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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - DeMar DeRozan had just learned of Kobe Bryant's intention to play out this season and call it a career as he sat by his locker following last Sunday's game and wondered aloud: have we ever witnessed anything quite like what we were about to witness?

He ran through the list of superstars that have retired in this, the social media era.

Shaquille O'Neal actually used Twitter to make his announcement but not until the end of his swan song campaign in Boston. Allen Iverson's official retirement came nearly four years after playing in his final NBA game, even spending some time overseas in between. Injuries prompted an early end to the career of Yao Ming while his one-time Houston teammate Tracy McGrady attempted a series of comebacks before stepping away from basketball. Ray Allen may or may not return to the court one day and his former Celtics colleague Kevin Garnett has yet to make a public decision regarding his plans for next year.

Sure, a pair of Yankee greats, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, gave the baseball community a season's worth of notice before their retirement, as did Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, who's career comes to an end next fall. However, as DeRozan concluded, this would become basketball's first farewell tour in recent memory. It was about to play out in a strange and, at times, awkward manner.

Bryant, the consummate entertainer, has never been one to blend in. Not surprisingly, his retirement is quickly turning into the NBA's greatest sideshow and, on Monday, the circus made its first and only stop north of the border.

Playing his final game in Toronto, Bryant received a standing ovation from the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd, who cheered the Lakers guard each time he touched the ball thereafter. During the first timeout, the Raptors played a video tribute over the big screen, thanking Bryant for what he's meant to the game.

Throughout the evening, fans chanted his name, yelled "MVP" and shouted "we want Kobe" whenever he sat on the Lakers bench. It was an unusual scene and not one that everybody appreciated.

"We have great fans," Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said, choosing his words carefully after his team's 102-93 win over Kobe and the Lakers. "Around the league he's kind of getting that coverage but again, this is home. We've only had a few home games and we want to make it feel like home. I respect Kobe, all that, but our guys, we need those cheers too. Again, I understand but we're building our program to get to that level."

With the exception of a few airballs, Bryant actually turned in one of his better performances of the campaign. The 37-year-old recorded 19 points on 8-for-16 shooting - the first time he's hit at least 50 per cent of his attempts this season - to go along with eight rebounds and four assists.

But, more often than not, it hasn't been pretty. At this pace, the period at the end of Bryant's hall-of-fame career will be a historically terrible season. Through 18 games, the Lakers guard is hitting 30 per cent of his field goal attempts and 22 per cent of his threes. No one that has shot as much as he does has shot that poorly, ever.

At 37 and coming off three serious, season-ending injuries, Bryant's body is failing him and he's too proud, or stubborn, or both, to adapt, let alone surrender to it. It's been hard to watch, even for those competing against him.

"It definitely sucks, especially to see him go out like that," said DeRozan, before channeling Kevin Durant, who expressed a similar sentiment last week. "Just the backlash he gets, especially this year with the media killing him [is frustrating]. That man played at the highest level of basketball for over 18 years, you've got to give him credit no matter how he goes out. He could average one point for the rest of the year, that don't take away from him being one of the greatest players of all-time."

If we're being honest, the Bryant naysayers aren't exactly coming out of woodwork during his twilight years. No, his critics have had plenty of ammunition throughout his career. Any debate over Kobe's legacy and his place in league history is likely to get heated. Few players have ever elicited such a split reaction. He's a 17-time all-star, league MVP and two-time Finals MVP. He's won (five) championships with great teams - two different incarnations - and carried bad teams to the playoffs. Through it all, many have questioned his shot selection, adaptability and leadership. They're not wrong to do so.

Last week Bryant was asked if the love he's getting from fans around the NBA has surprised him. "I thought everybody hated me," he joked. Some do.

"I don't know why people don't like him," said Casey. "They may not like him but if they know anything about the game at all, they have to respect what he's brought to the game as a player. You don't have to like him. There's a lot of people I don't like but I respect them."

Before Monday's game, Casey recalled a run-in Bryant had with Utah Jazz great and future Lakers teammate Karl Malone in the 1997-98 All-Star Game. It was Bryant's first career All-Star Game and Casey, an assistant with Seattle, was on the Western Conference coaching staff. At age 19 and coming off the bench for Los Angeles at the time, Bryant waved off Malone in the post to go one-on-one with Michael Jordan. Malone shouted some choice words at head coach George Karl and asked out of the game. "I can't play with these young guys," was the gist of it, according to Casey.

In many ways, that one play, in an exhibition game early in his career sums up everything you need to know about the player Bryant would become. For better or for worse, the moment was his. The next time he shies away from the spotlight will be the first.

Barring some cosmic resurgence, the future hall-of-famer had known that this season would be his last for some time. Finally making that announcement - written as a poem on The Players' Tribune late last month - freed him, it lifted a weight off his shoulder. He's embraced everything that's followed with as much dignity and grace as a broken player can. He has smiled and waved as fans in visiting arenas chant his name, as his opponents run video montages that he'd rather not see. He charms his way through post-game press conference after post-game press conference, answering a variation of the same questions he faced in the previous city, and the one before that.

He seems both honoured and uncomfortable at the same time. After one final sendoff in his hometown of Philadelphia last week - a game in which 76ers great Julius Erving and his high school coach welcomed him to the floor - Bryant has requested teams refrain from any on-court ceremonies or gift presentations. He doesn't want to be a distraction from the game. So instead, he's hoisting up 18 mostly ill-fated shots and eight threes per contest, which begs the question, why bother? Would anyone really blame him for walking away now, rather than subjecting himself to this for another four months?

He might be better off doing so. Certainly, his legacy would be better off and so too would his young teammates and an organization that is desperately waiting to turn the page. But, after getting to know him as we have over the past two decades, what about Kobe tells you he has it in him to call it quits mid-season, to admit defeat or walk away without the closure this bizarre farewell tour appears to be providing him? No, that would be out of character. So he's going out swinging and, regardless of how you feel about it or him, we shouldn't have expected anything less.

"I'd rather him going out [shooting] 1-for-1000 than 1-for-2," DeRozan joked.

Why?

"Because that's Kobe."