The Lakers held a ceremony Thursday evening to honor Kobe Bryant, who died a little over four years ago in a helicopter accident. In the presence of his widow Vanessa and several major figures from the team, including his former coach Phil Jackson, his former teammates Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher, as well as legends Magic Johnson, Jerry West and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Californian franchise unveiled the first statue of the “Black Mamba”.
A statue for his 81-point match
This shows him with the number eight on his back, his index finger pointing to the sky, in reference to his exit from the floor on January 22, 2006, when he scored 81 points against Toronto, the second highest score in the league. basketball history. “Kobe himself chose the pose you are about to see. So if anyone has problems with it… Too bad,” Vanessa said with humor during the ceremony. Two other statues of Kobe Bryant should soon be installed in front of the Lakers hall, one representing him with the number 24 on his back, the other with his daughter Gigi.
During the game that followed the ceremony, the franchise distributed t-shirts emblazoned with the number 8 to all supporters and broadcast several videos paying tribute to Bryant. Under the chants of the Californian public (“Kobe! Kobe!”), the Lakers made a great comeback thanks to Anthony Davis (32 points) and LeBron James (25 points) but ended up giving in in the money time against the Nuggets of Jamal Murray (29 points, 11 assists) and Nikola Jokic (24 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists).
2024-02-09 07:05:24
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