The Los Angeles Lakers remain in the early stages of dealing with the death of team legend Kobe Bryant, but guard Avery Bradley indicated that the team has created a new huddle chant to serve as inspiration going forward.
Avery Bradley says the Lakers have started saying “1-2-3 Mamba!” when breaking their huddles. On the Lakers scoring 81 in the first half, he says it shows the Lakers have an angel with them.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 2, 2020
Bryant’s stunning death on Jan. 26 evoked a torrent of emotions across the NBA but resonated much more deeply within the Lakers organization.
The team postponed its first scheduled game two nights later, then honored Bryant and the other victims of the tragedy, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, on Friday night.
The Lakers lost that game to Portland by a score of 127-119 but bounced back on Saturday night to defeat the Sacramento Kings, 129-113, which improved the Lakers’ season record to a Western Conference-best 37-11.
The significance of scoring 81 points in the first half against the Kings is that Bryant’s greatest game in a Lakers uniform saw him score that amount against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006.
That iconic performance remains the second-highest scoring effort in a single NBA game, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain’s legendary 100-point performance in 1962.
What had been an incredibly emotional week for the Lakers concluded with the victory over Sacramento, but Frank Vogel’s squad still has five more games to play before the All-Star break.
For those games and beyond, the spirit of Bryant will now be a part of every team huddle.
