Who puts up 50 shots in his final game? The Black Mamba, that's who. Here's how our 5-on-5 crew sees Kobe Bryant's drop-the-mic performance.
1. Kobe shot 50 times and scored 60 points in his final game. Surprised or nah?
J.A. Adande, ESPN.com: Surprised, only because I thought he'd "only" take 30 to 35 shots. It's never a good idea to underestimate Kobe, even 37-year-old Kobe. I could have seen him going for 40 one last time in his last game. But 60? Nah.
Amin Elhassan, ESPN Insider: Surprised he shot 50 times? Nah. But I won't lie, I was impressed by his shot-making down the stretch, especially since his fatigue level was so visible. I don't think you could have scripted a better swan song that was so quintessentially Kobe.
Baxter Holmes, ESPN.com: When you factor in all the circumstances, those numbers do make sense. Everyone knew Kobe would shoot the ball just almost every time he touched it. Everyone knew that he would play 40-plus minutes. Put those two facts together, plus the fact that one of the NBA's most notorious gunners doesn't want to leave any rounds in the chamber during this spectacle of a finale, and you're going to get 50 shots.
If this were any other player, I might be surprised, but Kobe is Kobe. Repeat: Kobe is Kobe.
Dave McMenamin, ESPN.com: Surprised by the raw final numbers, but not fazed one bit that he didn't leave any arrows in the quiver on the way out.
I was covering the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Wednesday and before the game ran into Cavs player development coach Phil Handy, who used to coach Kobe in L.A. "How many points does he get tonight? I got him at 27," I said. "The real question is how many shots he takes," Handy replied. "He'll take at least 25." Kobe made sure our predictions needed a multiplier.
Ramona Shelburne, ESPN.com: Surprised. I think we all knew he'd play a lot and shoot a lot in this final game, but after the way he stepped back in Toronto at his last All-Star Game, I thought he might do the same in his final game. He'd been so serene in the final days, I didn't know if he had the fire left in him for something like this.
2. Kobe upstaged the Warriors when they set the all-time record for wins. Surprised or nah?
Adande: Nah. Kobe made a career out of upstaging. His 81-point game managed to steal the spotlight from the NFL's conference championship weekend. Who overshadows the NFL as it builds to its climax? Kobe.
So the Warriors' run at NBA history didn't stand a chance. I knew they were in trouble when Twitter seemed very Kobe-heavy throughout the day. After Stephen Curry's first-quarter flurry, the night belonged to Kobe as well.
Elhassan: Not surprised. One game was a blowout, the other was a close game. One game featured a phenomenon that we'll see at least another 16 times, the other was the final act. One game featured a big scoring effort with ridiculous laser efficiency in an ode to the modern NBA game, the other was a celebration of the excess of a bygone era.
Holmes: Not really. The Warriors were in control for most of that game with their typical double-digit cushion, so there wasn't much drama. Meanwhile, the Lakers were facing a team that just stomped them by 48 points, and here came Kobe in the fourth quarter, once more, outscoring the Jazz by himself, 23-21, and hitting the game-winning shot. The Lakers' game brought much more compelling drama to the table.
McMenamin: Surprised, because the Jazz had beaten the Lakers by progressively embarrassing margins this season -- by 12, then by 27, then by 48 -- before Wednesday, while the Warriors played the Grizzlies over the weekend and had to rally from a late 10-point deficit to get the victory.
What gave Kobe the spotlight wasn't that 60 is greater than 73, necessarily. It was the fact that his binge came in a dramatic comeback in the fourth quarter, erasing a 14-point deficit in the process, while Golden State had a 20-point cushion for pretty much the entire fourth quarter of its game.
Shelburne: Surprised. The Warriors have been the story in the NBA all season, and this night was a culmination of all that. The game in L.A. felt like it could turn into a nostalgia play. Even if Kobe had just a good night, say 35 points in his last game, we're not even having this discussion. But he turned in an all-timer.
3. Kobe first said he didn't want a farewell tour and then had perhaps the biggest one ever. Surprised or nah?
Adande: Nah. Kobe saw the way this season was headed and wanted to shift the narrative. Instead of only hearing about how the league now belonged to Curry and LeBron and Durant and Kobe's days were done, he managed to bring back continual references to when he ruled the NBA. He says his next phase will be about storytelling, and this was a masterful job.
Elhassan: Nah. The man built an entire career on the backs of millions of loyal Kobestani followers. He wasn't going to pull a fast one on his devotees!
Holmes: Nope. Kobe announced that he was going to retire after he started out the season shooting 29.6 percent in his first 17 games. At that point, he was on pace for one of the worst seasons in NBA history in many categories, beyond the fact that he was air-balling shots left and right. Kobe knew that he needed to shift the narrative, which is one of his specialties, and he did.
McMenamin: Nah, Kobe's been accustomed to changing the narrative for years, even throughout all the turmoil of his first decade-plus with the Lakers, before his last two titles.
When I asked him about a retirement tour a couple years ago, he balked, but that was when the idea of competing for a championship one more time was still a possibility.
Once the Lakers ended up in the tank, the farewell tour became a welcome distraction.
Shelburne: Nah. Nobody really knows what they want at the end until the time comes. Kobe has always had an appreciation for the history of the game, so it didn't shock me when he embraced his own place in that history.
4. If someone says this is one of Kobe's five greatest games ever: agree or nah?
Adande: I want to agree only because I want to be able to say I was at one of his biggest games. For all of the Kobe games I've covered, I somehow wasn't at any of his previous 60-point nights.
But this one has legitimacy because of the circumstances. Some people on Wednesday night even thought it was bigger than 81. That one snuck up on people expecting a nondescript game. This was heavily hyped as the last chance we'd see Kobe on the court, and he gave us a night we'll never forget.
Elhassan: Nah, and I think Kobe would echo that. For the ultimate competitor to count a meaningless game between lotto-bound teams as one of his five best games would probably insult him.
Holmes: It feels weird ranking this game up that high, but part of me feels that it deserves to be there, too, when you factor in his health, his age, how he'd played throughout his farewell season and the fact that this was his final game ever.
Yes, the Lakers are terrible, and this capped off the worst season in franchise history, but this easily one of his most memorable games if only because he put on a hell of a show once more, which is saying something. I wasn't at his 81-point game, but I heard a lot of folks talk about Wednesday's finale in the same breath.
McMenamin: Nah. There's nothing great about finishing a season with 17 wins. Pick any five Finals wins from his five championship seasons and they qualify as greater.
It might fit as one of his five most iconic, though. Whenever any prominent athlete retires forevermore, Bryant's final performance will be brought up.
Shelburne: Agree. 81 points is the best game. He had some other sublime games over the years, too. But to do this at 37 years of age, on 50 shots, after the season the Lakers had, in his final game? It was astonishing.
5. If Kobe plays in the NBA next season: surprised or nah?
Adande: I'd be surprised because he can't put his body through this again. And because how he always takes no time shooting down any prospects of playing again.
He'd undo all of the goodwill he built up this year. Fans would feel resentful for paying premium prices for what they believed was their last chance to see him (kind of like I now feel less pleased with my recent purchase of the 72-10 Air Jordan XIs now that the Warriors have won 73 games).
Then again, Kobe loves being the villain, so ...
Elhassan: Hell, nah! I'm waiting for the inevitable, "You know what? Let's give it one more go-round!"
Holmes: I'd be very, very, very surprised. His body can't take anymore. It feels like a miracle that he made it across the finish line this season. Kobe knows Wednesday was a fitting final chapter to his NBA story. He's ready to move on, and he will.
McMenamin: Not surprised. Shocked. It's not happening. As he so cornily said, evoking a goodbye that Ryan Seacrest made a pop culture touchstone all the way back in 2004, "Mamba, out." We won't see him play another NBA game.
Shelburne: He's not coming back. I mean never ever ever. He's ready. He's been ready. In many ways he has been moving on since he ruptured that Achilles in 2013. It takes a small army of trainers and medical personnel to get him ready for every game. He simply can't do it anymore physically. Nor does he want to.