Curry led the Golden State Warriors to a new NBA-record 73 wins in 82 games, beating the 72-10 record that the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls had previously for 20 years. He scored 46pts whilst playing only the first 3 quarters, hitting 10-of-19 3-pters including 6 in the 1st quarter on his way to setting a new record of 402 3-pters in a single season. Curry finished the season as the league leader in both steals and points, but is the only player to average 30 points per game whilst playing under an average of 35min per game. Curry also finished the season with 50/40/90, by shooting at least 50% from the field, 40% of 3-pters and 90% of free throws. Only 7 players have achieved this feat, with Curry being the highest scorer in this group.
The Utah Jazz came into their final game with the 9th seed in the West, and needed a win against the Lakers and for the Rockets to lose their final game in order to sneak into the final playoff spot. Although Utah faced a lowly 16-65 record Lakers team at the bottom of the western conference, Kobe was determined to put on a show in his Kobe Farewell Tour. Nike dubbed the day as Mamba Day and Los Angeles renamed a metro station to Kobe in honour of his final NBA career game. Tributes from around the world flooded Twitter, and even broke the Laker's official Twitter account. The sellout Staples Center crowd included celebrities such as Jack Nicholson, Kanye, Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z.
Kobe didn't disappoint as he scored an NBA season high 60 points in his final game, a feat that is arguably one of the greatest final games in sports history. He ended the first half with 22pts, scored 15pts in the 3rd quarter, and then outscored the entire Jazz team 23-21 in the 4th quarter. In addition, Kobe brought the Lakers back from an early 15pt deficit early in the 3rd quarter. With the Lakers down by 10 with 3:04 to go in the game, Kobe scored the Laker's next 15 points without missing a shot, whilst the Jazz were held scoreless for the last 2:35 of the game. Of those 15pts, 7 of them came in the final minute, hitting a 3-pter whilst down by 4, and then knocking down a long 2-pter that would be the gamewinner for the Lakers. Kobe finished the game with 2 free throws to get his 59th and 60th points, capping the game off with a full-court assist before being subbed out for the last time with 4sec left in the game. Kobe (37yrs old) became the oldest player to score 60 points, and the first player to do so in his final game. He achieved this feat by hitting 22-50 field goals whilst playing 42min, after only averaging around 24min in his last few games. Bryant hadn't reached the 50pt mark in the last 7 years, but in his final game was able to put up his 6th 60pt game, good enough for the 5th highest scoring game of his career. Before his final game, Kobe's average for the season was around 17pts, and his highest game total for the season was 38pts.
Kobe Bryant drops 60 in Final Game of Career (6min 14sec):
Nike - Mamba Day (2min 48 sec):
Warriors Make History at 73-9 (1min 59sec):
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