LeBron celebrates his 'brother' Kobe in emotional speech
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[February 01, 2020]
By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles Lakers
forward LeBron James delivered an emotional speech honoring his
"brother" Kobe Bryant prior to the first Lakers game since the NBA
great, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others died in a helicopter
crash on Sunday.
James began by reading the names of all nine victims of the tragedy and
then throwing a piece of paper containing his prepared remarks on the
court.
"Laker nation, man, I would be selling you all short if I read off this
shit so I'm going to go straight from the heart," James said to a
raucous applause from the sold-out crowd at Staples Center in downtown
Los Angeles.
"I know that at some point we will have a memorial for Kobe, but I look
at this as a celebration tonight," he told the crowd, referring to them
as "family."
"This is a celebration of the 20 years of the blood, the sweat, the
tears, the broken down body, the getting back up -- the determination to
be as great as he could be," he said of Bryant, who played 20 seasons
with the Lakers, 18 as an all-star, and won five NBA championships.
"Tonight we celebrate the kid who came here at 18 years of age, retired
at 38 and became probably the best dad we've seen over the last three
years," he said of Bryant, who has four daughters with wife Vanessa.
"Kobe is a brother to me ... and throughout my career, the one thing we
shared was that determination to win and be great.
"Along with my teammates I want to continue his legacy not only for this
year but as long as we can play the game of basketball that we love
because that's what Kobe Bryant would want.
"So in the words of Kobe Bryant, Mamba out," he said, referring to
Bryant's famous sign off after his final game as a Laker in April 2016.
"But in the words of us, not forgotten," he said.
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Lakers forward LeBron James speaks to the Staples Center crowd
during a memorial tribute for longtime Laker guard Kobe Bryant.
Bryant died in a helicopter crash January 26, 2020. Mandatory
Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
"Live on brother."
Players, coaches and fans could be seen wiping tears from their eyes
after James' remarks.
The Lakers ran out the 24 second shot clock on their first
possession of the game and the visiting Portland Trail Blazers did
the same when they got the ball, as teams around the NBA have done
since Bryant's passing.
Teammates of Gianna, whose basketball game the group was traveling
to on Sunday when the helicopter went down in foggy weather on a
hillside northwest of Los Angeles, sat courtside.
Kobe's No. 24 and Gianna's No. 2 jerseys were placed on the two
courtside seats where the pair watched their last Lakers game and
the crowd frequently broke out into chants of "Kobe" and Gianna's
nickname "Gigi."
Vanessa Bryant, who did not attend the game, posted a photo of the
jerseys on Instagram during the game.
"There is no #24 without #2," she wrote in the caption.
The Lakers fell 127-119 but the outcome felt somewhat beside the
point.
"LeBron being up there and speaking to Laker nation with such
strength is what we're all about," Lakers head coach Frank Vogel
told reporters after the game.
(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
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