4 years after Kobe Bryant's last game, 60 points and a speech that today is more emotional than ever: "Mamba out"

The 2015-2016 NBA season will always be one of the Cleveland Cavaliers' comeback on the Golden State Warriors for LeBron James to get his first team ring of his life. From a 1-3 to a historical 4-3 so that the boy from Akron could make a city eternally loser happy.

But as the years go by, 2016 will also be Kobe Bryant's last on a basketball court.

He had broken his achilles on April 13, 2013 , at the age of 34 and after accumulating ten consecutive games playing more than 40 minutes. The Lakers, who had signed Dwight Howard and Steve Nash the previous summer, were in full swing for the Playoffs. I didn't want to stop. This was Kobe. In a game against the Warriors, 'crack'. Despite the break, he was filled with greatness to launch free throws and leave another iconic image for history. He limped out of the pavilion, which for many was his farewell image.

It was not so.

The Lakers offered him a controversial two-year, $ 48 million contract , and he returned to the tracks in December of that year. He scored 20 or more points in three games and was injured again: fractured tibia. He did not play that course again. He returned last summer to become the oldest veteran to triple-double, beat Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list, and lead young Lakers who were far from fighting for anything. Byron Scott began to give him rest, although Kobe's pains were still there. In January 2015, he suffered a shoulder injury that forced him to end the season.

Kobe had done it all. He only had to say goodbye .

He announced his retirement on November 29, 2015 with the famous poem that would later give him an 'Oscar', ' Dear Basketball ', preparing for a farewell tour of the country in which he reigned one day. At 37, he was no longer the compulsive scorer of his best years, but if the physicist allowed it, he showed the pills he had stored to continue demonstrating the legend that today is. It was the most important season of his life. The only one he had left.

In a Lakers that were the second-worst team in the league , Kobe averaged 17.6 points. And selected the moments to shine. He scored 24 in the season opener against the Timberwolves. In December, he linked four with 25, 22, 22 and 31 against Bucks, Rockets, Thunder and Nuggets, some of the best teams in the competition. And in January, before the All-Star, 23, 38, 27 and 25. He scored 26 in his last match against the LeBron James Cavaliers , and 34 against the Celtics, the eternal rival. Even in the penultimate game, he went up to 35 against James Harden's Rockets. What else did I need to do?

This chronology of Kobe's sunset then reaches April 13, 2016 . To the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Last night.

Kobe Bryant played 40 minutes, scored 60 points , had six triples and distributed four assists. The Lakers also won. The '24' started unleashed, with 15 goals in the first period. He rested a bit in the second and prepared in the intermission to overcome a game that his team lost 42-57. No one at Staples imagined a second half like that.

He scored 15 points again in the third quarter, indented with errors from the three-point line, to bring the Angelenos closer at a distance of nine.

Last three minutes and 20 seconds. Ragnarok.

The Lakers were down ten when Bryant started his scoring flurry. 15 consecutive points in a resource demonstration: half-turn layup, free throws, jump shot, three-shot and mid-range shot. Fundamentals.

He left the field four seconds from the end with his team 101-96 ahead. In those last twelve minutes he scored 23 goals. 8 of 16 on field goals. 3 out of 5 in triples. 4 out of 4 from the free kick. 3 assists. 0 losses ...

And a few minutes later, in a speech that today weighs more than ever after the tragic accident of the month of January, Kobe Bryant was thus addressing the stands of the Lakers, his wife Vanessa and their daughters Natalia and Gianna.

" I can't believe how quickly these 20 years have passed . It's crazy. Absolutely crazy. Being here, talking in the middle of the track with my teammates here behind ... We've had our good and bad times, and the most important is that we have been together during the process. I grew up being a big fan of the Lakers, I knew everything about all the players who had played here, so I was drafted by them and spent 20 years here ... nothing better than that . I'm more proud of the bad years than the championships. Thank you all, for the inspiration and the support. It's funny, because for 20 years they told me to pass the ball and today everyone was saying 'No! pass it on! '"he joked, before talking about his family.

"I can't believe this has come to an end, you will always be in my heart. Thank you, I love you. My family, my wife Vanessa, my daughters Natalia and Gianna , thank you for your sacrifice. For all the hours I have been in the gym and Vanessa you have taken care of the family, I can never thank you enough. What can I say ... Mamba out ".

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