{"id":206694,"date":"2016-04-14T10:14:11","date_gmt":"2016-04-14T10:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=206694"},"modified":"2016-04-14T10:14:11","modified_gmt":"2016-04-14T10:14:11","slug":"kobe-bryant-scores-60-points-in-final-nba-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/04\/kobe-bryant-scores-60-points-in-final-nba-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Kobe Bryant scores 60 points in final NBA game"},"content":{"rendered":"
Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant scored 60 points in his final game as he ended a glittering 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n
It was the sixth time the NBA’s third highest scorer had scored 60 points, beaten only by Wilt Chamberlain.<\/p>\n
“You can’t write something better than this,” said 37-year-old Bryant, who helped the Lakers come from behind to beat Utah Jazz 101-96.<\/p>\n
Basketball fans paid up to $27,500 (\u00a319,315) to see Bryant’s final game.<\/p>\n
He attempted 50 shots on the night, the most by anyone in an NBA game in the last 30 seasons.<\/p>\n
Bryant led the Lakers as they overturned a 20-point deficit at half-time, scoring 23 points in the fourth quarter of his 1,556th game with the team.<\/p>\n
Bryant, who made his debut in November 1996, finished with 33,643 career points – third on the NBA’s all-time scoring list behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) and Karl Malone (36,928).<\/p>\n
He checked out with 4.1 seconds left and hugged former team-mate Shaquille O’Neal as a sell-out crowd at the Staples Center chanted: “Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!”<\/p>\n
The 18-time All-Star, known as the ‘Black Mamba,’ told the crowd: “I can’t believe how fast 20 years went by, this is crazy.<\/p>\n
“What’s funny is the fact I go through 20 years of everybody screaming to pass the ball, then the last night they’re like ‘don’t pass it!’<\/p>\n
“What can I say? Mamba out.”<\/p>\n
Bryant, who was voted Most Valuable Player in 2008, the same year he won the first of his two Olympic gold medals with the United States, added: “To carry on the legacy and tradition of all the great Lakers that came before – it’s unfathomable. I can’t express what a dream this is.<\/p>\n