Bryant to play Denver finale

The Lakers’ superstar quickly earned Barton’s admiration.

Will Barton thought he might get Kobe Lite, a less- interested version of the superstar he grew up idolizing. It was 2012. Barton, a rookie with the Portland Trail Blazers, was making the first start of his career. Kobe didn’t care. “He came in there, and he knew everything aboutmy game,” Barton said. “You would expect him not to pay attention to a second- round rookie who hasn’t been playing all year.” But no. Not by a longshot. “He knew all my strengths andmy weaknesses,” Barton said.

Here’s how that went: “He would not close out on me. He made me shoot jumpers, because he knew I wasn’t confident. And I didn’t hit one.”

The take away was the meticulous nature with which Bryant studied Barton. It was just the latest aspect of Bryant’s game to be admired. Barton calls Bryant “the best.”

“Greatness, champion, just memories,” Barton said. “Aguy that I feel like went above and beyond in his career, dedicated his life to the game, and it showed.”

Bryant plays his final game in Denver on Wednesday night. He will retire at the end of this season, but he’ll play at the Pepsi Center before what is certain to be a packed house with plenty of Lakers fans.

“He’s a great player, and every team I’ve ever been with, the Lakers have that wherever they go,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “The Lakers have fans everywhere, and that speaks to their dominance for many, many years.”

Bryant was a big part of their dominance while he won three titles alongside Shaquille O’Neal. Then, hewas the biggest part of the Lakers dominance when the team won two more titles with Bryant as the unquestioned leader.

With five NBA titles, Bryant is arguably the last of the hyperfocused

breed of player who shut everything out and just played. And played like every possession was his last. Andnever accepted excuses for losing or notworking hard. And won, over and over again. “The thing that always stands out to me is just his killer mindset, the attack mentality, the assassin,” Malone said. “He was never trying to have anybody like him. It was always about winning. That was his sole, singular purpose, to win. And he was going to judge everything based off of that. I respect the ( heck) out of that.”

There will be a tribute to Bryant. Ever since his 2003 sexual assault case, Denver has been a complicated place for him, seemingly equal parts hate and love, for both on- and off- court situations.

But of late, the arena has overflowedwith love. His 31 points in a win over the Nuggets earlier this season was met with loud cheers and chants fromLakers jersey- clad fans stuffed into the Pepsi Center.

“He’s a player that paved theway for all of us,” guard D. J. Augustin said. “The way the game is played right nowand things he’s done for this league, Iwatched him growing up, and to be here for his last game here is a great feeling.”

And while Bryant may have been underappreciated during chunks of his career, he’s nowgetting his full due, nationwide.

“People really do understand the legacy he is leaving behind,” Malone said. “And it’s greatness, of championships. I don’t think anybody underappreciates him.