Sunday’s slate of NBA games was one of the most surreal in the history of the league. Players had only hours to attempt to process the news of Kobe Bryant’s sudden death before taking the court, many of them with tears in their eyes.
It’s nearly impossible to strike a balance between honoring one of the five best players in the history of the sport and letting the games go on as scheduled. Kobe’s death hung like the most massive of clouds over all eight arenas where NBA games were played. Failing to acknowledge it, even in some small way, was simply not an option for the players, which is why many teams decided to open their games by letting the 24-second clock hit zero.