{"id":2286,"date":"2016-04-12T20:45:14","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T01:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=2286"},"modified":"2017-07-08T13:17:47","modified_gmt":"2017-07-08T18:17:47","slug":"okc-thunder-send-kobe-bryant-out-with-total-respect-in-historic-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=2286","title":{"rendered":"OKC Thunder Send Kobe Bryant out with total respect in historic game"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Attending Kobe Bryant’s final road game of his illustrious career was\u00a0this NBA fans treat.\u00a0 With the short history of the\u00a0best basketball in the world\u00a0in Oklahoma City, last night brought the most loved opponent to the Chesapeake Arena on Reno Street.\u00a0\u00a0Bryant fans form the City, around this part of the Southern Plains, and various parts of the country flocked to see one of the greats of the NBA for the 2nd to last time in an NBA contest (Note: Bryant played his last road game\u00a0and last playoff game in OKC).<\/strong><\/h5>\n

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Kobe, \u00a0always a fan favorite for Thunder fans, was given a nice send off from\u00a0the Thunder\u00a0franchise, as the two greatest players in\u00a0OKC history, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, \u00a0did their part\u00a0by punishing\u00a0 the retiring superstar, as usual, with non-compromising\u00a0physical play.\u00a0 That was the norm for those three throughout their\u00a0history on the court, and nothing changed last night.\u00a0 Bryant, playing with\u00a0his usual confidence, scored 13 points in the first 12 minutes, showing a glimpse of his former self, while Kevin Durant worked hard on defense and also made\u00a0the esteemed visitor work to stop his serious offensive skills.\u00a0 The brutal first quarter for Bryant spent his old legs and body,\u00a0 Kobe’s\u00a0 presence in the final three quarters of a 112-79 blowout was not significant.\u00a0 Hearing the loud chant by Thunder fans in the fourth quarter of “KOBE”, “KOBE”\u00a0the great Laker of the past twenty years\u00a0acknowledged\u00a0the crowd\u00a0later in his after game press conference,\u00a0\u00a0saying\u00a0that he wanted to reinter the contest late in the game but he just wasn’t able as he was spent, physically.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

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Immediately after the final horn,\u00a0Bryant waltzed over to the Thunder bench only to be met by Kevin Durant just near the center court line, where they exchanged words and sincere congratulations.\u00a0 It was a historic meeting for one final time between two of the best basketball players of their time, a span of nine years beginning in 2007 in Seattle when a young nineteen year old 6’10 rookie, wet behind his ears, went head-to-head with the best player in the world, one named Kobe Bryant. On that early season night, Kobe scored 35 and Durant got 25. \u00a0 Now, nine years later, various regular season games and playoff games spent in the passing of time, the former\u00a0“rookie” and the “grizzled vet” had that one final hug on the hardwood, one that will have to do for the history of each.\u00a0After Durant, other Thunder players\u00a0did their best to show how much Kobe meant to the league, giving him a hug and pat on the back.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

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Russell Westbrook followed with a heart felt hug (as Durant had done moments earlier)\u00a0with “his” favorite opponent\u00a0and what was said about Durant and Kobe can be said with Russell and Kobe too.\u00a0 As known, Bryant has followed Westbrook and his career from a sixteen year old high school player in Los Angeles\u00a0through college at\u00a0UCLA and his eight seasons with the one player in the league that can and should “replace” the totally intense play of the retiring one.\u00a0 Yes, Westbrook takes Kobe’s place in going all out, and in another comment by Bryant last night, he told the world that Westbrook was probably the greatest “athlete” that he ever rubbed jersey’s with.\u00a0 Westbrook and Bryant were cut from the same cloth, and anyone that ever says that NBA players don’t go all out from the first tick of the clock until the entire forty-eight minutes have been spent don’t know Kobe and Russell.\u00a0 They just do not.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

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Hopefully the younger players on the Thunder realize what they experienced last night.\u00a0\u00a0Will\u00a0 Cameron Payne, the first year point guard in OKC, realize that he hugged one of the greatest players in the game, ever, last night.\u00a0 In twenty years, Payne will be able to say he played in Bryant’s last game and was there to give him his well wishes after it was over, on the court.\u00a0 Sports is all about history, records and statistics, and all the memories that entail the complete package.\u00a0 Last night was a significant night for those in attendance.\u00a0 It was a night to remember, not for what will never\u00a0be see again in OKC, but what was experienced in a two and one half hours of an NBA\u00a0basketball game.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

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