Lakers: Roy Hibbert Throws Down Big Dunk Off Kobe Bryant Airball (Video)

Roy Hibbert made the best of a bad Kobe Bryant shot with a thunderous putback slam 

In the first game after Kobe Bryant announced that he would retire at the end of the season, the Los Angeles Lakers took on the Indiana Pacers in LA on Sunday night. Emotions were high after the news regarding Kobe broke just before the game, no player more affected than Bryant himself.

Bryant shot just 1-15 from the field in the first half and looked way too amped up from the emotions of the announcement and the crowd’s subsequent reaction. The 20-year veteran was pressing in a big way and it showed.

However, late in the second quarter Roy Hibbert was there to help Kobe out as the 37-year-old was still struggling. Kobe tried to get up a heavily contested baseline fadeaway jumper, but got way too much air underneath it. The Lakers big man in Hibbert was there to catch the errant shot out of the air, though, and throw it down for a rumbling putback dunk:

That’s not the type of play you normally see from Hibbert, but seeing a man of his size make an athletic and powerful play like that is a thing of beauty. Perhaps it wouldn’t be the worst thing if the Lakers did see more of that.