Game vs. 76ers turns into a Bryant tribute
PHILADELPHIA >> Wearing a pair of camouflaged Kobe sneakers, Warriors forward Draymond Green set the ball down and watched 24 seconds tick away on the shot clock as chants of “KOBE” swelled within Wells Fargo Center.
In the first game played in Kobe Bryant’s hometown since his helicopter crashed in Calabasas on Sunday, killing him, his 13-yearold daughter, Gianna, and seven others, the Warriors’ 115-104 loss to the 76ers on Tuesday night held more significance as a tribute to Bryant than its impact on the league standings.
Though much of Bryant’s formative years were spent in Italy, he was born in Philadelphia where his father, Joe Bryant, played for the 76ers for four years in the late 70s. As a teenager, he returned to Pennsylvania to attend Lower Merion High School and led the Aces to the 1996 state championship before going straight to the NBA, where he played 20 years and won five championships.
With Bryant’s No. 33 Aces jersey was displayed at midcourt, a sold-out crowd of 20,854 honored Bryant with 33 seconds of silence.
After both teams took violations to start the game — an 8-second and a 24-second violation — the first several possessions were played without the heavy bass of music that usually fills NBA arenas.
“The beginning of the game, it didn’t feel like it
was a game,” said guard D’Angelo Russell, who was a rookie with the Lakers during Bryant’s final season in 2016. “A few minutes into it you start to snap back into it, but it was weird.”
The somber contest was void of the usual pregame ritual of player introductions
and hype videos. Instead, a video of Bryant’s final introduction at Wells Fargo Center in 2016 played on the Jumbotron. Tearyeyed players lined up on the court as saxophonist Mike Phillips held the high note of “The Star Spangled Banner” for 24 seconds.