60 Points

The whole world knew he was gonna drop a lot of points that night; the Lakers were going to grant him every shot. But man was that fourth quarter special. He hit the game winner and cemented the win with an assist. At the same exact moment the Warriors set the NBA record for wins, but who cares: it's Kobe. Thats who he always was, hit smothered game winners and teared your heart out. When I first heard of him, I was a little boy playing NBA Inside Live 2003 on the Xbox, all I knew about basketball was that there was a bunch of tall men and this one guy who was really good but shot the ball a lot. Years later I didnt really follow his path until he played the Rockets in the 2009 Semifinals. I had a bunch of Lakers fans friends and they were talking heavy trash, so I observed the games. That's the Kobe I didnt like. He was giving us buckets and telling Shane Battier he couldn't guard him. I was so mad that we lost in 7, but that's what comes with facing someone like that. It's like the basketball gods realized how great Jordan was so they basically copied him for the millenials and Gen Z. I remember the days at school where kids would ball up their paper and yell Kobe as they shot it into the trash can. I thought it was a thing just my school did, but I was of course wrong. The whole country practiced this. HE WAS ICONIC. Players like our very own James Harden and Russell Westbrook are influenced by this guy. Kobe was also one of the only few old timers who instead of criticizing Harden (I'm looking at you Scottie Pippen) uplifted and praised him. His farewell tour was so fun, iconic, and ended like it was written in a movie script. His work ethic was almost mythological and an example everybody in all professions should follow to achieve greatness; he sure did. His daughter Gianna was going to continue the Bryant name and make the WNBA something to behold. This is likely the worst public figure tragedy I've ever seen. But I'll tell you one thing that gives me comfort, Gianna and Kobe are playing 1v1 right now and Gianna just gave him a bucket. I can only hope I can play along with them one day.