Kobe looks like Kobe of old to lead Lakers by Wizards

In his last professional game in D.C., Bryant turned in a season-high 31 points on 10-of-24 shooting, nailing the Lakers’ final two field goals of the game to send them to a 108-104 victory for their third of the season.

Malone was the MVP of the 1982-83 NBA Finals, when he led the Sixers to a 12-1 playoff record and their only league championship in 48 years. The Lakers defense has conceded to second-highest points, 107.5 per game this season.

After announcing Sunday that this season will be his last in the NBA, Kobe Bryant got a rapturous reception from Los Angeles Lakers fans at Staples Center that night, when his team hosted the Pacers. They tied the mark of 18 consecutive setbacks that was set by the 2009-10 New Jersey Nets.

“Finally”, forward Nerlens Noel said.

“I’m pleased for the city”, Sixers coach Brett Brown said. “When I came out and made three in a row, I could sense, ‘We don’t want to touch him”.

With the crowd standing and roaring in appreciation, the 37-year-old Bryant was lauded like a hometown hero, not the “Hometown Zero” he was once labeled in a Philadelphia newspaper. I wasn’t expecting that type of reaction, ovation.

“I appreciate the really, really tough times as much as I appreciate the great times. It was a really, really special night”.

Bryant made three of his first four shots – all of them three-pointers – but finished 7-for-26 from the floor.

John Wall and Bradly Beal have taken responsibility to score for the Wizards, who have a 7-8 win record and are desperate to improve. “I wanted to be just like him, man. And I always said my inspiration came from (Michael) Jordan, but I always thought Jordan was so out of this world that I could never get there”.

Washington served as the second stop on his farewell tour. Displaying vintage moves with pull-up and fadeaway jumpers before a crowd roaring his every move with approval, the 20-year veteran efficiently scored in the first half while leaving enough energy left for the fourth quarter. The former NBA MVP’s long anticipated decision to end his career was posted on the Players’ Tribune website and was written in the form of a poem titled “Dear Basketball” that read “My body knows its time to say goodbye, and that’s ok”.