The Philadelphia 76ers took the court Tuesday night for the first time since the tragic passing of Philadelphia-native Kobe Bryant, hosting the Golden State Warriors at Wells Fargo Center. It was sure to be an emotional night, and the Sixers worked hard to find appropriate ways to honor Bryant’s memory.
One of those ways was following the lead of other NBA teams who have taken the court since Sunday’s shocking news and having each team take a violation to start the game.
The Sixers won the opening tip, and Ben Simmons stood in the backcourt and took an eight-second violation. The Warriors then took their turn, allowing the 24-second clock to run out. Of course, Bryant wore the numbers 8 and 24 during his legendary career with the Lakers.
With Joel Embiid wearing No.24 tonight, the Sixers and Warriors take their respective violations in honor of Kobe pic.twitter.com/UUdSdhN6jk
— ClutchPoints NBA (@ClutchPointsNBA) January 29, 2020
It’s not a surprise the teams elected to go this route, both because of the standard that had been set and because Al Horford had expressed his approval of the gesture after seeing teams do it on Sunday.
In addition to the violations, the Sixers put on a moving pregame tribute that included a 33-second moment of silence in honor of Bryant’s number at nearby Lower Merion High School, his Lower Merion jersey being displayed pregame, nine beams of light shining on the court in memory of each of the victims of the accident, nine rings of the bell, and the Sixers wearing No. 8 or No. 24 Bryant Sixers jerseys pregame. Joel Embiid also received permission from Sixers legend Bobby Jones to wear his retired No. 24.
It was an emotional night in South Philly and the Sixers produced some wonderful tributes to Bryant.