Kobe Bryant was booed the entire night, until the jeers finally gave way to “Kobe! Kobe!” chants in Salt Lake City.
The crowd finally turned his way on last-second free throws, which gave him 40 points for the seventh straight game — becoming the first to do so since Michael Jordan in 1986-87.
“I don’t really know what it is,” Bryant told reporters. “All this has done is help us win games. Maybe when I retire I can look back and see what an accomplishment it was.”
Bryant came out firing, scoring 18 points in the first quarter alone, including 12 of Los Angeles’ initial 14.
He also finished with fury, scoring 11 in the fourth to hold off Utah in a 93-87 win, despite Shaquille O’Neal sitting out with a sore knee and toe.
“Kobe was Kobe,” Rick Fox said. “He carried the load for two superstars tonight.”
Despite a sore knee, Bryant finished with exactly 40 points by shooting 15-of-29, including four 3-pointers — which doubled the Jazz’s output from team.
Kobe performances on this day in history:
A video posted by Los Angeles Lakers (@lakers) on Feb 19, 2016 at 9:16am PST
A video posted by Los Angeles Lakers (@lakers) on Feb 19, 2016 at 9:16am PST
