Dec. 02--The latest big surprise of the Lakers' season, other than their calamitous record and Kobe Bryant's retirement announcement, came in the form of pregame introductions against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The notoriously fickle and ardently anti-Kobe fans stood and made themselves heard Tuesday night.
They cheered. Loudly.
It was as unexpected as it gets, the hometown crowd showing appreciation after typically booing Bryant whenever the Lakers visited the 76ers.
The cheers near the end of the game were not for Bryant in his final appearance here. They went to the 76ers, who ended a 28-game losing streak and extended the Lakers' misery with a 103-91 victory.
The Bryant-delights-cranky-hometown tale ended in the first quarter. He made three of his first four shots -- all three-point attempts -- but made seven of 26 overall by the time it was over, four of 17 behind the arc, as the 76ers ended their 0-18 drought to start the season.
"There's going to be games like that where you're just going to live and die with it," Lakers Coach Byron Scott said. "You're just hoping that you don't die too much."
Bryant's farewell tour received a very lively kick-start, two days after he said he would retire in April.
The 76ers gave him a framed jersey from Lower Merion High, presented by Bryant's high school coach, Gregg Downer, and 76ers legend Julius Erving. Bryant pledged not to cry on the court this season, but he was choked up by the pregame adulation.
"That got me," he said. "I wasn't expecting that ovation."
Some "M-V-P" chants were even heard after his third three-pointer. He then added a 20-footer and a hook shot off a rebound for 13 points in the first nine minutes at Wells Fargo Center.
But Bryant, 37, ended the night far from flawless, despite scoring 20 points. The shots kept coming and so did the misses.
He later complained of being unable to shake stiffness in his legs. In some circles, it's called old age.
His fourth quarter was badly uneven. He got past Isaiah Canaan but Jerami Grant forcefully blocked his layup attempt out of bounds. Then he missed an open three-point shot and airballed a bizarre left-handed tear-drop attempt.
"You can't run from the very, very tough times," Bryant said evenly. "You can't run from the criticism. You can't run from the fact that you're not playing as well as you want to be playing. You've got to stand up and face that stuff."
He had taken this many three-point shots only two other times in his career and was richly rewarded -- he made nine of 17 against Memphis on the way to 53 points in 2008 and 12 of 18 while scoring 45 points in 2003 against Seattle.
That obviously wasn't the case Tuesday. Scott said it was too many from long distance and repeated a refrain that Bryant would be better taking shots from the post, or near the free-throw line.
