Kobe Bryant’s first bucket of the his final NBA All-Star Game was of the most appropriate nature
There were plenty of questions coming into Kobe Bryant’s final NBA All-Star Game whether or not the Los Angeles Lakers star would look to steal the show (or at least more so than he already was by simply playing in the game) by going for his record-setting fifth All-Star Game MVP.
Kobe stood on his hill that he wasn’t going to do so and, early on, he continued to stay true to that as he dished out two nifty assists before trying to get his own points. However, his first two points of his last All-Star Game were in vintage Kobe Bryant fashion as he backed down Kyle Lowry and then knocked down his patented turnaround fadeaway jumper:
"Vintage #KobeBryant fadeaway https://t.co/bR4dmYFiBf— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 15, 2016"
How many times have Lakers fans seen him knock down that exact shot—sans that long, kind roll at the end?
Because fans have seen Kobe drain that exact look on so many different occasions throughout his 20 seasons in the NBA, it’s almost not even that impressive to see it anymore. However, that shouldn’t take away from the fact that a vintage Kobe move is a shot that is insanely difficult to perfect.
But Kobe Bryant has undoubtedly perfected it over the course of his illustrious career and he was obviously happy to see that shot finally go down:
Lakers fans surely felt the same, seeing Kobe have a cool moment in collecting his first two points of his last All-Star Game appearance.