DeMar DeRozan Compares Kobe Bryant's Final Lakers Game to an 'Avengers' Movie
Kobe Bryant's final NBA game belonged on the silver screen in the view of San Antonio Spurs star DeMar DeRozan.
Bryant dropped 60 points on the Utah Jazz and hit the go-ahead bucket in a 101-96 victory for the Los Angeles Lakers on April 13, 2016.
"Remember Michael Jordan’s last game, when his team was losing and the fans were all rooting for him to go back in the game?" DeRozan wrote Tuesday for the Los Angeles Times. "Jordan mostly just stood up and waved. So many of the guys I’ve been fans of, when they retire, they just kind of go out quietly. This was different. This was like an Avengers movie.
"Twenty years from now, if you want to show someone what kind of player Kobe Bryant was, it’s all in this game. That’s amazing, man."
Ahead of Bryant's final game, Shaquille O'Neal called upon his former teammate to drop 50 points. Kobe responded by saying, "Uh, no," perhaps because he had a larger figure in mind.
As DeRozan stated, a legend's final farewell can often feel underwhelming because they are struggling to overcome the effects of Father Time.
While Bryant wasn't the same player after his April 2013 Achilles tendon injury, that will largely be forgotten because of the lasting image he left in his finale.
