Thank you Kobe

Kobe Bryant on Wednesday April 13th, 2016 closed the final chapter of his legendary 20 year career with a virtuso performance of 60 points in his final game, in addition to that, the Los Angeles Lakers win. It was a fitting end for The Black Mamba to finish on the winning side, given he won 5 NBA Championships. 

Let's take a look at his stats- He has scored 40 plus points 134 times, including 9 times in a row, a record he shares with Michael Jordan, which he accomplished in 2003. 50 plus 26 times ans 60 plus 6 times, with the his last 60 point game coming in his last game, which is the record for most points scored by a 37 year old and for a player in his last game. In his career he has scored 33,643 points at an average of 25 ppg during the regular season, which placed him 3rd in all time scoring in the NBA, only Karl Malone 36,928 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,387 scored more at an average of 25 ppg and 24.6 ppg respectively. He has the record for most 3pt field goals made 12 in a regular season game which were made aginst The Seattle Supersonics on January 7th, 2003. In the playoffs he scored 5,640 points at an average of 25.6 points ppg, which placed him 3rd behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who scored 5,762 points at an average of 24.3 ppg and Michael Jordan 5,987 points at an average of 33.4 ppg. As for the Lakers he has the record for the highest individual points which is 81 and is also their all time leaders in regular season games played 1,346 , minutes played 48,637, field goals made 11,719 and attempted 26,200, 3pt field goals made 1,827 and attempted 1,546, Free Throws made 8,378 and attempted 10,011, he also leads in steals 1,944. He is 2nd in defensive rebounds at 5,548, he trails Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 7,785 and is 3rd in total rebounds 7,047, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 10,279 and Elgin Baylor 11,463. In addition to these impressive stats he is an 5 time NBA Champion ( 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010) and 2 time NBA Finals MVP ( 2009, 2010). 18 time NBA All Star ( 1998, 2000-2016) and 4 time NBA All Star MVP ( 2002, 2007, 2009, 2011). On 9 occasions he made the NBA All Defensive Team ( 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011). 

These statistics prove that Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball. The level of dedication and sacrifice he has made for the game of basketball, has not been seen before and needs to be acknowledged. Even though he is a great player, he is hated as much as he is beloved, in fact he relished the opportunity of playing the villain, shutting up the doubters. Let us all remember the mark Kobe Bryant has left in the NBA.