Kobe Bryant is banged up as he approaches the finish line of his illustrious career.
Two games remain on the home schedule for the Los Angeles Lakers before Bryant hangs up the sneakers. One goes down Wednesday, April 6 when the Los Angeles Clippers make the short trip. The last is a season-ending dance with the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, April 13.
Recent live shots of Bryant in game haven’t been kind, though, which has left some wondering if he can even make the two appearances.
Kobe Bryant played 9 minutes tonight and currently looks like this. Father Time is a cruel dude. pic.twitter.com/TobbCWk4IN
— Eric Fawcett (@Efawcett7) March 31, 2016
— ⓂarcusD (@_MarcusD_) March 31, 2016
Not hard to see where the doubt about his end-of-season stretch comes from, right?
According to the man himself, though, Bryant plans on doing everything he can to make his goodbye a memorable one. Mike Trudell of Lakers.com asked him about the stretch:
Kobe has 2 home games left: “To the extent that my body will allow me, I am going to do my best to give the fans what they came to see.”
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) April 4, 2016
It sounds dire and those pictures certainly look bad. But keep in mind Bryant is the guy who just dropped 34 points on the Boston Celtics at home in 33 minutes of action.
Those 33 minutes were the most Bryant had played in a game since mid-March, so it’s clear he’s been saving himself for the final stretch. Whether the Lakers win doesn’t really matter—his impressive outburst against Boston still saw the Lakers come up short 107-100, though those in attendance have an everlasting memory regardless.
In fact, the Lakers have won just one of their last six games, the win an encounter with the Miami Heat in which Bryant played just nine minutes, went 1-of-7 from the floor and scored two points. Folks can make assumptions about how Bryant impacts the team all they want, but it’s not like the Lakers are in playoff contention. In fact, they’re hoping to finish with a bad enough record that they get to keep a potential lottery pick, so Bryant and losses seems like a win-win situation.
This isn’t how most wanted to see one of the best to ever do it go out. Surely it’s not how Bryant wanted it to end. But that won’t stop the Black Mamba from giving it everything he has to the home fans who have treated him so well over the years.