NBA's big night includes Bryant's last game, Warriors seeking record
LOS ANGELES --The NBA's big night has arrived: Golden State going for 73 wins, andKobe Bryant going into retirement.
The 170th and final day of this NBA regular season will be loaded with intrigue, maybe an unprecedented amount. Golden State plays host to Memphis later Wednesday night, and a win would give the Warriors outright possession of the best record in league history.
Golden State takes a 72-9 record into the finale. At worst, the Warriors will match Chicago's record of 72-10 set in the 1995-96 season.
Meanwhile, Bryant's final game of his 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers is also generating an enormous about of attention. Bryant's finale comes when the Lakers play host to the Utah Jazz later Wednesday, and the five-time NBA champion will retire as the league's No. 3 all-time scorer behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone.
A video tribute to the "Black Mamba" will be shown before tipoff and additional tributes will be played during timeouts throughout the game, CBS Los Angeles reported.
The 37-year-old Bryant will also speak to the crowd at the conclusion of the game. All fans will receive a commemorative program, T-shirt and ticket lanyard.
Before tip-off, fans will have the opportunity to take photos with the NBA championship trophies Bryant helped the Lakers achieve. There will also be interactive games, a live disc jockey, a ticket giveaway to the game, face painting and a Bryant signing wall.
Limited edition "24 Collection" merchandise -- including a $38,000 18-karat gold Lakers hat, a $24,000 purple Italian cashmere hat with five gold diamonds, and a $6,000 jacket -- were on sale at the Team LA Store in the Staples Center.
Bryant announced his retirement in a poem titled "Dear Basketball" in November. Since then, fans, teammates and former NBA stars have reached out to support the basketball star.
In fact, Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr., who played point guard for the Lakers for 13 seasons, posted a letter on TwitterWednesday morning congratulating Bryant on the success of his career.
In the letter, Johnson wrote: "Very few people have changed the game of basketball, but you will be recognized as one of them alongside my 'Dream Team' teammates, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan."
Bryant officially became a Laker on July, 1, 1996 when the team completed a previously agreed trade with the Charlotte Hornets.
The 6'6″ Bryant played at the two guard position for most of his career, but in recent seasons began playing largely at the small forward sport.
After a string of injuries limited Bryant to playing six games in the 2013-14 season, and 35 games in the 2014-15 season, he has played in 65 of the Lakers' 81 games this season, his most since the 2012-13 season.
Bryant averaged nearly 17 points per game this season, a steep drop from his career average of just over 25 points per game. He is the league's third leading scorer of all time, with 33,583 points.
Throughout his 20-year career, Bryant has helped the Lakers win five NBA championships and was chosen as the NBA Finals MVP for the last two Lakers championship runs.
Bryant also received All-NBA honors 15 times, including 11 first-team selections, and was chosen to play in the league's All-Star Game 18 times.
Other Bryant tributes were pouring in on social media.
"Man I'm still in disbelief that this Kobe last game," longtime NBA guard Mario Chalmers wrote on Twitter early Wednesday. "It always seem like the greats should play forever. I wanna thank Kobe for everything he did for the game and the players after him. One of the greatest ever to do it."
Tickets for either game were still commanding huge prices through secondary outlets Wednesday, with good seats at Oracle Arena or Staples Center easily exceeding $1,000 -- much more in many cases.