Kobe Bryant showing great improvement in past few games

Before the game, Lakers coach Byron Scott offered a somber view of Bryant’s last season. He didn’t play in Oklahoma City on Saturday because of a sore shoulder, two days after dunking for the first time this season against Houston.

The Nuggets got a scare when Harris left with a right knee strain 3:40 into the game, but he returned and played 35 minutes. Mudiay missed his fifth game Tuesday…. It’s nearly jarring. Not long ago, they played Atlanta and I was working that night, the Hawks honored him. They struggled on both ends, failing to match the Lakers defensively and turning the ball over offensively.

Kevin Durant added 21 points for the Thunder in a rematch of their game at Oklahoma City, when it trounced the Lakers 118-78 with runs of 18-0 and 17-2. Led by Bryant, LA fought back and flipped the script by taking a 42-39 lead with 5:05 left in the second quarter. “You compete against a guy and you try different things”. If you don’t think that way, you’ve got the wrong mentality. “That back and forth at that level is fun”. He had two in the second half after Bryant picked him up. Durant limited Bryant to 7-of-22 shooting.

For a night, Bryant was vintage Bryant again. Kobe Bryant started the game 1-of-7 from the field and it seemed unlike LA would have anything to compete. “But as a kid, I wanted to hit the game-winner all the time”. The closest the Denver Nuggets would get was at 103-100, as Gary Harris made a 3-pointer with 2:38 remaining.

“He’s still Kobe Bryant”, Nuggets guard Jameer Nelson said. I’m enjoying my time.

“Stocking stuffer-type things”, O’Connor said. “I had the angle to do it. But I didn’t want to push my little body too much”.

Russell Westbrook had a team-leading 33 points, his most in 10 games this month. Kobe played all 12 minutes of the first quarter putting up 13 points, but it was Will Barton snatching the spotlight, who posted 23 in the first half, 18 of which came in the first quarter. Durant and Westbrook will be two of the big fish in the next two free agency periods, and the Lakers will likely push hard to sign each of them. I understand, you’re a fan and you bought your ticket which in my opinion gives you the right to boo or cheer as loud as you want.

Bryant then chuckled, “It felt good to get him with that one”.

Before they swapped shoes, Bryant and Durant traded highlights and smiles.

“Me and him are great friends, but he’s the same as me between those lines. We can laugh and joke throughout the game, but when the whistle sound, we’re gonna go at each other”.

There were a few highlights in the rematch, mostly from Bryant. “I’m leaving behind kind of like the physical shell of what I’ve been for 20 years”, he says. He said that he is not pushing to play on the US Olympic team in Rio, but it would, definitely, make for a “beautiful ending” to his storied 20-year career, according to Yahoo Sports. “But you can only do that with experience”.

While Durant, who is returning to form after missing a significant number of games last season due to a foot injury, remains at his very best, soon-to-be-retired Kobe Bryant is showcasing his last moves in the league.