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Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant gave all the fans around the league something to remember him by throughout his career. And surely did the same in his final year in the league as well as he got a farewell tour wherever he went. Bryant retired after the 2015-16 season but he sure went out with a bang after he made a bet on live television with his former teammate, Shaquille O?Neal.

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Recently, Shaq posted that interaction between him and Bryant on his Instagram stories. Kobe Bryant had sat down with the crew from ?NBA on TNT? a couple of days ago before his final game with the Utah Jazz. Which resulted in Shaquille O?Neal requesting one final show from the ?Black Mamba.?

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Kobe Bryant one-upped Shaquille O’Neal

Shaquille O?Neal asked his former teammate if he could give him a 50-point performance that night. While talking to Bryant, Shaq said, ?Kobe, can you promise me one thing? I need 50 that night. Can you give us 50??

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To which, Bryant replied, ?No,? while laughing it off. He continued saying, ?Absolutely not. Absolutely not man. But I?m looking forward to seeing you man.? As O?Neal definitely was not going to miss Bryant?s final performance.

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Shaq narrated the rest of the story as, ?So when I walked into the arena yesterday, I was like, ?Hey remember our bet. You need 50.? And he turned around with the look that he usually does, ?All right, I?ll go for it.??

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?At first, you know I was like ?Ah, he might not get it.? But then it got to 37 and 45 and then 57. And then you hit that three and the crowd goes crazy,? added the seven-footer.

The Staples Center was full of celebrities who had come to see one final piece of history unfold. And as for Shaq?s bet, Bryant definitely one-upped him and ended the night and also his career with a 60-point performance.

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The impact of Bryant’s death

After retiring from the league, Kobe Bryant became a mentor to many young stars who are playing in the league right now. Unfortunately, after four years of retiring, the world lost Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna along with seven other people who were in the helicopter with them.

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The entire world mourned the loss of a great player and an even better human being. Every team around the league paid homage to the Lakers legend by either running the 24-second shot clock out or committing an eight-second backcourt violation in their next games. Since Bryant wore both numbers eight and 24 during his career.

The world lost Kobe and Gigi on January 26, 2020. It has been three years since that accident and it feels as if the wounds are still fresh in everyone’s hearts. May the Lakers legend and his daughter rest in peace along with the people that lost their lives in that crash.

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Written by

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Abhishek Dhariwal

1,425 Articles

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best” - Tim Duncan said this once, and I took it as a sign to keep working on myself, without fail! Being a basketball player all my life, it was natural for me to eventually become an NBA writer at EssentiallySports.

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Aayush Kapoor

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