Kobe Bryant is the patron saint of volume shooters forever and ever amen, and he really went out and Did The Shit tonight, ending his career with an insane, revelatory game in which he scored 60 points on 50 shots in a win over the Jazz. 60 points! 50 shots! What the hell man!
He set all manner of records in the farewell game, including the modern-era record for field goal attempts. The previous record for the most attempts (since Basketball Reference started recording them in 1983-84) had been held by Michael Jordan, who took 49 shots against the Magic in 1993.
Kobe’s 60 is tied for his fifth-highest scoring game of his career, and it’s the most anyone scored during the 2015-16 NBA season. He also secured easily the highest point total any NBA player has scored during their final game.
Here’s his shot chart for the evening. He shot 6-for-21 from three, which was only one miss shy of tying the all-time record for most threes missed during a regular season game.
The Lakers were trailing the Jazz by ten with about three minutes left when Kobe took over. Dude looked haggard and exhausted on the bench throughout the fourth quarter, but he led the Lakers to a 101-96 comeback win. Kobe scored 15 points in the final three minutes and change, including this ice-cold pull up to give the Lakers the lead for good.
Kobe made a pair of free throws to get to 60, and he ended his career with a full-court assist to Jordan Clarkson for a jam.
After the game, he addressed the arena and signed off for good with a “Mamba Out!”
I’m more into Shaq’s goodbye: