Now it’s done. The torch has been passed again, handed from George Mikan to Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain to Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to Bryant and Pau Gasol and now to LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
One must imagine Bryant proud, smiling and cheering.
The Lakers won their record-tying 17th NBA championship on Sunday night with a commanding 106-93 victory over the Miami Heat in the decisive Game 6 of the Finals, a win that was 10 years in the making, through toil and turmoil and through one unimaginable loss.
Bryant’s tragic death in a helicopter crash in January shook Laker Nation, Southern California and the entire basketball world to its core. Their grief was everywhere, and it went on for days, weeks and months. You saw it in the flowers and balloons and notes left at Staples Center and L.A. Live.
You saw it in the murals that popped up here and there, street art with heavy hearts.
You saw it in the tears and you heard it in the impromptu chants.
“Ko-be, Ko-be, Ko-be.”
The Lakers played on and on, through their heartache, through a coronavirus pandemic that halted play for 4-1/2 months, through a social justice movement that boiled over from coast to coast and around the globe and into the NBA bubble in Orlando, Fla., after the death of George Floyd.
Bryant and his family were never far from the Lakers’ hearts and minds. “One, two, three Mamba,” they would chant, referring to his Black Mamba nickname, after putting their hands together before heading onto the court to start every game, every quarter, every half and after every timeout.
“We didn’t let him down, we didn’t let him down,” center Anthony Davis said. “Ever since the tragedy, all we wanted to do was do it for him. We didn’t let him down. It would have been great to do it last game in his jerseys. But it made us come out more aggressive, more powerful on both ends of the floor to make sure we closed it out (Sunday). I know he’s looking down on us, proud of us. I know Vanessa (Bryant’s wife) is proud of us, the organization is proud of us.
“It means a lot to us. He was a big brother to all of us. We did this for him.”
Davis referred to the Black Mamba jerseys designed by Bryant before his death and worn by the Lakers during the season and during the playoffs, and of which James said before wearing them in a loss to the Heat in Game 5 on Friday, “It means something, something more than just a uniform.”
The Lakers rolled through the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets and then the Heat, ending the longest season in NBA history. The Lakers’ first title in 10 years ignited celebrations around Southern California. Fireworks exploded in the skies.
Fans gathered at Staples Center, clogging the streets despite officials’ pleas to stay away.
Soon enough, they chanted his name again.
“Ko-be, Ko-be, Ko-be.”
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti spoke for so many with one celebratory tweet Sunday.“We’re back,” Garcetti wrote on his official account. “Sweet 17. Thank you @Lakers for bringing it home on a year we needed it. #ForKobe.”
Back in the bubble, so far and yet so near, team owner Jeanie Buss stood with the Lakers players, coaches and staff and delivered a message directly to the franchise’s jubilant fans, who had endured so much in 2020 in order to see the promise of the current team fulfilled.
“To Laker Nation, we have been through a heartbreaking tragedy with the loss of our beloved Kobe Bryant and Gianna,” Buss said, referring to Bryant’s daughter, who also died in the crash. “Let this trophy serve as a reminder that when we come together, believe in each other, incredible things can happen.”
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