This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Wherever the guard from Lower Merion High School has been introduced this season, they have stood and cheered.
In Oakland, where he ran roughshod over the Warriors for two decades. In Boston, where he waged bitter battles for championship trophies.
But amid the the applause he heard Saturday night in Salt Lake City — and there were hundreds of fans wearing his jersey — were the unmistakable, familiar sounds of boos.
What else would Kobe Bryant expect here?
"They were really, really tough on me, man. More so than the other crowds," the Lakers legend recalled of this state's fans over the years, "They were tough."
Before tipoff Saturday night, he remembered the mean signs, the jeers, the screams funneled directly into his ear as he tried to inbound a ball.
"It pissed me off so much," he said, looking back with a smile. "It was like '08 in the playoffs where I just kind of erupted after a play and just started talking back to the crowd because they just kept driving me. So that being said, it's fond memories. Truly. Because that's what sports should be, I think, is that kind of bantering, that kind of competition, whatever. I've always loved playing here because of that."
Those feelings and memories were still in that arena Saturday night, even if the Kobe who cultivated them was not exactly. In a 109-82 blowout victory for the Utah Jazz (a game in which Bryant surpassed Jazz legend John Stockton for the seventh-most minutes logged all-time by an NBA player) the Lakers icon looked very much like a fading legend on his last leg.
He needed until the second quarter to score his first bucket. And even after show glimpses of his skill, hitting a turnaround jump shot from 11 feet, Bryant grimaced as he jogged back on defense.
Bryant and the Lakers have one more game in Utah, on March 28. "I'm looking forward to coming back," he said after Rudy Gobert's 18-point, 18-rebound night helped fuel the Jazz to victory.
But the shooting guard's health makes that second leg of his farewell tour hardly a guarantee at this point. The energy, the explosiveness, the "continual motor" he once had in his legs has faded. He's feeling the nagging pain in his shoulder. His Achilles has bothered him of late, and memories of the rupture that cost him the end of the 2013 season have crept into his mind.
"There are times when it's a little too much," he said. "But I do find beauty in that. It's all a challenge. They're all obstacles."
His success is why Jazz shooting guard Rodney Hood still has Bryant's No. 8 jersey in the dresser of his home in Mississippi. "He's a legend and one of the best to ever do it," Hood said.
It's why Jazz rookie Trey Lyles and his father always tuned into Lakers games together. "It was outstanding as a kid just to be able to watch him," Lyles said.
But his success was hard-earned.
In the very building he played Saturday night, an 18-year-old Bryant hoisted up an airball at the end of regulation and then three more during overtime as the Jazz eliminated the Lakers from the 1997 Western Conference Semifinals. The next year, the Jazz swept the Lakers in the Conference Finals.
"After that series, it was a very miserable summer for me," Bryant said Saturday. "Every day I thought about it. I thought about trying to get past these guys."
On Saturday he shook hands and shared words with former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and drew some quizzical looks from a referee for laughing with former Jazzman Matt Harpring during the game.
"You guys hated each other when you played against each other," Bryant recalled the official saying. "But that's what it was like. We used to have so many dogfights. That's what I enjoyed most about playing those teams."
Those experiences hardened him, helped shape him into a five-time champion and the NBA's third-leading scorer and the guy who bounced the Jazz from the postseason in three straight years from 2008-10.
That history is why he heard those familiar sounds Saturday night.
Bryant finished 2-for-8 from the floor and scored five points before leaving the game for good in the third quarter with a sore Achilles.
He is not the player he once was, but the crowd treated him as if he were. Every time Bryant touched the ball, Jazz fans booed him like they always have.
"It was awesome," he said.
Twitter: @tribjazz