Did Kobe & the Warriors combine for the greatest regular season NBA night ever?

I do think Kobe was the bigger story of the night. The Warriors won one more game and it wasn't competitive. The Kobe game went down to the wire and built through the night. Also figure this is it for Kobe, people will be covering the Warriors for the next two months. The Warriors story isn't over yet, the Kobe one is.

 

To echo what I said over in the main NBA thread, the more I read about it (watched the Dubs), the more Kobe's finale feels like a senior night game in which the coach lets players score as many points as they want, even if it means Podunk Poly beats Little Sisters of the Poor by 100 points.

 

It was very pageant like, but then again the NBA regular season is more about entertainment than anything else.

 

One more game that gave them the best record in NBA history. But whatevs.

 

About midway through the fourth quarter, he had 45 points on 44 shots and the Lakers were down by nine.

Then the Jazz decided they were missing out on a story to tell the grandkids.

 

If Kobe sat out the fourth with 60, and the Lakers up 20, maybe came back for a curtain call at the end, and Steph brought the Warriors back from a six point deficit in the final minute with a few three point bombs, my thinking would different.

 

Steph had 46 points in a game that meant something. At least to the team that set an NBA all-time record. And I would guess Memphis might have wanted to deny that mark as well. But whatevs.

 

Gordon Hayward said it was a "fun night," and Jazz rookie Trey Lyles said "it was fun to be a part of." smdh

 

Kobe's retirement was a huge cultural event in SoCal. To say "we all moved on" is East Coast-centric.

 

Did the whole scene not feel even the slightest bit contrived to you? I'd again point out that Kobe was allowed to fork up 50 shot attempts. To place that in perspective, the last time that happened was 33 years ago and only four players in the sport's entire history have taken that many attempts in a game. And I'd guess the other times were either under similarly unusual circumstances or in that odd run n gun early-60s era when the sport was entirely different.

Combine that with all the orchestrated over-the-top hype and buildup (especially by ESPN), rather indifferent defense by a Jazz team that had nothing to play for, and refs that knew they'd be at risk of tar and feathering if they dared pick on Kobe that night and, well ....the whole scene just had a strange "exhibition game" feeling not terribly far removed from that time when nobody would dare guard the HIV-stricken Magic Johnson to ensure he won 92 All Star Game MVP.

Conversely, 73-9 was in all ways a real and genuinely huge story. Greatest regular season ever. Broke a record many thought unbreakable. No helping hands. Sports history. And nothing feeling remotely contrived about it.

 

I hear what you're saying, Stoney, and much of it is valid.

At the same time, you sell the sizzle, not the steak -- and 60 is a whole lotta sizzle. That's all most sports fans care about, the sizzle, the number, 60.

60, on a night a Hall of Famer -- one of the 5 best ever -- retired from the organization he played 20 years for, and brought 5 titles to, the Lakers, best of the best ever in the game of basketball.

73 wins is INSANE in this day and age. Coupled with the fact we're watching one of the greatest players ever, Curry, do things we're conditioned to see in video games.

But the Warriors' moment in the spotlight coincided with another historical moment for the game.

Kobe was a bigger moment.

But 73 wins is a pretty fucking awesome moment.

 

I took a beating for expressing some vague discomfort here over the Lauren Hill terminal-cancer-as-branded-publicity event a couple years ago. Maybe I deserved it. But sports should be different than the WWE and a Broadway show. That's why we watch - two individuals or teams who want the same thing, and a moment or accomplishment organically bubbles out of that. Think of Kris Jenkins' 3 or Carlton Fisk in Game 6. What Kobe did was sports fan fiction in 3D. It's utter nonsense. That said, I have no doubt that people ate it up. Dumb people. The sports equivalent of idiots who want Finn to be Lando's son