Red roses adorned the courtside seats where Kobe and Gianna Bryant sat at the final Los Angeles Lakers game they attended. On the overhead video board, photographs of Bryant in action for the Lakers alternated with those of the other seven people who were killed alongside him and his 13-year-old daughter in a helicopter crash.
Friday night at the Staples Center was unlike any other.
Later on, there would be a basketball game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Lakers, their first since Bryant’s death on Sunday last week.
Photo: AFP
However, in the couple hours leading up to the game there was mostly silence. The electric atmosphere that surges through the arena before NBA games was nowhere to be felt. Media talked quietly among themselves without the usual music playing. Somber ushers took up their positions with black ribbons attached to their purple work shirts. Grief counseling was offered to arena staff and one female usher pulled tissues out of her pocket.
Inside the Lakers locker room, Bryant’s No. 24 gold jersey hung on a wooden hanger from a fire alarm next to LeBron James’ locker. It was Bryant’s locker when he helped the team win five NBA championships during his 20 years in Los Angeles.
“He’s been really a tower of strength for all of us,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said of James. “We’re following his lead.”
Photo: AP
Dwight Howard sat at his locker with earbuds in. None of the players spoke before the game, which the Trail Blazers won 127-119.
In New York, Kyrie Irving channeled his inner “Mamba mentality” by torching Chicago for 54 points on Friday as the Brooklyn Nets crushed the Chicago Bulls 133-118 at the Barclays Center.
Irving’s electrifying performance saw him shoot 19 of 23 from the field as he made his first 10 shots of the game before finishing it off with a dominating stretch in the fourth.
“I hit a few shots in first half, so I just kept it going,” Irving said. “The Kobe mentality and Mamba mentality kept me going. It felt good.”
Irving also tied a season-high by making seven three-pointers on nine attempts for the Nets, who beat Chicago for the ninth time in their past 11 meetings.
Elsewhere, Pascal Siakam had 30 points, as the visiting Toronto Raptors stretched their winning streak to 10 games by cruising past the struggling Detroit Pistons 105-92.
The Denver Nuggets beat the Milwaukee Bucks 127-115, the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Phoenix Suns 111-107, the New Orleans Pelicans downed the Memphis Grizzlies 139-111, the Toronto Raptors defeated the Detroit Pistons 105-92 and the Houston Rockets downed the Dallas Mavericks 128-121.
Meanwhile, players are to wear special uniforms and patches during the All-Star weekend on Feb. 15 and 16 to pay tribute to Kobe and Gianna Bryant and the others killed in the helicopter crash, the National Basketball Association said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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