As Stephan Curry and Andrew Bogut prepare to go into their final regular season game with the opportunity to break the 20-year-old record for the most regular season wins, and praise is being heaped on LeBron James for his record setting 12 seasons of scoring an average of 25 points per game, one slightly overlooked aspect of the 2015-16 NBA season is the final game in the 20-year career of the L.A. Lakers’ Kobe Bryant.
If the Golden State Warriors can win their final game against the playoff- bound Memphis Grizzlies, they will post a 73 – 9 record, beating the 72 – 10 season of the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in 1995-96. Bogut spoke rather casually of the record, but Curry has expressed a desire to set the mark in no uncertain terms.
Regarding basketball achievements related to Michael Jordan, LeBron James, in notching his 12th consecutive seasons of maintaining a scoring average of 25 points per game or better surpassed Jordan’s 11 consecutive, although Jordan did miss two seasons when he tried his hand at professional baseball out of an emotional response to his father’s murder.
Kobe Bryant will conclude his remarkable 20-year career with the Lakers tonight. He leaves the game as the third-leading all-time scorer, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) and Karl Malone (36,928). Bryant (33,583 points) passed Michael Jordan (32,292 points) in December of 2014.
