Five days after the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash, the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night will be back on the court where Bryant built his global fame over 20 seasons.
They will play the Portland Trail Blazers as the team and its employees grieve Bryant and the victims. Bryant had maintained deep connections to the franchise since he retired in 2016, after winning five N.B.A. championships with the Lakers.
The Lakers are top contenders for a title again this season, but that will be a footnote for players and fans, giving way to what is certain to be a scene of tributes and public mourning.
The Lakers practiced on Friday.
The Lakers practiced this afternoon before their game at Staples Center against the Portland Trail Blazers at 10:30 p.m. Eastern. The players did not speak to reporters but some players, like LeBron James, have spoken of their anguish on social media.
“The biggest thing is that there’s no wrong emotions when it comes to something like this,” Coach Frank Vogel said after the team’s morning shootaround. “We’re going to go out and play each game embodying what he stood for. We’re focusing on the work and letting the achievements come after.”
Hours before the game, the Lakers revealed on Twitter a tribute to Bryant on the court.
Trail Blazers players are still figuring out how to cope.
Carmelo Anthony, who was good friends with Bryant, was not with the team on Friday and was listed as out for the game for personal reasons, according to the team. Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic posted a message about Kobe and Gianna on Twitter:
Staples Center became an impromptu memorial.
More crowds gathered outside of Staples Center on Friday afternoon to mourn Bryant, leaving flowers and jerseys and stuffed animals. It had become the site of an impromptu memorial and an outlet for collective grief, as fans wrote heartfelt messages on photographs and posters, offering their appreciation for the moments that Bryant had created and their condolences to the families of those who had also died.
Inside the arena, replicas of Bryant’s jersey were draped over every seatback — nearly 20,000 of them in all — ahead of Friday night’s game between the Lakers and the Trail Blazers.
Additionally, the N.B.A. announced plans to honor Bryant and the other victims of Sunday’s crash at next month’s All-Star Game. The players on the team captained by the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo will wear No. 24, which Bryant wore for the second half of his career, while the players on the team captained by James will wear No. 2, which is the number that Gianna Bryant wore. Both teams will wear patches that feature nine stars, representing the nine victims of the crash.
The latest on the crash.
The Fog: Although the flight took off in clear skies in Orange County, it eventually encountered a fog so thick that it nearly blinded drivers on the freeway. Visibility was so poor that the Los Angeles Police Department had grounded its fleet of helicopters.
Because of the company’s certification limitations, the pilot was required to fly only in conditions of sufficient visibility to navigate visually.
The Crash: The helicopter fell at a rate of about 23 miles an hour and slammed into the hill in a “high-energy impact crash,” according to the National Transportation Safety Board. It was also traveling forward at about 152 miles an hour just before it crashed, according to radar data.
The aircraft slammed into a hillside at 1,085 feet after climbing to 2,300 feet; it may have missed clearing the top of the hill by 20 to 30 feet.
The Helicopter: The Sikorsky S-76B was not outfitted with a system to warn pilots if they are getting too close to the ground, technology that is voluntary but has been recommended by the N.T.S.B. for more than a decade.
A terrain awareness and warning system can help prevent crashes, especially when pilots have limited visibility, by providing a detailed image of surrounding terrain and triggering auditory and visual warnings.
More here.
‘Oh, Dear Lord. Something Happened.’
Bryant’s death has become what psychologists call a “flashbulb memory,” the type of event that creates vivid pictures in people’s minds about where they were when they heard about it: at the supermarket, driving home, hanging out with friends.
A group of parishioners and clergy at a church a half mile from where the helicopter went down certainly remember and are likely to for a long time. John Branch visited, and tells their stories.
