LA Clippers Win One for Los Angeles and Kobe Bryant
- Updated: January 26, 2020
Despite the tragic news of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Giana passing away today alongside seven others, the LA Clippers pulled through and won their game against the Orlando Magic 112-97. It was a very tough team victory that felt well-timed considering the very tough circumstances of the day. All throughout the broadcast on Fox Sports, there were tributes and plenty of loving memories shared, and it was a tough day even with the victory. Perhaps the most touching display, however, was the Clippers and Magic swapping twenty-four and eight-second violations in tribute to the numbers that Kobe wore during his career.
On the statistics side, Kawhi Leonard reached his eighth straight game with thirty-plus points with thirty-one and Landry Shamet reached his sixth straight game with ten-plus points with nineteen. Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell kept the Clippers afloat by taking fouls and cashing in free-throws in crucial moments, and both of them had fifteen and nineteen points each. Ivica Zubac pulled in eleven rebounds and helped keep the ball despite some sloppy defense, and lastly, Patrick Patterson chipped in by dropping ten points. These numbers might not seem amazing with the talents on this Clippers squad, but considering that all of these players had special connections with Kobe and had to battle through their grief, it was a great performance. Everything felt very secondary to the mourning the Los Angeles community was going through.
Kawhi Leonard, who personally trained with Kobe Bryant in the offseason alongside Paul George, has now officially tied Bob McAdoo for the most consecutive thirty-plus point games in franchise history, and he is three more games off from tying World B. Free for the number one spot. The Claw was out on the court bringing his best for the memory of Kobe, and the usually emotionless machine was holding back tears after the game in his interview. It was another performance to make his home-county proud, and this time he pulled it off on one of the darkest days of LA basketball history.
In closing, this was a statistically sound team victory for the LA Clippers under the current circumstances, but more importantly, the city of Los Angeles got a much-needed victory on the basketball court today. For most, it might not be their own team or the team they wanted, but the Clippers brought their best to honor the life and memory of Kobe and Giana and put aside the divisional rivalry to do so. I know that I personally am thankful for getting the opportunity to have been able to watch Kobe’s greatness on the court and off of it, and I will forever cherish the memories of Kobe that I have, even the ones that included him absolutely demolishing the Clippers. The LA Clippers will face off against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday for their next game at 7:00 pm PDT, and all LA basketball fans will truly get to celebrate the life of one of the NBA’s greatest stars in the house that he built.
Related Posts
About Jordan German
