Los Angeles Lakers lose but still honor Kobe Bryant, 4 lessons

Lake Show Life breaks down the emotional night from the Los Angeles Lakers’ return to the court against the Portland Trail Blazers with Lake Show Life Lessons.

The Los Angeles Lakers return to the floor for the first time since the terrible tragedy on Sunday afternoon. Kobe Bryant was honored before the game. But the Los Angeles Lakers tried, God, knows they tried, but could not outlast the onslaught of Damian Lillard.

This site has covered the Los Angeles Lakers by doing these Lake Life Lessons post-game series for two years. They are blunt, they are honest and ruffle some feathers. Here’s something that possibly you didn’t know. The format is based specifically with Kobe Bryant in mind.

You see his “Detail” series that was made famous on the ESPN+ streaming services was the GREATEST basketball analyst series EVER! Period. It’s not even close. This writer owes Kobe Bryant a huge debt of gratitude. He inspired this. Not many Lakers sites (If any!) cover the games in this style.

In the beginning, this style irritated a lot of Lakers fans last year. No more than NBA fans going to Kobe for his. They called his show a curse.

Kobe had an answer to the critics courtesy of the Washington Post, via the Chicago Tribune.

"“It’s just not for them,” Bryant told the Washington Post at the time. “They have simple minds. The show is not for simple-minded people, the people that do that sort of stuff. They’ve got to grow up. We’re looking at this show from a deeper level.” “Like I said in the open, this show is not meant to entertain,” Bryant added. “I give you that disclaimer. This show is for athletes, man. It’s for people that want to be serious athletes, people that want to be serious basketball players. It’s for them. The majority of people will pick up on that, will understand it, will see areas that they can improve in and learn from, and athletes will as well, and others will just continue to be simple-minded.”"

Over time, this Lake Show Life series has been extremely successful. Kobe wanted to reach athletes, Lake Show Life wanted to reach the real Lakers fans and help them understand the process of this journey through the season. Then discuss in the comment section.

That’s why this game did not matter. On this night, Kobe Bryant, Gianna and all of the families that were affected in this tragedy mattered. Grab the tissues, you will need them.

Five days ago, Lake Show Life did an article basically begging all of Lakers Nation to stop with the constant division based on the narrative of who was better. Was it LeBron or Kobe? Does it matter now? How much time was wasted? It seems small, doesn’t it?

LeBron James was openly questioned about his motives last year coming to the Los Angeles Lakers. Lake Show Life (This writer especially!) was among the collection that made their points on the narrative.

After this week, it’s about time to let it go. All of the Lakers Nation needs to accept him because he needs your support to carry on the legacy that Kobe Bryant wants. If this speech doesn’t convince you, it’s simple, you are not a fan and want this franchise to fail plain and simple.

This was about as an emotional evening for the Los Angeles Lakers as anyone could have imagined. There was not a dry eye in the Staples Center as the tributes were done. The franchise as a whole set themselves apart from the rest of the NBA on this night.

There is no franchise in this league that is closer than the Los Angeles Lakers. Every Lakers player in the starting lineup was introduced “A 6-6 guard from Lower Merion High School in his 20th season, No. 24, Kobe Bryant.”

NBA fans, if you don’t dig the Los Angeles Lakers mess, you truly have the wrong address. It was an amazing tribute.

How those guys even came up with the fortitude to compete for 48 minutes showed guts. They tried. Man, they tried but ended up losing to the Portland Trail Blazers, 127-119. It doesn’t matter.

What mattered was that Lakers fans could unite together to mourn the loss of a Los Angeles icon and his beautiful daughter. That they could recognize the seven others who died in that helicopter crash so they would not be forgotten. Plus, it’s the first step back towards some semblance of normalcy as the team has to move on for the rest of the season.

Under the circumstances, it really seems unfair the  Lakers had to start playing basketball in the first game of a back to back against the Portland Trail Blazers. It really stinks that is ended up with a loss. But the message is for this night, it doesn’t matter. After a week we all just had, it’s just nice to have basketball back to talk about again.

Actually we could stop here. But Kobe Bryant would want this. Let’s get to Lake Show Life Lessons.