Storytime with Kobe was a highlight of his final season.

Bryant was no more concerned about his health after another loss to the Utah Jazz, even after being forced out of the second half of the game with a "jammed up" Achilles tendon: "Taking two weeks off is not on the menu, Bryant told Mark Medina of the L.A. Daily News. "Two weeks is a long time. It doesn't feel like a two-week injury. I've had those before. This doesn't feel that way." The following night the Lakers returned to Los Angeles to host the Houston Rockets, and Bryant made history when he moved into second all-time in assists among Lakers, passing Jerry West. Kobe was known primarily as a high scorer throughout his career, which made his philosophy on passing interesting to hear: "You have to keep the defense honest," said Bryant, who has 6,244 career assists. "You've got to be able to make plays and make passes to have the defense fear you as a passer. If they don't, you can't score 40 points, you can't score 50 points, because they can just load up on you. So you've got to be able to be feared as a passer." The Lakers next game (another loss to the Sacramento Kings) took place two days before the 10th anniversary of him scoring 81 points on Jalen Rose the Toronto Raptors, and so on this night, Bryant would wax poetic about his scoring rather than passing:

On the actual tenth anniversary of arguably Bryant's most impressive effort, he fell just 76 points short of replicating it in a 108-95 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Despite not doing so, Bryant still believes it's possible for another player to match or top his scoring feat. They just have to believe, as he told ESPN: "I think so. It's just a matter of -- you have to believe that it's possible. You've got to be in tip-top shape to be able to do it, too. It takes a lot of energy and the ability to carry that energy for the duration of the game." The Lakers traveled to Portland the next night for another forgettable loss in a season full of them. The noteworthy part of the night came off the court, as the loss proved to be a bit of a breaking point for Bryant, who had thus far kept his frustrations with the Lakers' futility mostly hidden. Bryant lit into the whole team after their 37th loss, but called out Julius Randle and D'Angelo Russell by name for their defense. While Bryant was unwilling to talk about the two young guys publicly, telling Mark Medina of the L.A. Daily News "You know I don't do the gossip [expletive]," his frustration with the youth could have fueled his anti-AAU rant (as captured by Baxter Holmes of ESPN) after the game, in which he alluded that fixing it could be something he get's involved with upon retirement: "I hate it because it doesn't teach our players how to play the right way, how to think the game, how to play in combinations of threes... My generation is when AAU basketball really started becoming s---. I got lucky because I grew up in Europe and everything there was still fundamental, so I learned all the basics... I think we're doing a tremendous disservice to our young basketball players right now. That's something that definitely needs to be fixed and it's going to definitely be one of the things that I focus on." But fixing the issues in youth basketball would have to wait, as the Lakers still had 36 games left to play. Bryant missed the Lakers next game against the Dallas Mavericks, but returned to the lineup for the following game against his former teammate Pau Gasol, who he called "one of the best post players of all-time." Kobe also didn't mince words when voicing his disagreement with how Gasol was treated during his final season in Los Angeles: "Everybody kind of fell in line with the Mike D'Antoni rhetoric of small ball and all this other [expletive]," Bryant said. "For a guy that has two championships to be treated that way, you don't do that, man." After playing against one of his former teammates, Bryant then was absent from the team's showdown against a man who was nearly his teammate, Chris Paul, and his Los Angeles Clippers, before coming back to the lineup a game later to take on the Charlotte Hornets. The Lakers lost that game despite 23 points on 18 shots from Bryant. It was the team's 10th straight defeat, tying a franchise record for most consecutive losses. A defeated Bryant didn't sound too concerned with avoiding history in the Lakers next game following the loss:

He also put the team's struggles in perspective as only old-man Kobe could:

Bryant and the Lakers played considerably better against the Minnesota Timberwolves, with Kobe playing his best game of the season while scoring 38 points, including 14 of Los Angeles final 18 points down the stretch. He didn't understand what all the fuss was about:

The team and Bryant continued their success in their next game, beating the New Orleans Pelicans behind another throwback performance from Kobe, who scored 27 points with 12 of them coming in the fourth quarter. Bryant even hit a three-pointer with 28 seconds remaining in the game to seal the victory, and after the game he discussed how much work he had to put in over the summer to even be able to play in the city where he sustained his most recent season ending injury a year prior: "I knew the amount of training that I had put in over the summertime. I mean, I worked like crazy. It becomes more frustrating because you're not seeing those results. It becomes: 'Maybe this is what happens [when you're older]. You put all the work in and still there's nothing to show for it and you can't do anything about it.' And I had to be really stubborn and say, `No. You've got to continue to stay with the process,' as I always have, and see what happens." The San Antonio Spurs snapped the Lakers' streak two nights later in a game in which Bryant struggled down the stretch, going one-for-six in the fourth quarter after scoring 16 points in the third. The Spurs gave Bryant arguably the best video tribute of any stop on his farewell tour before the game, and Kobe reciprocated the appreciation, saying the team's consistency made him a better player: "They forced me to raise my game to a championship level very quickly because of the way they played. The systematic approach to the game, their thinking on sequences, they play such a mental game. They play such a mistake-free game. It forced me at a really early age to step up to their level." Bryant's success would not continue against the Indiana Pacers, with the veteran going 6-of-25 from the field in a two point Lakers' loss. Kobe did hit four consecutive jumpers down the stretch, but then missed his next five as the Pacers pulled away. Bryant gave a perfect analogy for the magic followed by misses: "I pulled a rabbit out a hat and the rabbit disappeared." The Lakers headed into the All-Star break on a three-game losing streak, falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers before Kobe was set to head to Toronto to participate in his last All-Star weekend. The 55 games before the break took their toll:

All-Star Weekend ended up being a celebration of Bryant's legacy, one in which the retiring star received praise from nearly everyone involved with the NBA. He even received his own special introduction before the exhibition. Before taking the court, Bryant described to the media why the moment was special to him: "This is pretty cool," Bryant said. "I'm looking around the room and seeing guys that I'm playing with that are tearing the league up that were like four during my first All-Star Game. It's true. I mean, how many players can say they've played 20 years and actually have seen the game go through three, four generations, you know what I mean? It's not sad at all. I mean, I'm really happy and honored to be here and see this." Bryant also described why he doesn't regret the decision to skip college for the NBA (and no, surprisingly he didn't just count his rings or show his bank account balance): In 2006, the NBA began requiring players either to attend college or play overseas for at least a year before declaring draft eligibility. "I don't think it matters," Bryant said about the rule. "You have high school players who go to college, stay for four years and are not ready. You have certain high school players skip college and they're ready. It depends on the mentors that you have and it depends on the internal motivation." The Lakers kicked off their final stretch of the regular season with Kobe's final game against Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers' lost their 45th game of the season, and Kobe Bryant dislocated his finger late in the fourth quarter. Trainer Gary Vitti popped it back in and Bryant went right back into the game, but the injury led to one of the best press conference photos in history:

Bryant ended his career with exactly 82 games against the Big Fundamental, an entire regular season worth of games between the two best players of their generation. Kobe said he would miss the competition now that it was over: "It's been so much fun competing against [Duncan] and that organization... I've truly, truly enjoyed it. They've pushed me to really fine-tune and sharpen my game. I'm a little sad that matchup is not going to happen." Two nights later, Bryant took the floor against former teammate Pau Gasol and the Chicago Bulls for the final time. After the Lakers' lost their fifth straight game, Kobe gave an unfiltered look into how he viewed his relationships with two of his most significant former teammates, as captured by Baxter Holmes of ESPN:

The next night was another Bryant last in a season full of them, his final time playing in Milwaukee against the Bucks. Bryant went just 3-of-12 from the field in another loss, but used veteran craftiness to draw nine free-throws, sinking eight of them to get him to 15 points. The defeat was the team's 47th of the year, and while Kobe was unable to summon the level of play that made so many younger players idolize him, he did reveal the type of example he hoped to set for the next generation. "Hopefully they take the mentality to go after your dreams. Go after it. I never compromised that," he said Monday. "I never allowed anybody to tell me what I was capable of accomplishing. I never let anybody tell me that I can't do. I went after it. I put all my eggs in one basket and hopefully they have that same mentality. If you want to accomplish something or do something that a lot of people think is difficult to accomplish, you have to put all your eggs in one basket. There's no compromise with that. And I hope that this younger generation of players understands that. And I'll be there along the way to help them out as well." The Lakers' next traveled to Memphis, where Bryant scored 13 points on 14 shots in another Lakers' loss. The aged and aching star reminded reporters after his final game in Memphis that he continued to play through pain on the road so fans could see him one final time. "You say `thank you' to the fans... Let the fans know how much I have appreciated you guys over all these years... Hopefully, the fans can feel how thankful I am for them." While he increasingly made efforts to play on the road so fans around the country could see him one final time, Bryant sacrificed home games in an attempt to stay upright. Kobe missed the Lakers' next two games at Staples Center, another loss to Memphis and a win over the Brooklyn Nets, but he returned for his final road game in Denver as the Lakers' lost 117-107. Bryant's play was not particularly noteworthy (he scored five points on two shots in 11 first quarter minutes before being ruled out with the same sore shoulder that had sidelined him for the prior two games), but his interactions with fans in the arena were. Bryant was caught on camera giving children his signed sneakers he had worn that night, and explained the heartwarming moment after the game (as captured by Shahan Ahmed of NBC Los Angeles). "They earned them," Bryant said about the kids who received the priceless souvenirs. "We had a little contest going on. They wanted to know what the name of our pet dog was. So, I gave them a clue. I said, 'It was in a [Harry] Potter film.'"

According to Bryant, a competition ensued with a couple young ladies and a couple young boys. Every time they got a chance, the group of young fans would shout out a list of names from the films.

"And the deal was that if they got [the name right], I would give them my shoes," Bryant said with a gracious smile. "And so, they got it." Almost no one thought the Lakers had a chance of defeating the defending champion Warriors, and while Bryant wasn't great against the Dubs (scoring 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting), he was a constant voice in the ear of his young teammates on the bench, providing them with advice during the upset. The retiring former franchise centerpiece was happy to see the team's hoped-for future get such a big win. "For the young guys, it's extremely important to see the results," Bryant said. "When you pay attention to little details, good things happen. As they grow, they start trusting that more and more." Bryant skipped the Lakers' next game against the Orlando Magic to rest up for his final showdown with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the rest allowed him to score 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting in a 120-108 loss. Following the loss, Kobe had probably the most Kobe Bryant advice of all-time for LeBron's kids: "They pass too much," Kobe told [LeBron's mother, Gloria James]. "Send them my way, and I'll fix that." With exactly a month left in his final season, Kobe had another "last" on the docket: his final matchup with old friend Carmelo Anthony. The Lakers lost their second game in a row and their younger players had their minutes limited down the stretch, but if they were looking for sympathy from Bryant, they would have to keep looking:

Bryant sat out the Lakers' next game against the Suns, but returned for his final home game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Bryant began the game 1-for-7, and it looked like it would be another Lakers loss in part due to his horrific shooting. But Kobe showed flashes of the player he used to be in the second half, hitting numerous turnaround jumpers as the Lakers went on to win 107-100. A fairly close and helter-skelter game may have put March Madness and college basketball as a whole on Kobe's mind, and the retiring superstar gave his thoughts on the NBA's age limit after the Lakers' 15th win of the season:

Kobe suited up the next night to play against the Phoenix Suns, dropping 17 points in the Lakers' 56th loss of the year. Playing in both games of a back-to-back was not been a common occurrence for Bryant during the '15-16 season, but he sounded like he's planning to watch even less frequently than that when he retires:

With just 11 games remaining in his career, Bryant started to really look to play in every one. The fading star gave home fans a throwback performance in the team's loss to the Denver Nuggets, scoring 28 points. Most of these have been quotes, but this moment following the loss pretty much exemplified the circus that was the Kobe Bryant farewell tour:

The Lakers lost their 58th game of the season two nights later, falling 101-88 to the Washington Wizards two nights later. Bryant scored 17 points in the loss, and in his final postgame media scrum held at his locker following the game, Kobe was asked which of the team's young players were ready to succeed him as the face of the Lakers franchise. His answer was pretty much what you'd expect: "If you have to ask that question, the answer is already there," said Bryant. "Torches never get passed. You've got to earn that." None of the Lakers took the torch the next night against the Utah Jazz, where the team tied their franchise record for largest margin of defeat with a 48-point drubbing from Quin Snyder's crew. Kobe struggled, scoring just five points on his 11 shots. The Lakers weren't any better, something Kobe candidly acknowledged after the game when asked about his relationship with Jazz fans: "They want to hate me tonight, I want to hate them, but we suck." Bryant admitted the same brashness that contributed to so many fans wanting to hate him throughout his career the next night at an event for American Express:

After the Lakers' next game, an overtime win against Miami in which Bryant played less than nine minutes, he offered some advice for a teammate who isn't much older than that hypothetical 17-year old Kobe. D'Angelo Russell had been at the center of reports of locker room discord after a leaked video he shot showed Nick Young admitting to infidelity. Kobe, no stranger to locker room disputes, shared the advice he gave Russell with the media: "All I can do is my best Yoda impersonation," said Kobe. "'One day pass this shall.'" Bryant next suited up against his and the Lakers' hated rival, the Boston Celtics. Bryant's final game against the green was a loss, but it went down as a memorable one in the context of his standard during his yearlong farewell tour. Bryant's 34 points were his second highest total of the season, something partially attributable to how much he loves going against the Celtics:

Bryant's next contest was much more forgettable, a snooze-worthy 103-81 loss to the Clippers. It was the Lakers' 61st loss of the season, guaranteeing that they would at least tie having the worst record in team history. After the game Bryant shared his philosophy on a very different type of history the Warriors were trying to make:

The Lakers lost again to the Clippers the next night, and Bryant gave his take on the different type of history the Lakers were making, with their 62nd loss of the season leaving them as the worst Lakers team in franchise history for the third consecutive year. The always quotable Kobe was at the top of his game following the loss:

Bryant's last road trip began with a blowout loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Bryant scored all 14 of his points in the first quarter, but only played 10 minutes the rest of the game after playing the whole first period. Following the game, he sounded as relieved to be retiring as he had the whole season when recalling how he told his daughters he was heading out to Baxter Holmes of ESPN: On Thursday, Kobe Bryant and his two daughters were playing around at his house in Newport Beach, California, and they didn't want him to leave. "Why can't you stay home?" they asked him. "This is the last one," the Los Angeles Lakers star told them. "One more."

The next stop on Bryant's final roadtrip was Houston, where Bryant would face off with Dwight Howard's Rockets one last time. Kobe gave the Rockets a 34-point going away present, but it wasn't enough in a game the Lakers lost by 20. After the game, Bryant found out that ESPN had moved his final game to ESPN 2 in favor of the Warriors' chase for history. The longtime Lakers star was not concerned with the programming note: "What the hell do I care?" Bryant said before resorting to sarcasm. "It hurt my feelings." Bryant's final road game was a ho-hum 13-point performance in a 33 point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Following the result, Bryant was asked if any player had ever beaten him one-on-one. There is a quote here, but sometimes a picture is worth 1,000 words:

Bryant's last game was almost an almost unimaginable display of poignancy and pageantry, and the retiring superstar gave his fans one last show to boot. Bryant scored 60 points before walking off of an NBA court forever, and his final address to fans was the most fitting farewell: "Mamba out." Goodbye, Kobe. There will never be another player as talented both on the floor and with a quote. You can follow this author on Twitter at @hmfaigen.