Watch: Beautiful Moment as Raptors and Spurs Forfeit Initial Possession for 24s to Honour #24 Kobe Bryant

With the minutes passing by, it is getting more and more difficult for the world to accept that the legendary NBA star Kobe Bryant is now dead. The reports have confirmed the tragic news and the world has started expressing their grief. Almost no one can acknowledge that whatever has happened is real. He was not just a phenomenal player during his time, he was also the most humble and down to earth person who made the sport a better place. Who made NBA a better place.

Despite his demise, the show must go on. Many teams and players wont get the luxury to grief and will be straight away made to compete and get back to business. While the Rockets vs Nuggets game held a minute’s silence to honour the legend, what the Raptors and Spurs did is very unique and worthy of all possible respect.

The players didn’t get a chance to mourn and instead decided to forfeit possession for the first 24s of the play. 24s is the shot clock timer and coincidentally also the number that Kobe played with. As the two teams refused to move forward and play, the crowd started shouting Kobe’s name. The whole moment was very emotional, something that every person involved in the game or present in the stadium will remember.

 Details of the Crash Involving Kobe Bryant

For now, all that is known is that no other family member apart from Kobe Bryant himself and his thirteen year old daughter, Gianna ‘Gigi’ Maria were involved in the crash. They were on their way to the Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks for basketball practice. Emergency personnels were quick to report no survivors after examining the crash. Gigi was a keen basketball player herself and is known to have revived Kobe’s interest in the game post retirement. They were often seen watching matches from the stands.

At ES, we hope that his family has the strength to pull through. It won’t be easy, but they’ll never be alone in this. These are tough times indeed.