Kobe Bryant played his last game in Cleveland and LeBron James had all love for the Lakers legend
Kobe Bryant and LeBron James will meet once more this season as the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers have another bout on the schedule in March. However, Kobe played in his final game against LeBron in Cleveland, the site of so many of their titanic battle before, on Wednesday night.
LeBron and the Cavaliers were predictably way too much for Kobe and the Lakers to handle, especially with Bryant showing tremendous signs of slowing down after a bit of a hot streak just about a week ago. Even with a sub-par performance, though, LeBron James had nothing but respect for Bryant.
Prior to the sounding of the final buzzer, Kobe checked out of the game to an ovation from the crowd, as has been customary for many of Kobe’s stops on his farewell tour. However, this one had a bit more emotion behind it as he and LeBron embraced as he made his way off of the court:
The respect and admiration didn’t stop there, though. After the game, James was asked on the sideline about Bryant and he was nothing but complimentary of Bryant and again iterated that he wanted “to be just like him” when he was coming up playing basketball:
LeBron on Kobe: "I have so much respect for that guy. I grew up watching him, wanting to be just like him, studying his game."
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) February 11, 2016
Obviously Kobe and LeBron have a complicated history with one another as their greatness in the history of the league will always be compared to one another. Even still, there’s no getting around the mutual respect that these two great players have for one another.
Next: Lakers Represented In D-League All-Stars By D-Fenders
And though they’ll see each other one more time before Kobe hangs it up, this was a cool moment in his last trip to “The Land.”