“Spoiling his last game would’ve been really fun.” Utah Jazz’s Joe Ingles once said, but destiny had different plans for Kobe Bryant. The LA Lakers icon played the final game of his NBA career against the Utah Jazz. And who can forget his 60-point performance, leading the team to a 101-96 win? Ingles clearly could not achieve what he intended to. But turns out there was one from the Jazz who has something to boast against the late Lakers icon despite his big game.

The revelation came to light during ex-Jazz guard Shelvin Mack’s appearance on the Club 520 Podcast. The discussion started with Mack shedding light on his experience of playing against Kobe Bryant in his final game. “If you go back and watch the tape, I had zero of that 60… That’s one of my favorite players. Kobe’s my favorite player… But I didn’t get any of that,” he said.

Think about that for a moment: 60 points, 50 shot attempts, and yet not one of those points came against Mack, who played over 34 minutes. That’s a flex worth remembering. In fact, he had quite a decent game, recording 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Moreover, his +/- was -1, the best among the starters, showing that he indeed had a decent game. Of course, you might wonder—50 shots for 60 points? That’s not what we usually associate with Kobe’s greatness, right? You’d have a point.

For much of his career, Kobe set impossibly high standards, both for himself and others. But his farewell performance was about something different. As Bryant humbly put it after the game, “I just didn’t want to play bad.”

And really, who could blame him? The Lakers were enduring a nightmare season, losing 10 of their last 11 games while Kobe’s shooting percentage dipped to 35%. With the playoffs long out of reach, there were no championships left to chase—only one last chance to remind the world of his greatness. And oh, how he delivered.

Kobe Bryant’s message for the team after his 60-point masterclass

As per what the then Lakers coach told the LA Times, the 5x NBA champ had a message for his teammates after the final game of his career. “He said, ‘Listen, I gave this game everything I had every single night. I’ll never have any regrets on how I played or how I left the game,'” Byron Scott told the LA Times.

The coach further revealed that the Black Mamba also encouraged his teammates who were in the locker room to go out every night like that and play like it’s their last every single night. “It was emotional. It was heartfelt, and he meant it. And he told the truth,” Scott said.

The fact that referee Monty McCutchen, who was one of the officials on that legendary night, in a career full of officiating games, described Michael Jordan’s 55 points in Madison Square Garden to be the only rival of Bryant’s farewell game shows how impactful this last performance from Kobe Bryant was. And not getting scored even a single time is quite impressive on Shelvin Mack’s end as well.