Kobe Bryant sees Olympic gold a ‘beautiful’ ending to his career

“It’s nearly impossible to find a Kobe Bryant in the NBA – guys like him come around once every three or four NBA generations, if that”, said Eric Pincus of Lakers Now blog at the Los Angeles Times and senior writer at website Basketball Insiders.

Bryant recorded his first dunk of the season on Thursday against the Houston Rockets, a right-handed slam over forward Clint Capela in the third quarter of a 107-87 loss.

Bryant will retire at the end of the season after winning five National Basketball Association championships over two decades with the Lakers, and labelled Simmons as “a fantastic player” with “a tremendous amount of potential”. He leads the Lakers in scoring at 16.7 points per game. “Like I said, it just looked like we were in awe of that team”. Julius Randle struggled against OKC, going 1 for 7 with 2 points but getting 7 rebounds in 26 minutes.

“The teams that are really hard to guard in this league are the ones where you have a big threat rolling down the middle and you’re really put in a bind”, Adams’ fellow big man, and mentor, Collison explained.

Playing in his 20th season, Bryant, 37, pointed out that he had “pretty heavy-duty” surgery on that same shoulder after tearing his right rotator cuff in late January during a dunk against the New Orleans Pelicans. It’s that thing of, ‘Kobe’s been around for a long time, I’ve hated him all these years and now I want to say goodbye to him.

We want you to come home, to wear our colours, to represent our city, just as your father did before you.

Thunder: The Thunder will play the Lakers in Los Angeles on Wednesday, two days after facing the Los Angeles Clippers on the road…. After the game, Byron Scott ripped his players and told them their play was “pathetic”. Not that they needed Thornton during the win over the Lakers, but you didn’t see him at all during the game. This just feels like another lost season for so many players on this team, while the franchise keeps everything on hold just so one player can get one last shot at glory, while the others are starving for a coach who can actually teach them something. “I only can speak for myself”, Russell said. The defense held up; while the Lakers got what they wanted in the paint, the Rockets did not allow a single mid-range shot or three-pointer. The former MVP is working better with the supporting cast since returning from a hamstring injury last month and is averaging 25.4 points in the last seven contests despite not attempting more than 17 field goals in any of those games.

Even on the bench, Bryant remained the focus of conversation.

“I’m back”, he tweeted on Saturday.

As many people noted after Kobe named those five players, Shaquille O’Neal is absent from that list.