Farewell Tour

Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour in the NBA began where his roots are – Philadelphia. And the Philadelphia 76ers, who have screwed up nearly everything else, managed to make scrapple of Bryant’s last appearance in the city with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bryant’s weekend announcement that he will retire at season’s end will turn every remaining game into a spectacle, even though the Lakers are not even a shadow of what they once were. The 76ers, for whom Bryant’s father played, are even more ridiculous, if only slightly.

After an 0-18 start to this season and a string of 28 consecutive defeats that amounted to the longest losing streak in U.S. pro sports history, the 76ers roused themselves on Tuesday night and defeated the Lakers 103-91. They hadn’t won since March 25. They’re now 1-18, the Lakers 2-15.

Bryant got a warm reception from the crowd – in itself an oddity in Philly – and responded by hitting his first three 3-point tries. He finished with 20 points. At the end, Bryant pounded on his chest, waved to the fans, blew them a kiss and left the court to chants of “Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!”

Bryant, 37, has been in the NBA, playing only for the Lakers, for 20 seasons. Many of the 76ers players he visited in the locker room were mere babes when he broke in at 17, right out of high school and on his way to five NBA titles and the MVP award in 2008.

“Keep it going, guys,” he told them, offering encouragement on their sudden, if ill-timed, achievement.

Hey, they got to meet their childhood idol. They got to play against Kobe one more time. And they now have a one-game winning streak.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .