thursday against the Warriors.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant walks past fans before the second half of their NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City, Utah, November 7, 2012.

Stephen Curry scored a game-high 26 points as the Warriors (37-3) improved to 19-0 at home this season, lifting their home win streak to 37 dating back to last season. Los Angeles hung on to win the meeting of the Western Conference’s worst teams, surviving a back-and-forth fourth quarter for just its ninth win of the season. Oracle was full of Kobe Bryant fans, even wearing blue and gold.

Bryant displayed what West called remarkable skills and a passion to excel that isn’t seen in many 17-year-olds.

But he did pay the proper homage; when asked if he missed having never played a postseason game here, he said, “No. I’m good”. He didn’t want to hear it because he didn’t have the coaching bug yet, but I could see it in him. “He feels a little bit of a responsibility to go out there and try and perform”.

West indirectly boasted how his 14th and final National Basketball Association season starkly contrasted with Bryant’s current previous year.

“I think we’re all pretty upset on how we played”, Holiday said.

Bryant was unavailable to media following the game.

“He told me was feeling great”, Walton said.

One of Bryant’s regrets is that he hasn’t had many opportunities to play against the current Warriors. Kobe Bryant looked toward the scorer’s table and saw a teammate coming toward him. He left center stage before Stephen Curry took it, and leaves it entirely with Curry at the height of his powers.

“He would love to shut him down”, Scott said after Wednesday’s practice at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo.

Scott is deferring to Bryant when it comes to making decisions about him playing, but the head coach admitted there needs to be a compromise when it comes to minutes.

With the news of Quincy Pondexter’s season-ending injury breaking on Monday, Alonzo Gee’s role as a rotation player for the Pelicans has been secured for the time being. The Pelicans are 6-1 ATS in the last 7 meetings in Los Angeles and 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings overall. It wasn’t lost the last minute or the last play.

“We can not move on as a team until Kobe leaves”. It’s not like Bryant has to heal up for a playoff run or for next season, either. “When you’re talking about the great players in this league, he’s not going to be very far behind”.