A jam-packed United Center fell silent for eight seconds before Sunday's 69th NBA All-Star game as some 21,000 fans joined hands to pay their respects to the late Kobe Bryant, the global sports icon who dominated professional basketball for two decades. The silence was broken by a string of thunderous "Kobe, Kobe, Kobe," chants that rocked the stadium as they honored Bryant, who wore the No. 8 and No. 24 during his 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers that was highlighted by five National Basketball Association championships.
The death of Bryant stunned the sports world and led to an outpouring of emotion in the city
Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and former Bryant teammate Shaquille O'Neal were among the Basketball Hall of Famers who attended the memorial
The National Basketball Association All-Star Game MVP Award has been permanently named for the late Kobe Bryant, league Commissioner Adam Silver said on Saturday.
Three days after Los Angeles basketball great Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others perished in a helicopter crash, his wife, Vanessa, broke her silence with an Instagram message saying she was "completely devastated" by their loss. Kobe Bryant and the couple's second daughter, nicknamed Gigi, died on Sunday when the helicopter they were flying in en route to the Mamba Sports Academy for a girl's basketball tournament crashed in foggy weather on a hillside northwest of Los Angeles.
Kobe Bryant called his daughter Gianna "Mambacita" after his own court nickname, "Black Mamba," confident she would follow in his footsteps and become a professional basketball player. On Sunday, the 41-year-old five-time NBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist died with his 13-year-old daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash northwest of Los Angeles as they pursued that dream.
Moments before Los Angeles basketball great Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and the seven others perished in a helicopter crash, the pilot had tried to climb out of layer of clouds, but the aircraft then banked sharply and lurched toward the ground. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) estimated Bryant's luxury passenger helicopter hit the ground at a speed of more than 2,000 feet (610 m) per minute.
We present our alphabet of 2020, pulling in everything you'll remember about this year we'd rather forget.
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